President of NATU, Mr Ngcobo
Esteemed Delegates
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Thank you for inviting me to the 93rd Annual Conference of the National Teachers’ Union (NATU).
NATU’s motto – “educating our nation” – highlights the pressing need for quality education in our life time.
It is a constant reminder of the ‘instruction to deliver’ better education for the nation.
This we must do fully to extend to all our people the inalienable right to education as required by the democratic Constitution.
Educating our nation calls for positive action from government, educators, parents, governing bodies, trade unions, business and broader civil society.
Your conference is very important. It builds on a partnership that is fundamental to addressing our people’s genuine concerns about the state of education.
To stem the tide of low learning outcomes, as partners, means we must make ‘education a societal issue’.
I believe making education a collective responsibility will help us realise the Freedom Charter’s vision of education.
“The Doors of Learning and Culture Shall be opened!” That’s what the people said in Kliptown, in 1955, 37 years after the formation of NATU. Congratulations to you on turning 93!
We pledged that “these freedoms we will fight for, side by side, throughout our lives.” We vowed together to make education “free, compulsory, universal and equal for all children.”
Indeed 41 years later, since 1955, we tasted the fruits of fighting “side by side” for universal access to education. The First Democratic Parliament passed the South African Schools Act 84 of 1996.
It sought to consign “to history the past system of education which was based on racial inequality and segregation” (Preamble).
In accordance with this Act, our task is to build an education system that will truly:
“Redress past injustices in educational provision, provide an education of progressively high quality for all learners and in so doing lay a strong foundation for the development of all our people’s talents and capabilities” (Preamble).
It calls upon us to “advance the democratic transformation of society, combat racism and sexism and all other forms of unfair discrimination and intolerance, contribute to the eradication of poverty and the economic wellbeing of society” (Ibid).
Your conference, like other interventions, would have succeeded were it to take us ‘two steps forward’ in discharging the task vested in us by the Schools Act.
And I have no doubt it will. You’ve shown your devotion to educating our nation. You’ve negotiated a balance on the delicate matter of unionism in education.
The Bill of Rights says: “a child’s best interests are of paramount importance in every matter concerning the child” (Section 28 (2) of the Constitution). Section 29 (a) of the Constitution says “everyone has the right to basic education”.
It is brave to choose as a conference’ theme, “Unionism, Party Politics and Education: Our Perspective”.
We must capitalise on the transformative role of unions better to achieve high quality education in our lifetime.
The 93rd NATU Conference takes place in a democratic space and a climate of freedom of association and expression.
This fact says much about the great strides we’ve made in democratic transformation, but not without challenges. Our gains are many.
Among other things, in the first half of our term in government, from 2009, we’ve developed a long-term strategy for improving education quality – Action Plan to 2014: Towards the Realisation of Schooling 2025.
According to the findings of the 2009 General Household Survey, 30% of 0-to-4-year olds attended an education institution. In 2009, more than 78% of 5-year-olds attended an educational institution.
There has been an approximate 40% increase in the proportion of 5 year olds receiving some form of childhood education in South Africa, from 39% in 2002 to approximately 78% in 2009.
There has been an increase in Grade R enrolment from 15% in 1999 to 60% in 2009. This points to a massive 45% increase between 1999 and 2009.
Levels of participation among children of compulsory school-going age (7 to 15 years) are high, with almost 99% of children in this age group enrolled in an education institution in 2009.
In 2009, South Africa had 12 313 899 learners in 27 461 public and independent schools taught by 365 447 educators. In comparison with 1999, there were 85 937 more learners in school, taught by 47 620 more teachers.
Our school nutrition programme has offered meals to over 7 million learners in more than 20 000 schools.
The major challenge is quality. We must get the basics right. Then we can have functional schools, properly run to produce better results, and accountability to tax-payers.
In order to develop a better understanding of what the challenges are and benchmark our current performance, in February this year we administered the Annual National Assessments (ANA).
As you know, in Grade 3, the national average performance in literacy, was 35%. In numeracy the average was 28%.
In Grade 6, the national average performance in languages was 28%. For mathematics, the average was 30%.
Out of concern, we conducted a qualitative analysis of ANA results. We found a lack of generic skills among learners.
By Grade 3, and up to Grade 6, many learners could not write properly and legibly.
Many learners performed poorly because they could not read or follow simple instructions, like “fill in the missing word” or “tick the correct answer”. There was a lack of basic vocabulary.
On the whole, learners displayed a serious lack of fundamental literacy skills across all the grades but more so from Grade 4 to Grade 6. There were instances where written outputs from learners who were already in Grade 6 could hardly be expected from learners in Grade 1.
Many learners could not handle basic numeracy operations. They could not subtract, multiply or divide.
The learning deficiencies showed by the ANA results suggest that there is too little learning taking place in most schools. The rate at which most learners develop cognitively is very low.
The level, quality and rate of skill and knowledge development is lower in numeracy than in literacy.
What we found in the 2011 ANA is confirmed by the Southern and Eastern African Consortium for Monitoring Education Quality (SACMEQ) III Report.
This study, on trends relating to general conditions of schooling and reading and mathematics achievement levels of Grade 6 learners and their teachers, also shows that learners in our country are achieving below average.
Against the SACMEQ mean score of 500, learners in KwaZulu-Natal scored 486 for reading and 485 in mathematics.
In response to ANA results and other studies, we are developing a coherent national strategy for improving literacy and numeracy. It must help in upping school performance, to lift-up learners’ ability to read, write and calculate.
It will help address deficiencies, including resources management, school and district management and leadership, accountability and monitoring. It will support the attainment of minimum quality standards by 2014, especially in the targeted Grades – 3, 6 and 9.
As I promised in our 2011 budget vote speech, we have put in place a Planning and Delivery Oversight Unit that will ensure these things are done.
We will mobilise society to take more interest in education, and remind parents of the importance of their participation in improving children’s literacy and numeracy.
These things we can’t achieve without good teachers and highly-skilled principals.
The teaching fraternity is a pillar of a successful nation of productive citizens. Perhaps that’s what the poet Robert Frost meant when he said: “I’m not a teacher but an awakener.”
Union leaders must urge teachers to be on time, teaching at least 7 hours a day, and promote quality education. You must play a key role in professional development.
Our priorities include teacher development. In April (2011), we launched a framework for teacher development. Its focus is on targeted, subject-specific teacher education and development, to improve content knowledge.
I must repeat – education is a societal issue. You would know that in July (2011), government and social partners signed two accords, on National Skills and Basic Education.
Accord 2, on Basic Education and Partnerships with Schools, commits all parties to endorse a campaign to adopt poorly-performing schools and to “assist such schools to develop proper governance, high standards of teaching, basic school-level discipline and an adequate supply of essentials.”
The extent to which we undo current perceptions about education, depends entirely on what we all do to give the nation’s children a better educational start in life.
In conclusion, I strongly believe that unionism is about restoring the dignity of teaching. I know from Aristotle that: “Those who educate children well are more to be honoured than parents, for these only gave life, those the art of living well.”
I thank you.
