ANNOUNCEMENT OF APPROVAL FOR THE RELEASE OF THE FOLLOWING EXAMINATIONS

1. GETC ABET OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING AND THE IEB

2. NATED PROGRAMMES AND THE NATIONAL CERTIFICATE(VOCATIONAL) OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING AND

3.  NATIONAL SENIOR CERTIFICATE OF THE DEPARTMENT OF BASIC EDUCATION , THE IEB AND ERCO

Thank you, Dr Mafu Rakometsi, for the welcome address.

At the outset, let me explain Umalusi's mandate.

Umalusi is the Quality Council responsible for quality assurance in General and Further Education and Training. It is the accountable and certificating authority for assuring the quality of the following qualifications:

• The National Senior Certificate (NSC), which replaced the Senior Certificate; and
• The old Senior Certificate, which will be phased out in 2011;
• General Education and Training Certificate (ABET level 4);
• the National Certificate Vocational NC(V);  and
• the NATED N courses

In addition to assuring the quality of the examinations administered by the Department of Basic Education and the Department of Higher Education and Training, Umalusi is also responsible for quality-assuring the examinations administered by two independent assessment bodies:

• The Independent Examinations Board (IEB); and
• The Eksamenraad vir Christelike Onderwys (ERCO).

In terms of the GENFETQA Act of 2001(as amended in 2008), Umalusi is required to approve the release of results once it is satisfied that the examinations have been conducted in a credible manner. In order to make this determination, there are various processes that must be carried out. These are:

(1) Moderation and approval of question papers;

(2) Verification of the moderation of internal assessments;

(3) Monitoring of the conduct of examinations;

(4) Monitoring of the marking process

(5) Verification of marking;

(6) Standardisation of the results.

Over the past few days, commencing on the 17^th December 2010, Umalusi's Assessment Standards Committee has been busy with the standardisation of the examination results of the qualifications mentioned above. Umalusi conducts not only the process of standardisation, which is required for national examinations, but it also, through rigorous procedures, assures the quality of the entire examination processes.

Gaining the approval of the Umalusi Council for the release of the results is determined by the examinations' level of compliance with policies, directives and guidelines issued by both Umalusi and the Departments of Basic Education and Higher Education and Training. Before such an approval is granted, Umalusi Council has to satisfy itself that no significant irregularities have occurred to undermine the integrity and the credibility of the examination processes.

The Standardisation process:

Let me briefly outline what the standardisation process is.

Standardisation is a process that is used the world over to mitigate the impact on learner performance caused by factors other than the learner's knowledge and aptitude. A large-scale examination system invariably has many and varied sources of variability. These include, inter alia, the levels of difficulty of question papers, errors in question papers and inconsistency of marking. The main objectives of standardisation are to ensure that

(1) A cohort of learners is not unduly advantaged or disadvantaged by undesirable fluctuations or variations in the examination processes.

(2) Our system produces a relatively constant quality of output from one year to the next.

In short, standardisation seeks to mitigate fluctuations in learner performance that are a result of factors within the examination processes themselves rather than the knowledge, aptitude or abilities of learners. It is based on, among other things, a widely accepted assumption that, for large populations, the distribution of aptitude and intelligence does not change appreciably from one year to the next. It is therefore reasonable to expect that, all things equal, this year's cohort of learners should perform at a comparable level to last year's cohort.

The 5% language compensation:

This is the most misunderstood concept in this country. In terms of the policy on language compensation, learners who offer an African language as Home Language and do not offer Afrikaans or English as Home language qualify for a 5% language compensation on the mark they have obtained in a non-language subject. For example a learner who obtains a mark of zero (0) out of 300 will obtain 5% of zero (which is zero) for language compensation; a learner who obtains 10 out of 300 will receive 5% of 10, which is 0,5 marks, for language compensation; a learner who obtains 100 out of 300 marks will obtain an additional 5 marks for language compensation.

It is not the case that some learners obtain a bonus of 5% in the exam results.

Let us now turn to the results of the 2010 examinations:

1. National Senior Certificate examinations, administered by the Department of Basic Education

• In total, 641 533 candidates wrote the NSC examinations that were administered by the Department of Basic Education.
• A total of 58 subjects were standardised at the standardisation meeting held on the 24^th December 2010.
• The non-official languages and Equine Studies were, however, standardized at the standardisation meeting of the IEB's subjects as the exams for these subjects were run under the auspices of IEB.

The final outcome of the standardisation of the 58 NSC subjects is as follows:

• Raw examination marks were accepted for 39 subjects;
• Upward adjustments were effected on  9 subjects;
• Downward adjustments were effected on 10 subjects.

Umalusi is pleased with the fact that for 67.24% of the subject's raw examination marks were accepted. This is an indication that the qualification is stabilising and that the assessment instruments are, in general, being pitched at the correct levels. It must also be noted that for the subjects where adjustments were effected, no marks were adjusted to the maximum ten percent provided for in the standardisation principles.

Final declaration and release of results:

Having studied all the evidence at hand on the management and conduct of the NSC examinations administered by the Department of Basic Education, Umalusi is satisfied that nothing has compromised the integrity or credibility of the examination process. Accordingly, we hereby approve the release of the results of the NSC Examinations administered by the Department of Basic Education. We note that the implementation of the standardisation decisions is currently underway and the resulting processes are also being checked. We shall continue to monitor these processes to their completion.

2.   Examinations administered by the Department of Higher Education and Training

We now turn our attention to the examinations administered under the auspices of the Department of Higher Education and Training. These are: GETC (ABET), NC(V), and the NATED (N1-N3) subjects.

2.1    General Education and Training Certificate - (ABET)

• In total, 83 000 candidates sat for the GETC ABET examinations.
• 23 learning areas were standardised;
  • For nine (9) learning areas we accepted raw examination marks;
  • For thirteen (13) learning areas examination marks were adjusted upwards;
  • For one (1) learning area examination marks were adjusted downwards.

2.2    National Certificate (Vocational)

In total 192 subjects were standardised.  

• For 128 subjects, raw examination marks were accepted;
• For 32 subjects, examination marks were adjusted upwards;
• For 32 subjects, examination marks were adjusted downwards.

2.3  NATED (N1-N3) subjects

In total 118 subjects were standardised.

• Raw examination marks were accepted in 88 subjects;
• Upward adjustments were effected on 13 subjects; and
• Downward adjustments were effected on 17 subjects.

Final Declaration and release of results:

Having studied all the evidence at hand on the management and conduct of the  examinations administered by the Department of Higher Education and Training, Umalusi is satisfied that nothing has compromised the integrity or credibility of the examination process. Accordingly, we hereby approve the release of the results of the GETC (ABET), NC (V) and NATED subjects administered by the Department of Higher Education and Training.

3.  Examinations  administered by the Independent Examination Board (IEB)

There are two examinations that are administered by the IEB - the National Senior Certificate (NSC) and the ABET.

3.1 National Senior Certificate Examinations (IEB)

In total, 8 261 full-time and 104 part-time candidates wrote the National Senior Certificate Examinations administered by the IEB.

• Umalusi moderated 68 question papers across all 36 subjects examined by the IEB.
• Total number standardised 53 subjects.
  • In 38 subjects raw examination marks were accepted;
  • For 9 subjects, examination marks were adjusted upwards;
  • For 5 subjects, examination marks were adjusted downwards.
  • For 1 subject, examination marks were adjusted upwards and downwards.

3.2  General Education and Training (ABET)

In total, 1 691 candidates sat for the GETC ABET examinations

A total of 8 learning areas were standardised

• 8 learning areas marks were accepted as raw;
• 0 learning areas were adjusted upwards;
• 0 learning areas were adjusted downwards.

Final declaration and release of results:

Having studied all the evidence at hand on the management and conduct of the examinations administered by the IEB, Umalusi is satisfied that nothing has compromised the integrity or credibility of the examination process. Accordingly, we hereby approve the release of the results of the NSC and ABET Examinations administered by the Independent Examination Board.

4. National Senior Certificate Examinations administered by the Examenraad vir Christelike Onderwys (ERCO)

In total 1 100 candidates wrote ERCO examinations. Umalusi moderated 36 question papers across all 20 subjects examined by ERCO

In total, 22 subjects were standardised 22

• For 15 subjects raw examination marks were accepted;
• For 7 subjects examination marks were adjusted upwards;
• No examination marks were adjusted downwards.

In the case of the Eksamenraad vir Christelike Onderwys (ERCO), Umalusi is pleased to approve the release of results, having monitored the examination processes and studied reports on quality assurance of the examination.

It must, however, be indicated that Umalusi is not in a position to give an unqualified approval as to the integrity and credibility  of their 2010 examination of ERCO due to some systemic errors which resulted in, among others, the writing of an examination paper in Accounting which was not the finally approved version. This was addressed during the standardisation process to some degree.

The 2010 standardisation process was conducted in the most systematic and objective manner possible. The decisions taken to accept raw examination marks or to perform slight upward or downward adjustments were based on very sound educational reasoning and supported by the qualitative information presented to Umalusi. It is, once again, worth noting that the majority of the proposals of the examination bodies were consistent with those of Umalusi. This is further evidence of a fast maturing assessment and examination system.

On behalf of Umalusi, I would like to thank the DBE, DHET, IEB and ERCO for submitting the necessary documentation and evidence that allowed Umalusi to make its evaluative judgement and make appropriate pronouncements on the integrity and credibility of their examination processes.

I congratulate all the learners who have passed, and thank, all who has been a part of this year's examination process.

Dr Sizwe Mabizela

Chairperson of Council

Umalusi