(CEM) meeting
26 February 2007
The Council of Education Ministers today held its first meeting in 2007.
Expressing concern at the decline in the 2006 senior certificate exams, the
Minister said, "It is clear we must take nothing for granted and that every
school should be monitored, supported and encouraged to perform well. It is
important for South Africa to have regular assessments of learning achievements
and for all children to have up to date performance and achievement records at
all levels of schooling."
Minister Pandor welcomed the increased budget for education. "We must work
hard to retain national confidence in education. The new support for literacy
offers exciting opportunities, as does the funding for higher education."
CEM approved the following:
* Norms for support staff in public schools
Council approved the process for finalising the 'norms for support staff in
public schools' policy. The norms are determined by affordability and the
principle of allocating resources on a pro-poor basis. The norms serve as a
basis against which each province can evaluate its level of provision. Norms
will result in all schools having secretarial and administrative support. Poor
schools with no support staff will be the first to benefit.
* Teacher incentives
Council approved the tabling of a draft collective agreement on teacher
incentives at the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC). The agreement
provides for the payment of incentives to educators in designated posts which
will include posts in rural areas, in scarce subjects and other hard to fill
posts.
CEM discussed the following matters:
Council discussed reports on the 2006 senior certificate, Adult Basic
Education and Training (ABET) and Further Education and Training (FET)
colleges' examinations, the National Education Infrastructure Management System
(NEIMS), the implementation of the strategy for mathematics, science and
technology in the Dinaledi schools, the implementation of the new curriculum in
grades 10 to 12 (general) and the recapitalisation of FET colleges.
The projected completion date of the NEIMS study is March 2007. Nearly all
the site assessments have been completed and the focus is now moving to final
data capturing, data checking and clean up, after which an investment plan for
education infrastructure will be developed.
A national catalogue for grade 12 textbooks has been developed. A catalogue
for all approved textbooks will be distributed to provinces and schools at the
end of March 2007.
CEM noted the following matters:
Preparations for implementation of the national course for school leadership
are at an advanced stage. The course will be piloted in five universities with
390 principals.
The Advanced Certificate in Education (ACE) (school leadership) is an entry
level qualification for principalship following successful field testing with
serving principals. The Department of Education has been engaged in a process
of professionalising school leadership as an important component of improving
the quality of education. Five higher education institutions (HEIs) have
registered their courses through the Department of Education and Council for
Higher Education (CHE). A research component has been built into the approach
with a particular focus on measuring the relationship between this practice
based course and the impact on the principal's school.
The grade 11 exams will begin in early November 2007 and mathematics is
scheduled for the last week of November.
The Department of Education is developing a monitoring strategy for no fee
schools. The Minister has directed that a sample of no-fee schools be surveyed
in order to assess the impact of the policy on schools.
The council agreed that urgent steps must be taken to expand the number of
maths and science teachers in higher schools. It was agreed that strategies
such as the employment of foreign teachers will be explored and accelerated as
well as the employment of South African teachers with the appropriate
qualifications.
Editors' notes:
1. The norms for support staff will be made policy in terms of the National
Education Policy Act, 1996 (Act No 27 of 1996).
2. Support staff is divided into two categories, administrative assistant
(typist, clerk, secretary, receptionist, bookkeeper) and general (grounds
person, cleaner, foreperson).
3. Current budget trends make it possible for every province to implement an
incentive equal to 10% of the first notch of salary level 7. Provinces could
choose to increase the incentives offered or the number of designated
posts.
4. NEIMS will provide a web based infrastructure database for monitoring and
planning. Individual site reports and summary reports will be available and
will be utilised for managing queries, cost modelling and accessing digital
images (photos, maps and scanned documents).
Contact:
Lunga Ngqengelele
Ministerial Spokesperson
Tel: (012) 312 5538
Cell: 082 566 0446
E-mail: ngqengelele.l@doe.gov.za
Issued by: Ministry of Education
26 February 2007
