N Pandor: South African Principals Association Provincial Annual
Conference

9 June 2006

Dr Chabalala, President of SAPA
Honoured guests

The existence of a collective of principals that meets regularly to consider
the progress of education and the role of education leaders is an important
occurrence. Thank you for inviting me to this important conference.

All of us in education need to spend deliberate time reflecting on the state
of education in South Africa. Not from the perspective of lamenting and
complaining but with the intention to isolate key challenges and tasks. This of
course should not be for the purpose of navel gazing rather you must engage for
the purpose of formulating united strategic responses that can and must deliver
quality in education.

Everyday we read reports about ourselves as a sector:

Just last week the CEO of a Sectoral Education and Training Authority (Seta)
asserted that school leavers, university graduates and others from our schools
lack basic skills and competencies. All of you must have read by now the two
systemic evaluation reports that indicate that at grade three and six the
majority of children in our country cannot read, write and count at the
required age level.

I would like to refer to a number of comments that have been made by leading
educationists about inadequate educational outcomes in South Africa. In 2005
Jonathan Jansen said “despite significant national investment in education and
formal equalisation of education expenditure across provinces and population
groups, educational outcomes are not only hugely unequal across schools, but
also far below standard in comparison with other middle or even far lower
income countries, as we see in the discussion of SACMEQII ”
(Ref: J. Jansen, Transformation Audit, IJR, 2005. P. 71)

In 2001 Dr Nick Taylor wrote “There is no question that the South African
public school system is one of the most inefficient in the world, if not at the
bottom of the pile. Despite high levels of spending as a percentage of Gross
Domestic Product (GDP), off a base that is significantly higher than that of
the overwhelming majority of developing countries, learning outcomes are either
worse than or comparable with those of the poorest nations.”
[Nick Taylor: “Outcomes, Effort and Values in Schooling”, Joint Education
Trust, presentation to the conference: New Millennium Business School, Wits
University 15 May 2001]

Finally in 2005 Dr Luis Crouch, respected educational economist wrote:
“There is little doubt that the biggest two problems South Africa faces are the
extreme inequality in actual learning achievement and the relatively low level
in this achievement across all groups.”
[Luis Crouch: Disappearing schoolchildren or data misunderstandings. Drop-out
phenomena in South Africa, December 2005.]

These matters must be put before yourselves quite frankly because the South
African Principals Association (SAPA) is an important stakeholder in education.
As a stakeholder it is absolutely vital that in your engagements you reflect in
a serous and concentrated fashion on the key impediments and challenges that
must be confronted if we are to build educational success in South Africa.

The theme of the conference is “Challenges facing the provision of quality
education in South Africa, with special reference to Limpopo Province”.

In order to move from a perspective that recognises both our challenges as
well as our victories I would like to add to my earlier reflections by
reminding you of some of our achievements over the past 12 years of
democracy.

Firstly, there has been a significant improvement in access to education for
the children of our country. This is one of our major achievements. We have
ensured that nearly every child attends school.

A further victory is the removal of mandatory fees for schools that have
found it difficult to compel poor parents to pay school fees. For the first
time this year we have abolished school fees in some schools and we have
financially compensated these schools for their loss of this income.

We set a target of 20% of learners for 2006 and 40% for 2007. We have
already exceeded our 2006 target; three million pupils at 9 215 primary and
secondary schools are in newly declared no-fee schools this year. Gauteng was
the only province not to declare no-fee schools this year. They will declare in
2007.

This means that already one out of every four learners is fee free.

Second, the organisation of governance in our schools has been
democratised.

The power to govern schools lies primarily with parents themselves. Still
principals are an important component of School Governing Bodies (SGBs) as they
represent the school management team. The involvement of so many in the current
SGB election is testimony to the success of the model of democratic governance
of our schools.

We applaud the commitment of the more than 200 000 parents and others who
are active in local school governing bodies the largest group of elected
representatives in the country. The report of the Ministerial Review Committee
on School Governance in 2003 found that parents and communities, of all races
and language, play a crucial role in their school governing bodies, and have a
good grasp of the legislative and educational environment in which schools
operate.

Principals play an important role in ensuring that the SGB elections take
place in their schools. We thank you for going beyond the call of duty in
making sure that elections take place in your schools.

Third, there has been some improvement in student achievement at grade level
school leaving examinations. Nevertheless I remind you of my earlier remarks
about our poor learning outcomes.

The number of learners, particularly black learners, has continued to grow
together with the number of learners acquiring a matric endorsement.

Limpopo’s percentage pass declined last year but the numbers passing matric
increased.

However, 309 schools out of 1 405 returned pass rates of less than 50%. That
means that there are 309 principals here who have worrying levels of
underperformance in their schools.

If we accept the comments referred to above even through our successful
schools we are producing successful matriculants whom cannot read, write and do
basic mathematics computations. We have begun to carry out analyses of the
possible reasons for these poor outcomes. Earlier anecdotal evidence suggests
in many schools, both at primary and secondary levels, little attention is paid
to writing of essays, writing of summaries, silent reading, comprehension and
understanding the language of mathematics and science. These are areas of
concern that could be remedied through the direct intervention of principals in
guiding the learning process in schools. The question must be asked as to what
role our principals play in ensuring quality learning outcomes and
processes.

A startling phenomenon is a fact I have observed in the past two years.
There are hundreds of school principals and teachers throughout the country who
appear satisfied with mediocrity. These are those schools, and we all know them
well, that consistently perform below par despite every effort by Government
and by district officials. Given the massive investment that our country makes
in education we have to ask the hard question. Can South Africa continue to
afford failing schools, failing leadership, failing educators? If the answer is
no what then does this important astute collective believe we should do? In a
nutshell what I am asking you to consider in this meeting is how do we as a
sector move education from mediocrity to excellence, the answer must lie, must
come from this room.

As you know senior certificate results were published by district for the
first time in 2005. This was done in order to develop a clearer perspective on
the location of failing schools and districts. The results showed that we have
6 districts performing well above average, 60 that is average and 13 districts
that are failing to make the grade.

With respect to Limpopo, parents and others now know that the province does
not have vast differences in the quality of schools. The difference in
performance between schools shows that schools are more equal here than they
are in the rest of the country. However, Capricorn district is the best; and
Bohlabela is the worst.

Our expectation is that as principals you are sharing expertise and devising
strategies to ensure all the schools produce quality outcomes. The association
should be a resource for principals who are seeking solutions.

Dr Motsoaledi always reminds us at Council of Education Ministers (CEM) that
the best students in maths and science come from Limpopo! So, you already have
an important strength. The recent promotion of a responsive language in
education is sure to support higher levels of achievement. It will do so if
executed honestly and in the interests of education. As we offer opportunity to
our learners to benefit from mother tongue education and senior study of an
indigenous language we must also not neglect the acquisition of proficiency and
competence in English.

However, some challenges remain. The best educationists will remind us that
academic matters are not the only means of providing a quality education. There
are important non-academic matters that impact on learning and teaching.
Non-racism and non-sexism are key principles and objectives that underpin the
foundation of our society. To what degree do our schools promote non-racism all
our schools? What is being done to actively teach males in our schools that
girls and women are equal citizens and not toys for abuse or entertainment?
What posts do female teachers occupy; do they serve as leaders in schools and
do our schools have gender awareness programmes and codes of conduct that
promote respect for all?

Furthermore, we have encouraged schools to become disability friendly. Are
our schools geared to receiving and supporting persons with disability?

A third aspect relates to the physical abuse, alcohol and drug abuse that we
find in some of our schools. What role is the school leadership playing in
creating safe schools? Strategies need to involve learners in developing codes
of conduct, in implementing the codes and in guiding positive conduct.

Beyond these issues that address our Constitutional principles, school
leaders also have to respond to life-related issues such as HIV and AIDS
education and promotion of healthy lifestyles. I hope that all principals and
teachers read newspapers and education journals and am therefore informed on
critical issues confronting South Africa, Africa and the world. That would
allow your schools to have debating societies, development clubs and other
activities that enhance lifestyle and intellect. It is true that history placed
many of us in a disadvantaged context, but that history does not mean we should
accept our condition as inherently self-evident and pre determined.

It is our belief in the department that principals should be strategic and
intellectual leaders of their schools and the sector in general. They should
ensure that schools have the capacity to teach the curriculum well. As
strategic leaders they should also ensure the democratic functioning of schools
through working in partnership with SGBs and other stakeholders.

One of the items for discussion at this conference is a code of conduct for
learners. I hope the code will also address the problem of teenage
pregnancy.

The law is clear that no learners should be expelled from school because of
pregnancy. We should reflect on how we help learners to avoid pregnancy. How do
we counsel and support children?

Principals and parents should support the development of school-based
structures and preventive measures against teenage pregnancy within the
learning area of life orientation.

In addition to supporting you in addressing all these challenges we have
also planned major changes for the role of the principal. The Personnel
Administrative Measures (PAM) defines the role of principals in relation to
staff, school improvement and management in six areas of responsibility, the
general administration and management of a school, the provision of
professional leadership within a school, and so on.

However, these areas of responsibility need to be redefined, so that the
role of the principal in management and governance is clear and not
confused.

We have put in place a policy framework for training school
principals.
The framework includes a national qualification that will become the
entry-level qualification to the position of principal nationally. What we have
introduced is a values-driven approach to school and education management that
foregrounds issues of transformation while taking due cognisance of the
administrative and technical skills needed to manage a school.

This qualification will ensure that the roles and values of this important
office are clearly spelt out, as well as key performance measures against those
roles.

We will work through the district office to provide support to principals to
manage schools effectively.

Support and services at the district level are lacking and this is where
support to all schools should be concentrated. It is increasingly clear that
the education system can only function and assure sustained broad-based
improvement in the quality of schooling if the district plays a key role.

The powers of the districts and their understanding of their role in the
system and a measure of standardization across all districts have improved over
the last three years.

However, this is only a start and a lot of capacity and confidence building
is needed.

In concluding let me stress that we expect a commitment to excellence and
high professional ethics from our principals.

We have no room for mediocrity or persistent absenteeism and alcoholism in
our schools.

We have too many men at the top and not enough women. We require attention
to the gender imbalance in the management of education.

At secondary school level the majority of principals are male; over 70% of
our educators are female, yet they occupy less than 20% of senior management
positions at school.

My department is developing protocols and regulations to ensure that
recruitment procedures are aligned to support the goal of gender equity in
recruitment for senior positions at school.

We are committed to delivering quality education to all our children. I hope
you will enjoy, learn and make the best out of this conference.

Thank you.

Issued by: Department of Education
9 June 2006