Basic Education Department doing more to improve content knowledge among teachers
08 Aug 2014
The report released this week suggesting that teachers are not sufficiently equipped to teach mathematics is not revealing anything new. It is a rehash of what is already in the public domain.
In fact the Department of Basic Education (DBE) has made significant progress toward improving the subject knowledge of teachers particularly in mathematics and physical science. Content knowledge by teachers across all grades was identified as a challenge years back and action has been taken to address this matter.
We have noticed a steady and sustained improvement in MST National Senior Certificate (NSC) examination results. This is a result of strategic systemic interventions for strengthening and raising performance at all levels of the system.
The number of passes in Mathematics, increased to 142 666 in 2013, which is 20 696 more than the 121 970 passes of 2012. In Physical Sciences, we experienced an increase of 124 206 passes in 2013, which is 14 288 more than the 109 918 of 2012 passes in line with the National Development Plan and the Sector Plan. The detailed diagnostic analysis of NSC results has enabled us to implement improvement strategies.