The Minister of Basic Education, Mrs Angie Motshekga, has welcomed a report by the National Education Evaluation and Development Unit (NEEDU) hailing it as a confirmation that the department was directing its interventions in the right areas.
NEEDU was established as an independent body to provide the Minister of Basic Education with an authoritative, analytical and accurate account on the state of schools in South Africa, and in particular, on the state of teaching and learning.
The first report by the unit looked at The State of Literacy Teaching and Learning in the Foundation Phase (Grades 1-3). The report selected 134 primary schools in high population areas across all nine provinces, representing a cross section of schools typically found in urban areas and a wide array of teacher learner demographics.
The report found that a greater emphasis on the quality of school management was required if the education system was to achieve its goal of providing quality education for all.
“Where poor oversight and management coincides with ill-discipline, the systemic focus must be on strengthening management capacity at school and district levels. If on the other hand teachers’ being unable to deliver the curriculum is the dominant cause of school under performance, then the solution is to take a different course, focused on capacitating teachers through strengthening their knowledge resources,” the report found.
The study also found that there were some challenges in the delivery of the curriculum particularly around language, reading, books, writing, assessment and professional development. NEEDU made a number of recommendations which the DBE could implement.
These recommendations include reconfiguring language policy to suit schools. There was also a call for the DBE to commission the writing of graded sets of reading materials for use in the Foundation Phase for the nine official African languages. Schools must also make the effort to improve the proficiency of learners and teachers in the Language of Learning and Teaching and the First Additional Language being used at the school;
In response to the report, Minister Motshekga said that the findings provided the evidence required to obtain the parliamentary support for the DBE’s intervention strategies meant to remedy some of the challenges mentioned.
“We welcome this important report precisely because we are committed to the goal of improving the quality of education for all children in the country,” said Minister Motshekga.
“In particular we are pleased to report that NEEDU speaks to some of the concerns we had articulated when we commissioned an audit of the Provincial Reading Programme in February this year. Another area of concern relates to the difficulties that had been experienced by many teachers and learners around the country pertaining to complex language issues,” she said.
Motshekga said it was for this reason that in 2012 the department introduced English as a compulsory FAL in all African language speaking schools. And in 2014 a new policy will come into effecting, mandating the learning of an African language in all schools.
Minister Motshekga added that while the department welcomed the findings that workbooks were well received throughout the system, she was concerned that there were indications that the resources were not being used to their full potential and steps will be taken to address this.
“We look forward to engaging with all of those who are concerned with the challenges we face in providing the quality of education we expect and deserve. Working together we can do more,” concluded the Minister.
