A critical review of the pace of educational change in South Africa over the past 20 years delivered by the Minister of Basic Education Mrs. Angie Motshekga, MP, at the World Social Science Forum held in Durban
Chairperson of the Panel discussion, Dr Vijay Reddi,
Prof Crain Soudin,
Mr Godwin Khosa,
Prof Servaas van Der Berg,
Distinguished Guests,
Forum Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen.
Good morning,
It is an honour for me to participate in this special Panel discussion session of the World Social Science Forum 2015, specifically to reflect on the pace of Educational Change in South Africa over the past two decades.
The theme of the Panel discussion is: Planning the Pace of Change. The key question is: at what pace should progress be made in transforming education in Africa? Is enough being done to ensure significant advances towards excellence in education across the continent? Or have we settled for less?
Ladies and gentlemen, South Africa has often been recognised as the education transformation capital of the world, with its successive education transformation initiatives including curriculum reform over the past two decades or so.
It is therefore about time that researchers, scholars, practitioners, education leaders, policymakers, learners, parents, and other key stakeholders in education came together to share positive stories and compare notes on the progress made towards targets set in a number of sector mandates such as, the National Development Plan (NDP), Medium-Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) 2014-2019 and Action Plan 2019: Towards Realisation of Schooling 2030 in reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).
The panel members are expected to critically review the pace of educational change in South Africa over the past twenty years. Chairperson, education is the apex priority of this country. It is the key lever to improving the quality of life in a society. It is the engine that drives personal, social and economic development in the country, and must rightfully be prioritized if we are to achieve a society that provides adequately for all of its members including those that are most vulnerable. What we need to interrogate is: have we settled for less?
Challenges confronting new democracy in 1994
Ladies and gentlemen, we all know that our democratic state in South Africa inherited a divided nation, with high poverty levels, inequalities, discriminatory practices and inequitable distribution of income. The inequalities that persist today have largely been attributed to discriminatory policies limiting access to quality education and formal labour market participation, which served to keep people trapped in poverty.
Opportunities for black people (African, Coloured and Indian) to secure management positions or become owners of companies were minimal. Service provision was also distorted. In rural areas in particular, black people were denied access to clean water, sanitation, electricity, safe transport and quality education. In urban areas, services for black people barely met basic needs. Power outages were common and the supply of critical services was intermittent.
The democratic South Africa also inherited a racially differentiated education system, with 19 different departments of education, each maintaining different standards and administrating its own assessment and examinations.
There was also a huge backlog in public school infrastructure. There were not enough classrooms, and most black schools did not have libraries, laboratories, sports fields or access to water, electricity and sanitation. Very few African children benefited from early childhood development services.
It was estimated that in 1994, 28.7 percent of children under the age of five were undernourished and hence pro-poor policies introduced since 1994. Children with disabilities, especially black children, were even worse off, with a large number not being in school at all and those who had access, being segregated in special schools that were not adequately resourced or accessible to children living in rural areas of the country.
Re-positioning the education sector after 1994
A major task after 1994 was to completely restructure and rebuild the education system and redress the inequities of the past as required by the Constitution and White Paper on Transformation in Education. Education had to be transformed and democratized in accordance with the constitutional values of human dignity, equality, human rights and freedom, non-racism and non-sexism in order to guarantee the right to basic education for all.
The first five years of democratic government witnessed significant reform in education – establishing democratic governance and democratising relations within and outside of the state, establishing sound systems at national and provincial levels to manage reform, review and strengthen resource allocation on the basis of redress and equity, take the discourse of education policy and reform into the public arena for debate and discussion, and transform learning by offering a curriculum that would shape future possibilities for education and training for the nation.
Progressive policies such as White Paper 1 (1995), White Paper 2 on the Organisation, Governance and Funding of Schools (1996), White Paper 3 on Higher Education (1997), White Paper 4 on Further Education and Training (1998), White Paper 5 on Early Childhood Development (2001), White Paper 6 on Inclusive Education (2001) and White Paper 7 on E-Education (2004), introduced a holistic new vision for education and training which promoted access to quality lifelong education and support for children and youth across the age spectrum in a seamless, integrated and inclusive education system which embodied the values and ideals of our new democracy of equity, quality and lifelong learning for all.
The South African Schools Act (Act 84 of 1996) and all its subsequent revisions embodied the measures for the practical implementation of the vision set out in the White Papers. The South African Government was further committed to honouring its obligations in terms of several international statutes and conventions such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (ratified in 2007) to combat segregation, inequality and violation of human rights.
Overall achievements and changes effected from 1994-2015
Over the past twenty years, South Africa forged towards a single education system founded on the principles of democracy and freedom. Twenty years later, the sector has made numerous strides towards improving the quality of education, especially in respect of access, equity and redress. It should be noted that improving the quality of education requires further improvements in early childhood development, investment in school infrastructure and facilities, effective school management and substantial improvements in literacy and numeracy.
The NDP’s vision for 2030 is that South Africans should have access to education and training of the highest quality, characterised by significantly improved learning outcomes. In line with the NDP, the Basic Education Department has also extended the sector plan to stretch to 2030, while keeping its original goals of quality improvement and adding emerging areas that need attention.
The sector acknowledges that the South African schooling system is characterised by certain challenges. However, the Department’s turnaround plan published in October 2011, now called “Action Plan 2019: Towards the realisation of Schooling 2030”, in combination with other interventions and strategies developed to improve the overall quality of education, has already begun to show positive steps to changing the status quo and towards achieving all the Education for All (EFA) goals. The following initiatives have been prioritised to advance access, equity and redress in the Education sector:
4.1 Access, Redress and Equity
Education statistics at a glance
Access to primary and secondary schooling improved significantly, with near universal enrolment in primary schooling. Grade R enrolment has reached near universal enrolment and more than 90% of learners aged between 7 and 15 are enrolled in school. Gross secondary enrolment improved from 51% percent in 1994 to 89 percent in 2012.
According to STATS SA in 2002 there were 324 575 children out of school and by 2014 this was drastically reduced to 92 631. The number of children out of school has steadily declined since 2002, from 3.6% in 2002 to 1% in 2014. Over the same period of time there has been an increase in the percentage of 15 to 24 year old youth who have completed Grade 9 and above from 63.4% in 2002 to 78% in 2014.
There was a considerable improvement in the qualifications of educators, with the proportion of under-qualified educators reduced from 36% in 1994 to 5.6% in 2012. Educators have been redistributed, through redeployment and post provisioning strategies, to areas of greatest need. This has led to vast improvements in establishing more equitable learner: educator ratios, from an average of 47:1 in 1994 to 30:1 in 2012.
Improvements in inter-provincial equity have been achieved utilising the inter-governmental fiscal framework and the Equitable Shares Formula. Expenditure in the Eastern Cape and Northern Province – two of the poorest provinces – improved in 1997/98 by 49% and 36.9% respectively.
Education is one of the most significant long-term investments a country can make. It lays the foundation for a higher quality of life, greater employment opportunities and a better-skilled workforce. There has been a significant increase in education expenditure under the post-apartheid democratic government, from R31.8 billion in 1994 to R170 billion in 2012.
South Africa has one of the highest rates of government investment in education in the world. Yet education outcomes continue to lag behind those of other middle-income countries, reminding us of the enduring legacy of an apartheid education policy, and the need to strengthen and widen our efforts to eliminate it.
Per capita expenditure on learners showed significant convergence across provinces and an overall increase from R2 222 in 1994 to R11 290 in 2013. Public spending in South Africa on primary and secondary schooling as a proportion of GNP compares well to that of other countries. Public spending on schooling as a percentage of GNP is 4% compared to an average of 3.1% for developing countries and 2.9% in sub-Saharan Africa. Total spending per learner in comparison to International standards:
While there has been an improvement in the equity of education funding, inequalities in terms of resources available at public schools remain due to the disparity in households’ ability to supplement the funding of public schools and due to inherited school infrastructure backlogs, equity in terms of learner outcomes remains a challenge. Performance in high quintiles still surpasses that of schools in poor quintiles.
Through the Reconstruction and Development Programme, R1.4 billion was allocated for school construction and maintenance between 1995 and 1997. Much progress was made in school electrification, and increased water supply to schools.
A new funding model was introduced to replace the race-based, inequitable funding model of the apartheid era. Overall, the education budget increased to more than 5 percent of GDP19, and changed from a race-based education budget to a pro-poor education budget.
The department has committed to eradicate mud schools through the ASIDI. The ASIDI programme, together with the provincial infrastructure programmes, forms the backbone of SIP13 and the national school build programme of the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Commission. 109 schools have been completed, 342 schools have received water for the first time, and 351 schools have received decent sanitation for the first time. 288 schools have been connected to electricity for the first time. As a result of improved infrastructure, a higher proportion of younger children are accessing classroom facilities.
4.2 Quality and efficiency
In the past four years, the National Senior Certificate pass rate has been as follows: In 2009 it was 60.6%, in 2010 it was 67.8%, in 2011 it was 70.2%, in 2012 it was 73.9% and in 2013 it was 78.2%. In our sector plan towards schooling 2030 we had targeted 75% by 2014. In 2013 we achieved 78.2%, we had surpassed our target with a year to go. At the Grade 12 level, The National Pass Rate for the Class of 2014 is 75.8 percent. Of the total number of learners who wrote the NSC examination in 2014, 150 752 (28.3%) qualified for admission to Bachelor studies.
The Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) show improvements in the quality of education, surpassed by few in the developing world, though off a low base. In Mathematics, in 2002, the overall TIMMS results was 285, in 2011 the results have increased by 67 to 352. In Physical Science, the base result of 268 in 2002 has improved to 332 in 2011. The target for 2015 TIMMS is 361.
In an effort to improve quality in the system, the Annual National Assessments (ANA) were introduced in the General Education and Training (GET) band (Grades R-9), focussing on Languages and Mathematics. ANA is a diagnostic tool to gauge the extent to which the basic education system is impacting on the critical areas of numeracy and literacy and to help the sector to self-correct. In the Foundation Phase targeted interventions by the Department have helped to achieve the goals that were set in the Action Plan 2014.
This has been achieved in both Mathematics and Home Language. In Grade 6 there has been a large increase in the percentage of learners achieving acceptable achievement levels for both Mathematics and Home Language. In the Intermediate Phase learners in Grade 6 are performing well in subjects taken as Home Languages and across all provinces the achievement level is above 50%. Overall, in Home Languages and Mathematics, there was more than 4% increase in the performance of learners.
In 2014, 7, 3 million Grades 1-9 learners in all public schools participated in ANA. While the ANA results of 2014 show an upward trend in most grades, efforts are still required towards realising the desired 60% threshold of learners mastering the minimum language and mathematics competencies by the end of Grades 3, 6 and 9 some improvement has been registered.
The results show that the system is responding to the unrelenting focus on underperformance and inefficiency within the system. Learner performance in Mathematics in the Senior Phase has been identified as an area of concern and therefore the Department has recently introduced the 1+4 Maths model to support teaching and learning. In order to ensure that Mathematics and Science is enhanced as a focal point in the Sector, a Maths, Science and Technology Directorate has recently been established at a National level.
Going forward we will work hard to sustain improvement in learner performance, enhanced accountability at all levels of the system, greater focus on basic functionality of schools, and protecting time for teaching and learning.
4.3 Human Capital
The quality of education of any system is predicated on the quality of its teachers. The qualification profile of teachers in the sector has improved from 53 percent in 1990 to 97 percent in 2013. The data on the Foundation Phase teacher education involving universities show a massive growth of 35 275 in 2008 to 97 000 in 2013.
These numbers continue to grow year on year. Whilst this is encouraging, different studies still point to the need to continuously ensure that teachers and subject advisors competencies are improved.
The sector acknowledges that our human resources strategy has to be comprehensive and be informed by emerging research on what teaching and non-teaching support staff we need to reposition our Sector. We will be working with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to develop a survey on teachers’ perceptions and the necessary conditions for ensuring quality teaching, efficiency and accountability in our Basic Education System.
The fundamental challenge for the sector is that despite positive changes, many children continue to drop out or pass without the necessary foundations to lead productive lives. The NDP suggests that this is due to limitations in human capacity (teaching, management and school support), learner language skills and a lack of cooperation between key stakeholders.
4.4 Early Childhood Development
Early childhood development (ECD) is critical for improving the results of learners in the education system. Since 1994 there has been a significant increase in access to centre-based care, albeit from a low base. It is estimated that over a million children less than 4 years old are now in an ECD facility or some form of out-of-home care. Of these, 467 000 children are recipients of the means-tested subsidy through 18 826 registered centres.
The Department has undertaken several initiatives to improve the quality provision of ECD programmes in the country. These include reviewing all ECD qualifications to address the training needs of practitioners working with children from nought to four years and Grade R, gazetting the Draft National Curriculum Framework and a Draft ECD Policy Framework for Universal Access to Grade R, and aligning the sector priorities with the National Development Plan (NDP) in order to provide a two-year ECD programme to children in collaboration with the Department of Social Development.
The ECD programme is currently being extended to cover the first 1 000 days of life (from conception to two years old). Few of the youngest children (under two years old) are informal early child care and education centres. Furthermore, the majority of poor children are not accessing ECD centres. A Multi-sectoral coordination is being strengthened to ensure that a more comprehensive set of services (nutrition and food security, antenatal and postnatal care, and home-based and community-based ECD programmes) is offered, with greater focus on improving access for poor children.
4.5 Vulnerable Groups
Recognising that the apartheid legacy would weigh heavily on sectors of society that were most vulnerable and least well-placed to benefit from democracy, the democratic state has prioritised the building of an equitable society, with a particular focus on those historically excluded from participating in the mainstream of society.
These include, of course, children with disabilities, but also girl children, children living in extreme poverty, child-headed households, deep rural areas, who are affected by HIV and Aids and other chronic conditions and learners who are at risk of dropping out, abuse and getting exploited through child labour practices.
The overall approach of government has been to introduce policies which equip schools and teachers with skills to identify barriers to learning and development as early as possible so as to provide appropriate interventions. The radical approach followed, looks rather at addressing the barrier (which could be contextual, systemic and classroom-based, e.g. poor teaching methodologies) than fixing, labelling and ultimately exclude the children. The programme for introducing Inclusive Education is therefore seen as a means through which the radical transformation of education can be achieved, rather than as something which has to happen in addition to the education transformation process.
Although the first focus has therefore been to increase access through building of more public schools (special and ordinary), especially in deep rural areas, focus has also been placed on equipping teachers with skills to deliver the curriculum more effectively through differentiated teaching methods as well as the implementation of the Policy on Screening, Identification, Assessment and Support which guides the teachers on how to identify and address barriers to learning in inclusive settings.
All these measures emphasise that schools must change their cultures, policies and practices to embrace diversity and become tolerant and enabling learning environments. Large scale training of teachers, school teams, managers and officials has been conducted since 2001 to achieve this vision.
The number of special schools increased from 380 in 2001 to 453 in 2014. The number of so-called full-service schools which are ordinary schools, equipped to support learners with disabilities and other barriers to learning in their local neighbourhoods have also increased to 793. The total enrolment of learners with disabilities and other special needs in school (ordinary and special) has increased from 63000 in 2001 to 231 521.
This constitutes substantial progress in terms of access, but Government recognises that there are still a huge number of learners with disabilities who are out of school. After the 2011 census, the estimated number of learners who are out of school (or in school without having been identified as in need of additional support) has risen to more than 500 000. In this challenge, South Africa is not alone, as has been signalled at the World Education Forum meeting in Korea in 2015.
This has prompted Government to follow a radically different approach in how vulnerable learners will in future be supported in their local neighbourhood schools, by introducing outreach services from special schools transformed into resource centres, full-service schools and district-based specialist itinerant teams. This is also in line with our obligations in terms of Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) which commits us to introducing an inclusive education system at all levels. The emphasis will be on preventing drop out and improving education for all by effectively addressing barriers to learning and access.
Overall, South Africa is achieving gender parity in school enrolment with a Gender Parity Index of 1 in 2012, and is on track to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of achieving universal primary education by 2015.
The White Paper on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (WPRPD) of which a draft has been approved by Cabinet in 2015, represents a historical milestone to promote the rights of people with disabilities by guiding the formulation of sector-wide policies and programmes that ae in line with the CRPDA basket of services ranging from free healthcare, social assistance and inclusive education, targeting both adults and children with disabilities, opened up access to opportunities.
Significant further achievements in improving quality education and support for learners with disabilities, has been the introduction of the National Curriculum Statement for South African Sign Language (SASL) which will introduce a new dispensation for learners who are Deaf, the training of teachers in SASL, in Braille and in Augmentative and Alternative Communication and remedial education.
The Policy on the Minimum Requirements for Teacher Qualifications of 2014 (MRTEQ) makes inclusivity a key component of all teacher training programmes at initial teacher education level. This will ensure that a new generation of teachers will exit Higher Education Institutions with skills to accommodate diversity and differentiate the curriculum.
Lastly, the Department of Education is in the process of developing a Skills and Vocational Leaning Programme which would create a new pathway for learners who are not academically inclined to enter artisan and vocational training and employment. This initiative is in line with international trends towards recognising the value of introducing vocational education in the schooling system.
As is clear from the progress steps outlined above that much has been achieved to improve the quality of education and life of persons with disabilities but much still remains to be done to address persistent discriminatory attitudes, inaccessible public transport systems, barriers in the built environment that may prevent people with disabilities from accessing services, lack of access to communication and information as well as poor enforcement of key legislation impacting on disability.
To address these challenges, the NDP includes plans to increase access to services, particularly quality education, and employment for people with disabilities.
3.6 Learning and Teaching Support Materials (LTSM)
The Department has prioritised that every learner should have access to the minimum set of textbooks and workbooks. The provision of workbooks by DBE (also in Braille) is seen as one of the intervention strategies to ensure that all learners in the public schools access basic minimum teaching and learning resources.
Workbooks have been developed to assist teachers in ensuring that learners cover all the topics and skills that they should complete within the school year. These resources are also intended to support the improvement of learner performance by assisting teachers to expose learners to a set of standardized exercises. In addition workbooks provide learners with a variety of activities to reinforce mathematical and literacy skills.
There has been a huge investment in the sector to provide textbooks for children for example from 2011-2014 a total of R7 765 billion has been budgeted for textbooks. Moreover, from 2013-2015 9, 9 million workbooks have been supplied for Mathematics in Grades 1-9 and 7 million Home Language workbooks provided for grades 1-6.
3.7 Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
ICT Support has been provided via Mindset, involving Live TV revisions and linked to a website, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc. We have also established an educational TV channel (Available on Open View Higher Definition (OVHD) (Channel 201), DSTV (Channel 319) & StarSat platforms)
Currently 830 schools have access to DBE TV channel. Grade R, 4 – 6, 8 – 9 & 10 -12 Live & pre-recorded lessons are broadcast daily.
Network Operators (Vodacom, MTN, Cell-C & Neotel) are providing Internet connectivity & end-user devices to schools as part of the Universal Service & Access Obligation (USAO). 327 Secondary schools have been provided with Internet & ICT devices. Schools have access to online curriculum resources (past papers, study guides) on Thutong & provincial curriculum portals.
4.8 Monitoring and Tracking Systems
The National Strategy for Learner Attainment (NSLA) has been firmly entrenched as the basic accountability tool to monitor and track learner performance in the schooling system. A significant aspect of NSLA rests on ANA and NSC Diagnostic Reports and Subject Improvement Plans which are developed annually for implementation in classrooms. Monitoring and support visits are conducted at provincial, district and school levels based on the prescripts of the National Education Policy Act (NEPA).
The Forum of Districts established by the Minister has over the last 4 years held 17 meetings which has strengthened coherence in the sector but has also provided critical insights into the system at school, circuit and district level. There is enhanced focus across the system on learning and teaching, prioritizing monitoring of:
- Curriculum coverage;
- Assessment coverage;
- Support to schools at risk;
- Support to learners at risk/progressed learners; and
- Learner and teacher attendance.
The sector has developed a set of programmes addressing learner well-being, as part of learning and teaching improvement. We will test the effectiveness of our Learner Unit Records and Information Tracking System (LURITS) – the live database to generate monitoring and tracking information for each learner – in a special project to evaluate its impact on a sample of schools so we can clearly and more carefully estimate repeaters, as well as the drop-out and retention rates in different parts of our country.
But what is most important is at what pace should progress be made in transforming education in South Africa? Is enough being done to ensure significant advances towards excellence in education across the country? Or have we settled for less? These are key questions for today’s debate.
Way forward for change
Based on the evidence that we have, and a realistic understanding of the priorities in our system, we will focus on comprehensively deepening our work and improving the quality of teaching and learning; refining and undertaking more careful assessments and evaluations of the work we do so that we can track progress; improving the foundational skills our children have; and in ensuring a credible outcomes-focused planning and accountability system in support of wider national development priorities. The Sector must continue to expand its own relevant research and evidence base to inform policy and good practice.
In response to the National Development Pan (NDP) 2030, sectoral partnerships have resulted in the establishment of the National Education Collaboration Trust (NECT), which is working in eight districts, and which has annual targets related to generating improvement for sustainable scalable application in the Sector.
Basic Education priorities for the 2014-2019 MTSF are as follows:
- Improved quality of teaching and learning through development, supply and effective utilisation of teachers.
- Improved quality of teaching and learning through provision of adequate, quality infrastructure and Learning and Teaching Support Materials (LTSM).
- Improving assessment for learning to ensure quality and efficiency in academic achievement
- Expanded access to Early Childhood Development and improvement of the quality of Grade R, with support for pre-Grade R provision
- Strengthening accountability and improving management at the school, community and district level.
- Partnerships for education reform and improved quality.
I warmly welcome your thoughts and opinions on this and it is clear that this debate is sure to add value to deliberations and the collective wisdom we can illicit from this forum.
I thank you.
