Early in the morning four days from now, nervous principals will go to collect the package of matric exam results for their school while teachers wait anxiously in the staff room to hear their results. It is an annual ritual that delivers the same outcomes.
Most pupils will pass. The pass percentage might even inch upwards from last year’s results. The first non-ANC minister since democracy — this is her first matric rodeo — might even claim the system is improving.
The sheer weight of administration on teachers setting exams, administering exams, marking exams and distributing exam results has changed our schools into examination factories at the expense of teaching
Most pupils will, however, pass poorly. The lowest percentage passes will be in mathematics and physical science. A small percentage of the total passes will go to university. Many of them will fail in the first year of studies and a smaller number will graduate in the minimum time to degree.
No matter what is in a school’s envelope on January 13, the pattern of pupil performance is baked into a system that gets only half of the grade 1s to grade 12 while nobody bats an eyelid.
There is, of course, the reality behind this annual farce. Most grade 4s cannot read for meaning and we recently received notice that our results in maths and languages are the lowest in the world among participating countries.
The system is rotten to the core, but there are seven things that can be done to stop the rot:
1. Reverse the decision to lay off teachers in some provinces
This is the wrong decision for a failing school system since the consequences will be most sorely felt in the most vulnerable schools. If such reversal is not done, all those noble political speeches about the importance of education are meaningless.
2. Fully fund preschool education (it is not), including the reception year, and steadily build the system from the foundation years upwards
In other words, have an annual report to the nation not on the matric results, but on progress towards building the foundations of primary education. Not good for short-term political fantasies but good for the long-term health of the country.
3. Reduce examinations by 50% in all grades
There is far too much time taken to assess and reassess children when that time could be diverted towards more instructional time. The sheer weight of administration on teachers setting exams, administering exams, marking exams and distributing exam results has changed our schools into examination factories at the expense of teaching.
4. Introduce teacher licensing
Not all our teachers can teach and that is a brutal fact. Unlike professions such as accounting or engineering or medicine, education does not have professional standards that must be met and satisfied on a regular basis. Yes, provide all the support through in-service training but if you cannot manage a class or teach your subject against the highest standards, then you need to go. We are risking children’s futures through indecision on this score.
5. Reintroduce, as was done in some provinces, the notion of a master teacher
Pay those outstanding teachers at the level of principals so they do not seek promotion simply to (understandably) earn more money. Similarly, pay our top principals more so they do not seek jobs in districts or provincial offices simply to boost their incomes. The flat egalitarian politics of the unions is far from egalitarian. It is a recipe for system-wide mediocrity.
6. Rethink the distribution of newly qualified teachers
Let’s be blunt: white and black middle-class teachers tend to migrate back to former white schools from which most of them come. The political risks notwithstanding, it is worth testing a new distribution model in the same way the department of health does with graduates, at least for a period of time. Like the [former president Jacob] Zuma year for graduates in the health professions, how about a [basic education minister Siviwe] Gwarube year (or two) for newly qualified teachers?
7. Expand the use of curator principals in schools that regularly produce weak academic results
We know from research that principal leadership makes or breaks a school. If you cannot turn around your school after four or five years, it will never happen.
I firmly believe the primary problem for the malaise in education is not [the need for] additional resources. It is the capacity to use existing resources to deliver optimal results in the shortest time possible. Of course many schools need more resources, a fact so frighteningly obvious in our unequal education system. But hiding behind the resource problem is often a way of delaying bold, decisive action to change the status quo.
Otherwise South Africa is doomed to remain forever stuck inside that old definition of madness: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
For opinion and analysis consideration, email Opinions@timeslive.co.za
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