Programmes for improving foundational skills of literacy and numeracy; policy with regard to refugees

Basic Education

10 March 2020
Chairperson: Ms B Mbinqo-Gigaba (ANC)
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Meeting Summary

The Department of Basic Education (DBE) presented a report on the programmes for improving the foundational skills of literacy and numeracy. While there were a number of factors that affected high school children, which may also trigger dropping out of school, evidence suggested that the root cause of school dropouts lay in inadequate learning foundations.

The DBE reported that the teacher to learner ratio in the public sector was disproportionately distributed, compared to the private sector. When dealing with reading, literacy and numeracy outcomes, the DBE aimed to improve performance in international assessments. It planned to achieve this by improving the average Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (SACMEQ) results for Grade 6 languages and maths from 495 to 600 points by 2022, while also improving the average Grade 8 scores in the Trends in Maths and Science Study (TIMSS) from 264 to 420 points by 2023. The Department indicated it was making a huge investment in interventions in the curriculum at the foundation and intermediate phases, and described the challenges it was dealing with.

Committee Members raised a wide range of concerns. How would the “no repeat” policy impact on the literacy and numeracy ability of the learners who could not grasp the basics at the foundational level? Had the DBE finally found a way to deal with the dilemma of multi-grade teaching, especially considering the teachers who struggle with unfavourable environments? What were the thoughts of the Department on bringing back retired teachers for remedial purposes, and was there an existing programme for this? How ready was the Department to deal with the implications of reducing class sizes? Was there a budget in place for school libraries?

They suggested the lack of improvement among Grade 9s on the Annual National Assessment (ANA) may be a reflection on the teacher, and the teacher’s way of teaching mathematics, and asked how many teachers were not qualified to teach at the foundation phase. They also wanted to know how many of schools were equipped with libraries, and how successful the “Read for Meaning” campaign had been.

The Department of Basic Education (DBE) presented a report on the programmes for improving the foundational skills of literacy and numeracy. While there were a number of factors that affected high school children, which may also trigger dropping out of school, evidence suggested that the root cause of school dropouts lay in inadequate learning foundations.

The DBE reported that the teacher to learner ratio in the public sector was disproportionately distributed, compared to the private sector. When dealing with reading, literacy and numeracy outcomes, the DBE aimed to improve performance in international assessments. It planned to achieve this by improving the average Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (SACMEQ) results for Grade 6 languages and maths from 495 to 600 points by 2022, while also improving the average Grade 8 scores in the Trends in Maths and Science Study (TIMSS) from 264 to 420 points by 2023. The Department indicated it was making a huge investment in interventions in the curriculum at the foundation and intermediate phases, and described the challenges it was dealing with.

Committee Members raised a wide range of concerns. How would the “no repeat” policy impact on the literacy and numeracy ability of the learners who could not grasp the basics at the foundational level? Had the DBE finally found a way to deal with the dilemma of multi-grade teaching, especially considering the teachers who struggle with unfavourable environments? What were the thoughts of the Department on bringing back retired teachers for remedial purposes, and was there an existing programme for this? How ready was the Department to deal with the implications of reducing class sizes? Was there a budget in place for school libraries?

They suggested the lack of improvement among Grade 9s on the Annual National Assessment (ANA) may be a reflection on the teacher, and the teacher’s way of teaching mathematics, and asked how many teachers were not qualified to teach at the foundation phase. They also wanted to know how many of schools were equipped with libraries, and how successful the “Read for Meaning” campaign had been.

Meeting report

Foundational skills of literacy and numeracy: DBE report

Dr Mamiki Maboya, Deputy Director General (DDG): Curriculum Policy, Support and Monitoring, Department of Basic Education (DBE), said the purpose of the presentation was to give a report on the programmes for improving the foundational skills of literacy and numeracy.

Quoting from the statement the Minister of Basic Education, Ms Angie Motshekga, had made in July 2019, she underlined that even though there were a number of factors that affected high school children which may also trigger dropping out of school, evidence suggested that the root cause of school dropout lay in inadequate learning foundations. There was a clear link between educational outcomes and outcomes later in life, and it was of outmost importance that South Africa prioritised learning to read, write and study mathematics earlier, especially in poor communities for meaningful social and economic transformation.

Dr Maboya ran the Committee through the statistics of primary education in 2019, focusing on the numbers enrolled of primary education (Grades R-6) in order to provide a background and context when addressing the task at hand. The teacher to learner ratio in the public sector was disproportionately distributed compared to the private sector. She pointed out that 15% (8.2 million) of South Africa’s total population were children under the age of six. The development of foundational skills was an important aspect in the early years of the schooling system, and was equally important when addressing special needs education.

When dealing with reading, literacy and numeracy outcomes, the DBE aimed to improve performance in international assessments. It aimed to do this by improving the average Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Education Quality (SACMEQ) results for Grade 6 languages and maths from 495 to 600 points by 2022, while also improving the average Grade 8 scores in the Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) from 264 to 420 points in 2023.

Dr Maboya said that the results from the Annual National Assessment (ANA) revealed that the Grade 3 mathematics target of 60%, which was set in the Action Plan for 2012-2014, had been achieved, while Grade 6 had an increase in the percentage of learners reaching acceptable achievement levels, even though the target was not met. However, there was concern that Grade 9 fell very short, even with an increase in the percentage of learners reaching acceptable levels. In comparison to the set mathematics target, where the home language target was set at 60% in both the action plan and National Development Plan (NDP), Grades 3 and 6 exceeded the target and the percentage of learners who reached acceptable achievement in Grade 9 increased, although it was still below the goal that was set for 2014.

Dr Maboya also highlighted the results from SACMEQ IV from a provincial view. In SACMEQ III, only three provinces had achieved scores -- the Western Cape, Gauteng and the North West -- in reading and mathematics above the SACMEQ mean score. However, she said that in SACMEQ IV, eight provinces had scored above 500. There was a significant improvement in both mathematics and reading compared to the previous results. She highlighted that there has been a significant reduction in the number of non-numerate and non-literate learners at Grade 6 level, which confirmed that early acquisition of the foundational skills of reading and numeracy was an important goal.

Improvements could be ascribed to the streamlining and strengthening of the national curriculum and assessment statement to the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) between SACMEQ III and SACMEQ I; the focus on monitoring teaching and learning through the National Strategy for Learner Attainment (NSLA); and regular exposure to standardised assessments through the ANA. 

Dr Maboya said the DBE makes a huge investment in interventions in the curriculum at the foundation and intermediate phases. There was a need to increase the proportion of time spent on reading in these phases, and to review text length and comprehension strategies. As a Department, they were looking into infrastructural implications which sought to urgently reduce class sizes to policy stipulations; provide school libraries and classroom libraries; and review interventions on Information Communication Technology (ICT) provision in primary schools while increasing effective and sustainable access to ICT and the utilisation thereof.

She also pointed out policy implications for curriculum, infrastructural and classroom practice which focus on strengthening the teaching of reading, literacy and training of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) of teachers across all languages in the foundation phase, and especially African languages.

The Department of Basic Education, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and Cotlands were undertaking an in-service training programme to capacitate 150 000 early Childhood Development (ECD) practitioners and foundation phase educators in play-based learning pedagogies and practice which would be overseen over a three-year period. The funding of this approach was provided by the Lego Foundation. A number of programmes that provide teacher support and supervision had also been implemented, such as through distance learning or programmes that provide learning and teaching support materials, which also indicated some achievements when assessed by the Australian Council for Education Research (ACER) and UNICEF that had found them to have the characteristics of quality workbooks.

Workbooks had also been adapted for learners with disabilities. For the first time, books had been produced in South Africa with Braille texts and Braille graphics on one page. The DBE was also aware of the inequalities that already existed, and were working on different programmes and assessments in order to monitor the progression plan.

Discussion

Ms C King (DA) referred to the comment made by the DBE Minister in 2018 on the “no repeat” policy. She said this policy would have an impact on learners when they moved to another grade. She wanted to find out how this would impact on the literacy and numeracy ability of the learners who could not grasp the basics at the foundational level. She also wanted to find out whether the statistics of learners who were at the foundational phase were inclusive of learners who had disabilities. Sign language had not been one of the official languages presented. Had the Department finally found a way to deal with the dilemma of multi-grade teaching, especially considering the teachers who struggle with unfavourable environments? What were the thoughts of the Department on bringing back retired teachers for remedial purposes, and was there an existing programme for this?

Ms N Adoons (ANC) asked how ready the Department was to deal with the implications to reduce class sizes. She mentioned that Limpopo was seen to be struggling with overcrowding, and added that it was the President’s call to ensure that social development included those who had immigrated. She commended the ANA as a systematic evaluation tool, even though there were complaints about the workload, and the approach that had been taken at the foundational phase which included play based-learning, and the partnerships that had been formed,

Dr S Thembekwayo (EFF) was pleased with the comment made about infrastructure, and believed that this aspect should be addressed. Still on the implications of infrastructure, was there a budget in place for school libraries? She refuted the statement that ANA had presented improvements for Grade 3 and 6, more importantly for Grade 9s, as there had been no improvements. Was this not a reflection on the teachers and the teachers’ way of teaching mathematics? Or maybe it was the attitude of the teacher towards the learners, or the learners’ attitude towards the teacher?

Ms D van der Walt (DA) asked how many teachers were not qualified to teach at the foundation phase. What was the comparison between mathematics and mathematical literacy on measurement? In most state of the art schools, there were kitchens and laboratories, but she wondered how many of those schools were equipped with libraries. She wanted to find out who was responsible for the libraries, and whether the Department had considered using libraries around the country for reading campaigns and book clubs for learners. How successful had the “Read for Meaning” campaign been? Lastly, did teachers understand that books that had been donated to schools needed to be registered on the schools’ asset list in order to also keep track on the Reading at Home campaign?

The Chairperson thanked everyone for their contributions, and shared her concern with the Department about the late submission of research and reports. She was also interested in how the Department supported immigrants whose home language was none of the 11 official languages. She also welcomed the Rural Education Access Programme (REAP), but was worried that in terms of funding, this programme was not prioritised. She said the leading provinces were at an advantage of leading, since there were underlying inequalities.

She probed the topic of school dropouts, and sought clarity on what the main causes of young children dropping out were.  She also asked about the gender ratio on mathematics performance. What were the improvement plans within the five year period on SACMEQ and Progress in Reading and Literacy Study (PIRLS)? Who directed the ratio of class sizes in the different provinces? What was the logic in giving a higher remuneration to the principals who had bigger classes? Did this mean the overcrowding was deliberate?

DBE response

Dr Maboya said the Department was working on research to inform and support the implementation of the policy of “no repeat,” and how it would affect literacy and numeracy. Automatic progression required a lot of support, and the Department required sufficient evidence to support its implementation -- it was a work in progress within the Department. It was aware of the concern raised. However, at a previous meeting there had been a discussion over when a teacher said that a Grade 1 learner had failed, what exactly was it that the learner had failed? At the foundational phase, there was a holistic view on the learner, and there was a need to understand when a child failed, exactly what it was that they failed. These were the conversations the Department had to engage in, in order to support the policy and also bear in mind that it was a lot of work on the teacher’s part to profile the learner. Internationally it was proper practice not to make a learner fail.

The statistics in the presentation referred to public schools, which included public special needs schools and the aspect of learners with disabilities. What was not included were the statistics from independent schools.

Multi-grade classes took place mainly in the REAP projects, which were in the rural areas. Dr Maboya said she may not be able to share much on this, and that the best person to provide details was the person managing this particular project.

The usage of retired teachers was mainly up to the different provinces, as they were more innovative on how they used them. However, on the part of the Department, there was no particular programme that had been adopted, as DBE faced the challenges of young teachers who were unemployed. Provinces were in a better position to negotiate the use and terms of employment of retired teachers.

Dr Maboya said studies had indicated that there were implications for infrastructure. However, the DBE would be better able to answer on the challenges of the implications mentioned in writing. There were instances where teachers and principals had settled for overcrowding for the sake of convenience.

The whole idea of migration was to learn about migration as a function, and not the migration of the child. It was important that the DBE made that clear. However, it was not disputed that there was an element of this when the learner went to primary school and had an impact on the class size.

Dr Maboya said the Department had moved away from typical library structures, and wanted to focus more on the functionality which it needed to move towards. Today there were more ways to access a library -- from mobile libraries to online platforms. The responsibility for libraries was that of the provincial local Education Department and, to a certain extent, the responsibility of the DBE.

Studies indicated that in the ANA and TIMSS, Grade 9 was not doing well, and it had become common knowledge by now and that it was the weakest link. There had been meetings with prominent people within the mathematics environment, and they were working on strategies on how to improve this.

Dr Maboya said that no book clubs for learners currently existed, but the concern was more on the functionality of the libraries.

There was no standardised instrument used to track down the proficiency of learners. However, there were provinces such as Gauteng, which was currently tracking, as well as the Free State and the Western Cape. She was hopeful that soon the Department would have a nationalised instrument that would be able to track the proficiency of learners.

The retrieval of materials was a challenge. However, the DBE was in the process of securing a digital monitor for material. The backlog was due to the State Information Technology Agency (SITA), but the procedure was in progress.

Dr Maboya also highlighted the challenge of social issues with regard to learners being able to read at home, or being read to. The learners who struggled the most were those who came from rural areas, and the Department had managed to secure funding for the programme to assist these learners.

Regarding the drop out of learners, there were many factors that contributed to this, and research would be the best to address this question.

In the analysis of gender performance, the latest matriculation report indicated that boys were still performing better than girls in mathematics. This was a challenge that was still being faced, of inequalities that were based on gender.

Dr Maboya said that the programmes that had been presented were informed by research on improvement plans, and that the Department was continuously going back to the diagnostic assessment to ensure that the DBE was on the right track.

Issues relating to refugees

Ms Keitumetse Modiba, Acting Director: General Education and Training Directorate, DBE, referred to the book clubs that had been developed, and said they existed around the country and funding had been secured from AVBOB. However, she highlighted that it was not an annual award, as sponsorship depended on the availability of funds.

With regard to refugees, there had been an influx of learners from over the borders -- mostly neighbouring countries. The national policy on promotion requirements states that at the foundation phase, learners had to be taught in their home language. In some of these schools, the parents would opt to register the learners in isiZulu, for instance, because the DBE could offer the curriculum only in South Africa’s official languages. However, this had become a problem as this was not the learner’s home language, and thus became the responsibility of the parent who registered the child in these schools. The Department also understood the socio-economic circumstances of some of these refugees, and there were also parents who could afford to register their children at fee-paying schools, where the language of instruction was English.

Provision had been made regarding the promotion and progression requirements of refugee learners,

Ms van der Walt made a comment that maybe in future, the Department could consider using qualified teachers for after-school programmes.

The Committee agreed to give this consideration.

It approved the previous minutes, and the meeting was adjourned. 

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