17 March 2007
Performance agreements of education officials must be linked to the
successful meeting of academic targets in schools, so said Education MEC
Cameron Dugmore in his keynote address to a workshop on assessment standards in
schools, convened by the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) today and
tomorrow in Paarl.
The workshop is attended by about 250 teachers, principals, union
representatives, tertiary institutions, curriculum experts and senior education
officials, to deliberate on protocols for assessment standards and
qualifications in the new Further Education and Training (FET) curriculum and
in the General Education and Training (GET) band in schools.
Other key speakers include Deputy Director-General for FET in the national
Department of Education Penny Vinjevold, as well as Jenny Rault-Smith, Director
of Curriculum Development of the WCED. Addressing delegates, MEC Dugmore said
he could not understand how 40% of learners who have been allowed to enter
Grade 12 simply did not make it at the end of the year.
I think we have to ask ourselves what is happening in those schools in the
Grade 8-11 classrooms as well. Do the teachers know how to teach properly? Do
they know how to assess? Do their learners know how to study? We need to know
what learning is taking place. We need to know if those who enter Grade 12 in
the first place have really met the requirements at a Grade 11 level.
A macro target for the province this year is to have not a single school
recording a matric pass rate of under 60%. This is a very specific challenge
today to the people in this meeting as I know you are, in fact the critical
role-players in this province. Let's get it right! For the sake of our
children.
MEC Dugmore said parents need to know that the days where the parent only
knows that a child is in trouble when the final report with the F on it drops
into the letterbox, is a thing of the past.
Our parents need to know that assessment is ongoing. It is not just tests
any more, or exams, it is assessment with a purpose, it is assessment so that
better learning and better teaching can happen. It is not assessment just to
get marks, it is not assessment for a competition between learners, and rather
it is a checking and reporting mechanism.
We don't punish or threaten children mindlessly. We help with discipline,
yes but we don't shatter and destroy. Nurture and challenge but don't destroy.
MEC Dugmore revealed that the WCED is in the process of establishing an
Assessments Directorate through the re-design process, which will be dedicated
to assessment matters.
With regards to classroom-based support, MEC Dugmore said, I must be honest
here and lay a bold and direct challenge to unions. I know that classroom
visitation is a sensitive matter and the subject of negotiation. But let me say
plainly here that officials simply must be allowed as a matter of course into
actual classrooms.
If we have teachers who are struggling, then we need to know what the
problems are so we can help remedy them. I have received isolated reports of
some cases where officials have been denied access. The matter was raised at a
meeting of the Council of Education Ministers and the national minister
indicated that she found it hard to even accept that this was an issue because
the employer has a duty to ensure that our children are being properly
taught.
I don't for a moment want to suggest a compromise to the integrity of the
shop floor role of unions. However I must repeat my plea made elsewhere for a
constructive partnering model so that we can fight together against things that
erode quality education and can fight together for the rights of our
children.
Through the evaluation processes starting up through our Integrated Quality
Management System (IQMS) I believe that we are developing more reflective
teachers. We must and we will open our doors to officials to render practical
support and training with due sensitivity where it is needed most.
For full text of speech, visit http://www.capegateway.gov.za/education.
For enquiries, contact
Gert Witbooi
Cell: 082 550 3938
E-mail: gwitbooi@pgwc.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Education, Western Cape Provincial Government
17 March 2007
