delivery of quality education
15 November 2007
The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) has entered a new chapter in
the pursuit of delivering quality education for all this year as it
successfully implemented the first phase of the department's redesign
project.
Cameron Dugmore, MEC for Education in the Western Cape, told the Education
Standing Committee of the Provincial Legislature today, 15 November 2007 that
the first phase involved appointing senior management who would drive systemic
change to improve the quality of education in the province.
The second phase would involve improving support for schools considerably
where it is needed the most, via strong circuit teams in the districts. The
WCED will invest about 75 percent of the resources allocated to the redesign to
the districts.
Mr Dugmore presented the Annual Report of the WCED for 2006/07 to the
Standing Committee today, and will do so again to the Standing Committee on
Public Accounts (Scopa) tomorrow, 16 November 2007.
Said MEC Dugmore: "Our national curriculum is designed to ensure that our
learners succeed in the global knowledge economy of the 21st century. We have
to offer education that matches best international practice to take our place
on the world stage.
We face huge challenges as we try to introduce best practice, especially in
our poorest communities. The redesign will help us to meet this challenge.
Key challenges include ensuring that the Western Cape has sufficient numbers
of well-trained teachers. The WCED has steadily increased the number of
teachers over the past five years.
The department has increased the number of teaching posts by 747 for 2008,
and will pay special attention to improving teacher learner ratios in the
Foundation Phase (Grades R to 3), in line with the province's Human Capital
Development Strategy.
Highlights of the 2006/07 financial year included the launch of the WCED's
Literacy and Numeracy Strategy in July 2006.
The number one priority of the department is to improve the literacy and
numeracy performance of primary school learners, especially in the Foundation
Phase. The strategy seeks to strengthen and co-ordinate existing strategies
more effectively, and to introduce new approaches.
The strategy includes regular diagnostic testing to identify precisely the
issues that we need to address. The WCED assessed 82 879 Grade 3 learners at 1
086 schools in October and November 2006.
The study showed that the pass rate for Grade 3 learners in literacy has
improved from 39,5 percent in 2004 to 47,7 percent in 2006, an increase of 8,2
percent. This is an improvement of 12,2 percent since 2002, when we started the
testing programme. While this is not enough, the improvement since 2002 is
significant, and shows that special interventions do work.
We are less happy with the results of the numeracy study, which reflects a
decline of 6,5 percent from 37,3 percent to 31 percent. We are now working with
schools to ensure an appropriate balance between time spent on both literacy
and numeracy.
We draw tremendous encouragement from schools in poor communities that
achieve good results. These schools demonstrate that the right approach and a
"can do" attitude can make a difference.
I would like to mention two schools in particular who serve the poorest of
the poor, and who showed a substantial improvement in their results in the 2006
study.
The first is Wagenhuiskranz Primary School, that serves the fishing
community in Bredasdorp. They improved their numeracy result from 30,8 percent
in 2004 to 77,3 percent in 2006, and their literacy result 46,2 percent to 81,8
percent. Numeracy therefore saw an improvement of 46, 5 percent, while literacy
improved by 81, 8 percent.
The second is Kliphoek Primary School, a farm school between Piketberg and
Redelinghuis on the West Coast, who improved their numeracy result from 25
percent in 2004 to 75 percent in 2006, an improvement of 50 percent. They
improved their literacy result from 50 percent to 100 percent during this
period, a remarkable achievement!
The common factor is completely dedicated staff who applies themselves to
dealing with this issue. Both schools are not afraid to try new approaches and
who welcome advice from our literacy and numeracy specialists. They have
studied the results of the tests and have applied appropriate solutions.
The schools are well managed and provide attractive teaching and learning
environments. The learners are neat and generally reflect the positive
attitudes of the school.
In the case of Wagenhuizkrans, the local community banded together to
appoint a governing body teacher for six months of the year, who has helped to
improve literacy and numeracy performance of Foundation Phase learners.
We are learning from these examples of best practice and will continue to
share them across the province. Meanwhile, our strategy also encourages parents
to build literacy and numeracy skills at home. Our schools, districts and adult
education centres are engaged in a number of programmes to encourage family
learning.
We have launched the first phase of a family learning campaign across the
province, to provide tips to parents on what they can do at home to build the
literacy and numeracy skills of their children.
We are currently broadcasting tips in a six-week radio campaign and will
distribute leaflets to parents via our schools in the 21 poorest communities of
the Western Cape. The leaflets include tips and information on what is required
of learners in Grade 3.
The second phase of the campaign will encourage lifelong learning in adult
education centres and will support the mass literacy campaign that will be
being driven by the national Department of Education (DoE) in 2008.
The WCED and the DoE expanded the Dinaledi programme to 50 high schools in
the Western Cape in 2006, to improve access to quality mathematics and science
education in poor communities. Dinaledi schools are receiving special
facilities and extra teachers.
The Dinaledi programme is not a quick-fix. Success depends on building a
foundation in early grades. 2006 was a start-up year, and we expect the results
to start showing as the Grade 10s of 2006 reach matric in 2008.
Other highlights of the 2006/07 financial year mentioned in the Annual
Report include the following:
* The introduction of the new national curriculum for Grades 10 to 12,
starting with in Grade 10 in 2006.
* The appointment of 510 teaching assistants in 163 primary schools and 100
specialists who are responsible for supporting teachers as they strive to
improve the literacy and numeracy performance of learners in Grades 1 to 3.
* Work continued on preparing teachers for introducing the national
curriculum in Grades 10 to 12. The WCED organised workshops for 8 372 teachers
at 136 venues during the June/July 2006 school holiday. About 1 500 teachers
attended further sessions during the September school holiday.
* The WCED organised workshops for more than 5 700 teachers at 93 venues
during the July 2006 holiday to prepare for introducing the revised national
curriculum in Grades 8 and 9 in 2007.
* The WCED began implementing a three-year programme to recapitalise Further
Education Training (FET) colleges at a cost of R1,9 billion, starting an
investment of R70 million in 2006/07.
* The WCED introduced 11 new Vocational Certificate Programmes at FET
colleges in 2006, to meet special needs of the Western Cape economy.
* The provincial government provided R25 million for student loans in
2006/07 to improve access to FET colleges for learners from disadvantaged
backgrounds. The loans financed 8 000 students in 2006/07.
* the WCED paid special attention to ensuring safe school environments at
109 high-risk schools. Measures included improving security infrastructure,
safety procedures, and deploying Bambanani volunteer guards in collaboration
with the Department of Community Safety.
* The WCED deployed Learner Support Officers to assist in reducing truancy
and to promote positive attitudes towards teaching and learning.
* The Western Cape achieved a Senior Certificate pass rate in 2006 of 83,7
percent, the highest in the country. A total of 33 316 candidates passed,
reflecting an increase of 743 compared to 2005.
* The quality of the Senior Certificate passes showed steady improvement.
The number of candidates who passed with endorsement (10
589) improved by 195 compared to 2005, while the number of candidates who
passed with distinction continued to grow, reaching 2 280 (5,73 percent), the
best result in this category for the five-year period, 2002 to 2006.
* In March 2007, school principals, school governing bodies and learner
representative councils signed commitments to set targets for improving pass
rates and the quality of passes at their schools, following close analysis and
collaboration between officials and schools. We are also holding officials
accountable for performance across the system through the performance
assessment mechanism.
* The WCED and partners in provincial government launched a learnership
programme for 900 pre-school teachers to improve access to quality pre-primary
schooling. The WCED subsidised an additional 6 000 learners in Grade R classes
during 2006/07.
* The WCED launched its Language Transformation Plan in February 2007,
following extensive consultation, to expand mother-tongue education in primary
schools.
* A total of 652 schools became no-fee schools in the Western Cape in 2007.
The status was compulsory for 419 of these schools in poverty quintiles one and
two. A further 245 schools in quintile three accepted an invitation from the
WCED to accept this status voluntarily.
* More than 200 000 learners and 500 000 members of communities took part in
the inaugural week of the WCED's Community Schools Initiative in August 2006,
designed to build social capital in the province.
* The WCED launched a new School Business Management training programme in
April 2007 in conjunction with partners in the United Kingdom and South Africa.
The partners developed the programme during the course of 2006. We are
convinced that schools that are well managed and led will do well. For this
reason, we are focusing on leadership development and management.
* The WCED and the Shandong Provincial Education Department in China signed
an agreement in January 2007 to cooperate on a range of education projects. The
agreement forms part of a broader agreement between the two provinces on trade
and investment, among other areas of collaboration.
* The WCED won six of the eight Premier's Awards for Service Excellence in
2006, including the top Gold Award for a project called "160 Days of
Intervention for ABET Centres", based at the Breede River/Overberg Education
Management and Development Centre.
* The WCED Khanya project won three prestigious awards during 2006/07,
including a Silver Premier's Award for Service Excellence; the Technology Top
100 Leader in Empowerment Award; and a Gold Award from the Impumelelo
Innovations Award Trust. Khanya provides technology to support teaching and
learning.
We are committed to improving access to quality education in every
community, and to building a learning home for all. We can only do so by paying
continuous attention to detail, and we are continuing to do so in 2007/08.
Enquiries:
Gert Witbooi
Media Liaison Officer
Office of the MEC for Education
Western Cape
Tel: 021 467 2523
Fax: 021 425 5689
Issued by: Department of Education, Western Cape Provincial Government
15 November 2007
