BRIEFING TO EDUCATION PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE

NATIONAL PARLIAMENT3 SEPTEMBER 2003

CONTEXT: SYSTEM LOADCurricula that will be “running” in the system from 2002 to 2008.2002 = 550 C20052003 = 550 C20052004 = 550 C2005 RNCS FET2005 = 550 C2005 RNCS FET2006 = C2005 RNCS FET2007 = C2005 RNCS FET2008 = RNCS FET

PREPARATION / LEAD TIMEREVISED NATIONAL CURRICULUM STATEMENT (C2005-R) 4mths 1yr 2yrs 3yrs 4yrs 5yrsFP 2002 2003IP 2002 2003 2004G7 2002 2003 2004 2005G8 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006G9 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

PREPARATION / LEAD TIMECURRICULUM 2005 (VERSION 1)

4mths 1yr 2yrs 2002 2003 2004Grade 6 - Imp.GETC Sys.trial Sys.trial Awarding

of full GETC

CURRICULUM IMPLEMENTATION

STRATEGY

Phase out C2005 version 1

Phase in the Revised National Curriculum Statement

PROGRESS REPORT: REVISED NATIONAL

CURRICULUM STATEMENT

ACTIVITIES: RNCSDevelopment of StatementProduction, and DistributionDevelopment of Learning Programmes Policy GuidelinesLegislation of RNCS as Policy

PROGRESS: RNCSStatement has been completed and has been approved by CEM and Cabinet

Production is complete, (promotional copies are available) distribution is underway to be completed by end of November 2002.

Posting on website has been attended to

PROGRESS: RNCSTranslation of the Learning Area Statements is in final stages of editing and approval.

DoE is responsible for first distribution of working copies by 30 November 2002

Each province will be supplied with the relevant master CDs for the printing of subsequent / additional copies.

DISTRIBUTION TABLE SCH IE TC ECD HI AE TOTEC 6217 43 26 461 7 271 7025FS 2599 20 11 129 2 200 2961GT 2270 100 33 768 11 225 3407KZ 5891 62 24 471 6 175 6629MP 2115 19 10 120 0 212 2476NC 510 7 6 123 0 97 743NP 4198 18 14 523 2 520 5275NW 2330 42 11 482 3 440 3308WC 1630 79 18 409 5 178 2319SA 27760 390 153 3486 36 2318 34143

PROGRESS: LPPGLearning Programme Policy Guidelines are in the final stages of development.

Final drafts are currently being scrutinised.

Translation and versioning will be activated as soon as the drafts have been finalised.

PROGRESS REPORT: DEVELOPMENT OF THE

GETC

CONTEXT / BACKGROUNDThe entire organisation of the roll out to the awarding of the GETC was guided by the following:

The expectations of teachers and schools should be in accordance with policy positions in terms of Curriculum 2005.

The gazetted assessment policy would form the framework.

CONTEXT / BACKGROUNDLearners should not be “surprised” by encountering types of tasks that teachers should have been conducting in their classrooms in compliance with policy.

That the CTA administration should not be seen as additional or parallel tasks but form part of the classroom routine in the main.

REPEATER RATESYR EC FS GT KZ MP NC WC 97 12.4 10.2 13.9 - 17.7 15.8 10.998 13.5 22.3 15.9 - 99 - - 14.6 13.1 19.2 - 10.6SA 1997: 13.4

1998: 14.8 The average repeater rate has been calculated between 13% and 15%. Provincial heads of Curriculum have indicated that according to their reckoning the repeater rates range from 15% to 30% for Grade 9.

PROGRESS: GETCAssessment guidelines have been completed and distribution is underway

It was agreed that discretion in the number of assessment forms is necessary.

Schools are obliged to complete at least 3 forms of assessment per learning area

PROGRESS: GETCConsensus that Common Task for Assessment (CTA) will be used was reaffirmed.

It was acknowledged that CTA have been designed to mirror forms of assessment that should be part of the routine continuous assessment at schools

PROGRESS: GETCCommon Tasks for Assessment have been finalised and provinces have been supplied with the Master CDs for production and printing.

Provinces will decide on the logistics of administering the CTA.

PROGRESS: GETCIt was agreed that the CTA would not be revealed to learners prior to the actual administration – the training CTAs could be used for this purpose.

Training CTAs, together with teacher manuals have been completed and master CDs have been supplied to provinces.

PROGRESS: GETCAs per agreement each province will organise the preparation of teachers, as it deems necessary.

Condonation proposals submitted to HEDCOM (9/10 September 2002)

ADRESSING WORKLOADIt was agreed that the number of types of assessment be reduced from 5 to at least 3.

This accepts that the traditional pen and paper “tests / exams” could constitute one of the types of tasks and that teachers therefore would easily meet the requirement through the types of tasks they would have included in their continuous assessment programme.

ADRESSING WORKLOADIt was also agreed that section A of the “Common Tasks for Assessment” (CTA) could commence in the 3rd term.

This would allow the “10 notional” hours to be accommodated. It was also pointed out that notional hours should not be equated with 10 actual contact / classroom hours as many of the tasks would involve learners working at home, after school, in groups etc. not under the direct supervision of the teacher.

ADRESSING WORKLOAD

It was agreed that Section B of the CTA would only be administered in the week beginning 11 November 2002.

This would ensure that learners do not assume that they have “finished school for the year” too early and thus do not attend school or create difficulties with managing their presence in schools when they feel they have “nothing to do”