Statement on the Release of the Annual National Assessments Results for 2011 by Mrs Angie Motshekga, Minister of Basic Education, Union Buildings, June 28 2011

"Towards a delivery-driven and quality education system"

Thank you for coming to this media briefing on the results of the Annual National Assessments (ANA) for 2011. These tests were written in February 2011 in the context of our concerted efforts to deliver an improved quality of basic education.

It was our intention to release the results on 29 April 2011, at the start of the new financial year, so that we could give ourselves, provinces, districts and schools ample time to analyse them carefully and take remedial steps as and where necessary. Preparing for this was a mammoth task and there were inevitable delays.

Background

We have taken an unprecedented step in the history of South Africa to test, for the very first time, nearly 6 million children on their literacy and numeracy skills in tests that have been set nationally.

This is a huge undertaking but one that is absolutely necessary to ensure we can assess what needs to be done in order to ascertain that all our learners fulfil their academic and human potential.

ANA results for 2011 inform us of many things, but in particular, that the education sector at all levels needs to focus even more on its core business - quality learning and teaching.

We're conscious of the formidable challenges facing us. The TIMMS and PIRLS international assessments over the past decade have pointed to difficulties with the quality of literacy and numeracy in our schools.

Our own systemic assessments in 2001 and 2004 have revealed low levels of literacy and numeracy in primary schools.

The Southern and Eastern African Consortium for Monitoring Education Quality (SACMEQ) results of 2007 have shown some improvements in reading since 2003, but not in maths.

This is worrying precisely because the critical skills of literacy and numeracy are fundamental to further education and achievement in the worlds of both education and work. Many of our learners lack proper foundations in literacy and numeracy and so they struggle to progress in the system and into post-school education and training.

This is unacceptable for a nation whose democratic promise included that of education and skills development, particularly in a global world that celebrates the knowledge society and places a premium on the ability to work skilfully with words, images and numbers.

Historically, as a country and an education system, we have relied on measuring the performance of learners at the end of schooling, after twelve years. This does not allow us to comprehend deeply enough what goes on lower down in the system on a year by year basis.

Purpose of ANA

Our purpose in conducting and reporting publicly on Annual National Assessments is to continuously measure, at the primary school level, the performance of individual learners and that of classes, schools, districts, provinces and of course, of the country as a whole.

We insist on making ANA results public so that parents, schools and communities can act positively on the information, well aware of areas deserving of attention in the education of their children. The ANA results of 2011 will be our benchmark.

We will analyse and use these results to identify areas of weakness that call for improvement with regard to what learners can do and what they cannot.

For example, where assessments indicate that learners battle with fractions, we must empower our teachers to teach fractions. When our assessments show that children do not read at the level they ought to do, then we need to revisit our reading strategies.

While the ANA results inform us about individual learner performance, they also inform us about how the sector as a whole is functioning.

Going forward, ANA results will enable us to measure the impact of specific programmes and interventions to improve literacy and numeracy.

Administration of ANA

The administration of the ANA was a massive intervention. We can appreciate the scale of it when we compare the matric process involving approximately 600 000 learners with that of the ANA, which has involved nearly 6 million.

There were administrative hiccups but we will correct the stumbling blocks and continue to improve its administration.

The administration of the ANA uncovered problems within specific districts not only in terms of gaps in human and material resources, but also in terms of the support offered to schools by district officials.

ANA results for 2011

Before conducting the ANA, we said we needed to have a clear picture of the health of our public education system - positive or negative - so that we can address the weaknesses that they uncover. This we can now provide.

The results for 2011 are as follows:

In Grade 3, the national average performance in Literacy, stands at 35%. In Numeracy our learners are performing at an average of 28%. Provincial performance in these two areas is between 19% and 43%, the highest being the Western Cape, and the lowest being Mpumalanga.

In Grade 6, the national average performance in Languages is 28%. For Mathematics, the average performance is 30%. Provincial performance in these two areas ranges between 20% and 41%, the highest being the Western Cape, and the lowest being Mpumalanga.

In terms of the different levels of performance, in Grade 3, 47% of learners achieved above 35% in Literacy, and 34% of learners achieved above 35% in numeracy.

In the case of Grade 6, 30% of learners achieved above 35% in Languages, and 31% of learners achieved above 35% in Mathematics.

This performance is something that we expected given the poor performance of South African learners in recent international and local assessments. But now we have our own benchmarks against which we can set targets and move forward.

Lessons learnt and interventions

We have already begun to put in place interventions based on the challenges we have identified and confirmed through ANA. While there is ‘no quick fix', we are confident that our interventions will bear fruit in the years to come, especially since we are now in a position to measure their impact.

We know from international research on the impact of such annual assessments that they begin to bear fruit after some time. The conduct of such assessments requires teachers and the system to focus on what exactly is being taught and learnt.

What we now know is that there has been an under-emphasis on the development of basic skills of reading, writing and numeracy at the foundation levels and that this is where we need to focus our attention.

My predecessor, Minister Naledi Pandor, launched the Foundations for Learning Campaign in 2008 to improve learner performance in reading, writing and numeracy in all schools.

This year we distributed 15000 Foundations for Learning packs for use by teachers from Grade R to 3. These included the development of lesson plans and assessment frameworks.

We have completed the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements and will phase them into the Foundation Phase in 2012. They build on the Foundations for Learning and provide more time for languages and mathematics (or literacy and numeracy).

We therefore expect that there will be much more focused teaching and assessment. But this needs to be supported with guided teacher development and appropriate readers and workbooks. Our workbooks, that we distributed earlier this year, were developed in synchronisation with the CAPS.

They should assist teachers in pacing and sequencing their work better as they consist of attractive worksheets to be worked on daily and on a term-by-term basis.

In preparation for the implementation of the CAPS, we have done a ‘do-ability' exercise to ensure that we do not repeat mistakes of the past. We have trained subject advisors and provinces are continuing with the training of teachers. Our classes will also be fully resourced to ensure effective implementation.

Our curriculum and workbook interventions here have only really just begun. Based on the ANA results, we believe this focus on a more scripted approach is correct.

The curriculum review process in 2009 alerted us to the fact that there is far too big a leap between the Foundation Phase (Grades 1-3) and the Intermediate Phase (Grades 4-6). Learners jump from three subjects to eight. This may account for the drop in results that we see as children move up the grades.

So we have reduced the number of subjects in the Intermediate Phase, and will begin implementation of fewer subjects in Grades 4-6 in 2012. We thus want to ensure that the emphasis on the foundational skills will continue to be strengthened.

The jump from Grade 3 to 4 is made more difficult with the switch to English in Grade 4. Many schools switch from their home language to English from Grade 4.

The affected learners often lack basic skills in English and struggle to cope with the demands of the Grade 4 curriculum.

Research has shown that later transition from home language to Language of Learning and Teaching, where they differ, negatively affects learning outcomes.

In 2010, the Council of Education Ministers approved the recommendation that from 2012, the language chosen by the learner as a Language of Learning and Teaching from Grade 4 shall be taught as a subject, from Grade 1, and not from Grade 3 as is currently the case.

From 2012, all learners in Grades 1-3 will be required to offer 4 subjects, that is, Home Language, First Additional Language, Numeracy and Life Skills.

All learners whose Language of Learning and Teaching will be English from Grade 4 onwards will be required to take English as a subject from Grade 1. What this means is that the teaching of English will occur alongside home language instruction for those learners who choose English as a Language of Learning and Teaching in later grades.

English will not replace the home language in the early grades. Each learner will be taught in his or her home language in the early grades where it is practically possible. The move to English in Grade 1 is intended for those schools whose home language is not English.

The challenge here will be improving the English language skills of teachers whose mother tongue is not English, but we are committed to doing this through a range of programmes.

Every grade up requires support further down. We have accordingly also placed increasing emphasis on the importance of Early Childhood Development and Grade R for learners. To support the objective of laying solid foundations for learning from an early age, the Department of Basic Education is working towards universal access to Grade R, by 2014.

This indeed has been one of our great successes, with access expanding dramatically in the recent past. Between 2007 and 2010 there was an increase in the number of schools offering Grade R, from 12 480 schools to 16 020 and an increase in the number of learners in Grade R, from 487 222 to 707 203.

This intervention is critical, as early exposure of learners to Grade R programmes assists in the smooth transition between home and school. In addition, children will learn the basics in Languages, Mathematics and Life Skills.

The evidence is uncontested that children who have attended a centre or school-based preschool programme in the year before school entry perform better on assessments of reading and math skills.

Our task remains to improve qualitatively the level of qualifications of Grade R teachers to ensure that we reach our goal of quality learning and teaching at this level as well.

These early interventions are bearing fruit with the fairly good performance of learners in the ANA in Grades 1 and 2.

We will continue to strengthen our interventions in Early Childhood Development and Grade R. However, it is clear that the drop in learner achievement in the ANA, from Grade 2 to 3, and again, from Grade 3 to 4, requires our immediate attention.

We have already gone a long way towards setting in place measures that will impact directly on teaching and learning in our schools. We have long recognised the importance of quality learning and teaching materials.

Accordingly, as mentioned earlier, government has taken the enormous step of providing all learners from Grade R to 6 with high-quality workbooks from this year (2011). Each learner in these grades will have received one workbook for literacy and one for numeracy, and, in the third term, each learner will get another book for literacy and one for numeracy.

This year government has printed workbooks for 6 million learners. In 2012, workbooks will also be distributed to learners in Grades 7-9. This is a massive intervention and reports from teachers tell us that the workbooks are both visually stimulating and exciting and are definitely serving the purpose for which they were intended.

Each workbook is made up of 128 easy-to-follow worksheets to improve listening, reading, writing and numeracy skills. Teachers are central to the success of the new approach we are adopting. We are strengthening our teacher development programmes guided by the Integrated Strategic Planning Framework for Teacher Education and Development that we launched earlier this year in conjunction with the Department of Higher Education and Training.

Here the focus is firmly on more targeted, subject-specific teacher education and development that will improve teacher content knowledge. We are also strengthening our campaign to attract young people to the teaching profession through our Funza Lushaka Bursary programme.

Our message is simply that we want to recruit the best of our young people to the teaching profession and that teaching should be seen as a profession of first rather than last resort for our talented youth. The ANA results have clearly demonstrated that we need an effective monitoring and evaluation system through which the quality of education can be continuously enhanced.

The Action Plan to 2014: Towards the Realisation of Schooling 2025 and the Delivery Agreement for Basic Education provide specific goals against which the performance of the sector will be measured and evaluated.

This will be done by holding all levels of the system accountable for what they are required to deliver. Our broad strategy for improving accountability is anchored around the following four pillars:

• Strengthening the culture of performance management within the education system;
• Simplifying and aligning the evaluation instruments that measure performance standards for educators;
• Strengthening monitoring and support for educators; and
• Strengthening reporting at all levels.

We have established the National Education Evaluation and Development Unit (NEEDU), led by Prof John Volmink, as CEO, that will also help in evaluating the education system. NEEDU will identify critical factors that inhibit or advance school improvement and make focused recommendations for redressing the problem areas that undermine school improvement.

In addition, as part of our efforts to strengthen accountability in the system, we are working closely with the Education Labour Relations Council to develop performance management contracts with our principals and deputy principals.

Effective school management and leadership are key factors in ensuring effective schooling. We are strongly looking at strengthening even the appointment procedures for school principals. All principals and deputy principals will enter into performance contracts in the future with clear performance targets. This will help to strengthen accountability in schools at two levels.

Firstly, performance will be measured in terms of the academic performance of the school in accordance with the South African Schools Act and directly linked to performance in the ANA and NSC Grade 12 examinations.

Secondly, principals will be measured against the quality of management and monitoring of the performance of their respective teachers in line with the Teacher Performance Appraisal System (TPA), currently under discussion.

Furthermore, district support for schools, that is often poor or lacking, will be strengthened through, among other things, the development of job descriptions for circuit managers and subject advisors and the development of performance agreements to be signed by these officials with clear targets and deliverables.

These interventions will go a long way towards raising levels of accountability across the entire sector and ensuring that we move steadily towards reaching the key targets in learner achievement that we have set ourselves.

Equally, we know that the conditions under which learning takes place impact on learning and teaching. These include factors like school infrastructure and school furniture. As we announced in our 2011 Budget Vote speech, for 2011/12, we have prioritised 85 mud schools and 246 inappropriate structures. We will provide water to at least 807 schools, provide sanitation to 391 and electricity to 286 schools.

Through the Accelerated Schools Infrastructure Development Initiative, we plan to make all schools, rural and urban, to function optimally by 2014. This is what informs government's commitment to eradicating mud and unsafe structures and providing electricity and sanitation. Only this way, as required by the Freedom Charter, education shall be "equal for all children".

The Annual National Assessments results for 2011 have left us with no room for complacency. We must acknowledge that we have serious challenges in the schooling system. We can either try to find scapegoats and evade responsibility, or we can all take a stand, raise a hand for education, and grasp the nettle. Our learning outcomes clearly need improving.

The current situation calls for a delivery-driven approach to schooling. We promised in the Budget Vote speech that we will set up a Planning and Delivery Oversight Unit whose mandate will be to take forward the processes and initiatives currently underway, guided by the current administration's outcomes approach.

Accordingly, we have appointed Mr Ronnie Swart, former HOD of the Western Cape Department of Education, to lead the new unit. He will work with academics and researchers to support provinces. And I must reiterate: education is a societal issue. We need decisiveness and action from all role-players - parents, learners, teachers and unions, school management teams, government and the broader civil society.

Conclusion

Together we must ensure that schools work and that quality teaching and learning takes place. We must ensure that our children attend school every day, learn how to read and write, count and calculate, reason and debate.

Working together we can do more to create a delivery-driven quality basic education system. Only this way can we bring within reach the overarching goal of an improved quality of basic education.

Improving the quality of basic education, broadening access, achieving equity in the best interest of all children are preconditions for realising South Africa's human resources development goals and a better life for all.

I thank you

Issued by the Department of Basic Education, June 28 2011

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