Question No. 145
Dr JC Kloppers-Lourens (Democratic Alliance) to ask the Minster of Basic Education:
(1) Whether all examination panels follow the same prescribed guidelines in order to ensure balanced examination papers with the right standards; if not, why not; if so, what procedures are the relevant details;
(2) Whether an examination panel is dissolved and a new panel reconstituted if it was found that the standard of a particular paper had been flawed; if not, why not; if so, what procedures re followed;
(3) Whether her department has taken any steps to ensure that the level of difficulty for subjects will be correct for the next national senior certificate examination; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
Reply:
1. The standard for the national senior certificate (NSC) question papers is derived from the national curriculum statement (NCS) and subject assessment guidelines. These documents stipulate the learning outcomes and assessment standards on which questions are based. In addition, examination guidelines further clarify the format of the question paper, mark allocation, assessment criteria, cognitive levels and the scope and depth of the content to be assessed.
The national curriculum statement, subject assessment guideline and examination guideline are specific to the subject and provide the standard to which question papers in the subject must comply. In addition, the setting of question papers follows a rigorous process of internal and external moderation.
During internal moderation, a subject specialist appointed by the Department of Basic Education, moderates the question paper, memorandum and accompanying analysis grid using a set of agreed criteria to ensure that there is compliance to policy in all respects. This is followed by external moderation where a team of independent subject specialists appointed by Umalusi, the Quality Assurance Council, review the question paper, memorandum and analysis grid to ensure that the question paper is of the highest quality and standard.
The Department of Education also benchmarked selected question papers, which included physical science, mathematics, life sciences, history, accounting and English first additional language, with three international examining bodies. This exercise found that the South African grade 12 question papers were of comparable standards with question papers of the same level in those countries.
2. At the end of each examination, the question papers are reviewed and if a flaw is identified, this is thoroughly interrogated to ascertain the reasons for the flaw. The flaw could arise due to an interpretation of the curriculum statement, the assessment or the examination guidelines, given that this is the only the second year of implementing the new curriculum.
If however, members of a panel are found to be incompetent or negligent in the setting of the question papers; their appointment will be immediately terminated. The Department of Basic Education also conducts an annual performance evaluation of all examiners and where a panel is deficient in certain skills; additional examiners are appointed to strengthen the team.
3. Out of a total of 197 question papers written by candidates in the 2009 NSC examination, the level of difficulty was found to be appropriate in all the question papers except for mathematics first paper, accounting and physical science. The performance in these subjects was very poor compared to previous years.
It is important to note that with 2008 being the first year of implementation, it was agreed that the cognitive demand of the Mathematics question paper would be phased in over a three year period. Hence, the mathematics question paper was regarded as being easy by the public in 2008. The cognitive demand of these papers was raised in 2009, as part of the phased in plan of the Department of Basic Education.
In the case of physical science, it has been observed that the physical science curriculum is too extensive for grade 12 and the curriculum is currently under review. The performance in accounting has also been poor and this has been identified to be a problem related to teaching and learning of the subject, which is also being currently addressed.
The responses from the public and the candidates are useful and are expected with the implementation of the new curriculum. These comments will be looked at very closely and every effort will be made to make sure that more appropriate question papers are set in 2010 in these subjects.
Therefore, I am convinced that my department is doing all that is possible to ensure that the 2010 question papers in the selected subjects are of the appropriate standard.
Issued by: Department of Basic Education
11 February 2010
Source: Department of Education (http://www.education.gov.za/)
