Question NW2975 to the Minister of Basic Education

Reply:

(1)(a)(i)(ii)(aa)(bb)(aaa)(bbb)(ccc)(ddd) 50% of learners in Grade 10 in 2015 are expected to offer Mathematics while 60% of learners in 2016 is expected to offer Mathematics in Grade 10 in 2016. For these two cohorts, their targets were calculated based on the actual number of learners in Grades 9 and Grade 8 for 2015 and 2016 respectively. The same formula was used on actual figures for Grade 4 learners released in 2014, to set the target for 2020. 4% of learners was added to the 2020 target to establish the target for 2030. The data released by the Education Management Information Systems (EMIS) for 2014 learners’ enrolments was used to formulate the targets.

Province	Actual No learners in Grade 9 in 2014	Actual No learners in Grade 8 in 2014	Actual No learners in Grade 4 in 2014	Target for Grade 10 learners for 2015	Target for Grade 10 learners for 2016	Target for Grade 10 learners for 2020	Target for Grade 10 learners for 2030
EC	137744	133581	157243	68872	80149	86484	89943
FS	65456	47326	57458	32728	28396	31602	32866
GP	153074	142693	164011	76537	85616	90206	93814
KZN	222267	218781	221758	111134	131269	121967	126846
LP	178040	113336	125977	89020	68002	69287	72059
MP	82106	84508	83712	41053	50705	46042	47884
NC	22623	23026	25360	11312	13816	13948	14506
NW	67746	59030	69413	33873	35418	38177	39704
WC	82993	75517	90587	41497	45310	49823	51816
	1012049	897798	995519	506026	538681	547536	569438

(1)(b) The Department of Basic Education has a three year plan to train teachers who are offering Mathematics in Grade 10 in 2015, Grade 11 in 2016 and Grade 12 in 2017. The training is focusing on capacitating teachers on the Mathematics content as a whole. The aim is to cover all topics which are taught at a particular Grade.

This process is building teachers’ confidence in delivering quality content to the learners. Teachers are more encouraged to solve more problems on their own. New skills and techniques to solve mathematical problems are dealt with.

Follow up in-house support is also given by subject advisors and trainers themselves, to see if the skills sets acquired during the training are being utilised.

(2)(a)(b) As was indicated previously, the Department is currently engaged in a project to profile the qualifications of all teachers including what they are qualified to teach, and what they are actually teaching. The information is critical, not only for the determination and management of current teacher utilisation, but also for future planning for demand and supply. Once the information on the current provisioning levels has been finalised and verified, more accurate future projections that will take into account, among other factors, the current provisioning, will be made. Furthermore, this will enable the Department to determine targets for provisioning.

(2)(c)It should be noted that simplified projections on the needs can be calculated based on the number of learners and an ideal class size (currently and projected). However, such projections will be less accurate, given the other factors such as teaching across phases and grades and actual class size that affect the actual provisioning of teachers.