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SACE welcomes report on matric certificate - Newsroom - 04-08-2014
The South African Council for Educators (SACE) has welcomed the report of a Ministerial Task Team, which looked into the quality of the National Senior Certificate (NSC).
The report, which investigates the promotion requirements for the NSC, was recently handed over to the Department of Education. The department, which is currently studying the report, on Sunday said it had shared it with MECs of education and has published the report on its website.
The task team was set up by Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga to establish from research and media reports the main criticisms against the NSC pass requirements.
While the 188-page report found that the examinations process has improved over the past few years, the NSC is not adequate in its current format. It also found that “well-trained, fully professional teachers were ultimately the key to the development of the education systemâ€.
Some of the recommendations made by the report include:
- All schools should be required to offer maths;
- Requirements for the selection of exam markers should be raised;
- Life Orientation (LO) should be removed from the promotion requirements of the NSC;
- An exit certificate for Grade 9 should be introduced; and
- The standard of African languages at home language level should be investigated.
SACE CEO Rej Brijraj on Monday told SAnews that the ministerial task team had done good work on the report.
While he welcomed the recommendation regarding the removal of LO from the promotion requirements of the NSC, he said it should be retained in other grades to help learners acquire the important values and lessons the subject offers.
The recommendation regarding compulsory mathematics has been the subject of many debates in media following the release of the report. The report, however, envisages that if maths was made compulsory, it would have to be phased in over a few years to avoid a decline in overall enrolments in science-related subjects.
"I agree that we need to focus on the content knowledge of our teachers. Research over the last 10 years has shown conclusively that most mathematics teachers for example do not have the content knowledge needed to impart to their students even a rudimentary understanding of the subject," said Brijraj.
Overall improvements to NSC
The Ministerial Task Team report also recommends that learners pass three subjects at 40% and pass at least two further subjects at 35%.
Learners may fail the sixth subject, provided examination requirements have been met, and there is full evidence of the School-based Assessment (SBA) in that subject having been completed.
Brijraj said this was a welcome improvement on the pass requirements for entry to higher certificate study.
“We welcome the recommendation. Our learners should be persuaded to work much harder,†he said.
According to Brijraj, this will also reduce the number of dropouts at tertiary level.
Education Researcher from the University of Stellenbosch in the Western Cape, Nic Spaull, also agreed with some of the recommendations.
"At the end of the day, no education system can move beyond the quality of its teachers. We simply have to find a way to improve the quality of teachers in our country.
"… All of the evidence that we have points to the fact that most of these problems are already there in primary school… Any intervention in Grade 9 or later can only have a limited impact,†Spaull said. - SAnews.gov.za