DBE & DHET on areas of common interest

Meeting report

Opening remarks by the Chairperson
The Chairperson welcomed everyone present and announced that the Committee had scheduled a joint meeting with the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education to engage on areas of common interest with the post-school education and training sector. It turned out that there was a clash on the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education’s side. A joint meeting will be scheduled for a later date and that would be a continuation of today’s engagement. The Committee would only receive a briefing from the Department of Higher Education and Training on areas of common interest and beyond with the basic education sector.

Briefing by the Department of Higher Education and Training on Areas of Common Interest with the Department of Basic Education
Ms Thembisa Futshane, Deputy Director-General: CET Branch, DHET, presented the briefing of the Department. The presentation was on the DHET participation in DBE committees; alignment with DBE priority areas; collaboration concerning the outputs in the Integrated Strategic Planning Framework (ISPFTED); DHET strategic projects that resonate with the DBE priorities strategic collaborative activities: evaluation of qualifications; TVET career guidance and student admission process; National Senior Certificate for Adults (NASCA) and resourcing of the NASCA implementation; Second Chance Matric Programme (SCMP).

The Directorate Career Development Services, KHETHA, has developed a career interest questionnaire which looks at learners' interests in completing the results directing them to a programme and course in a TVET college. Further, colleges are encouraged to develop and use tools from service providers to assist students with suitable career paths and courses.

Learners from Grade 9 - 12 can complete the tool, which is easy to navigate and answer, and consider age and ability. Colleges also conduct work readiness programmes during course studies such as CV writing skills, interview skills, and job placement and provide entrepreneurship information etcetera. The Department has also drafted a student admissions policy guideline called the policy framework on administration and management of student admissions in TVET colleges. The document assists colleges to draft their student admission policies to improve student access and student success. Career guidance and student placement tests are compulsory in TVET colleges. This document also emphasises that the importance of student access and colleges must ensure students enter the colleges using the minimum entry requirements or through additional but appropriate minimum requirements such as admission point scores for specific courses. An example is STEM courses that would require some/good financial and accounting background and most that would require mathematics rather than maths literacy.

As for the introduction of the NASCA, the conceptualisation of an alternative matric qualification for adults and out-of-school youth began in 2009 in the Department of Education. Ministerial reports in Maths (2008), Lolwana (2009), Potgieter-Gqubule (2011) and the CET Organisation for the European Community and Development (OECD) (2019) have provided a rationale for the need for the NASCA.

The NASCA qualification provides adults and out-of-school youth who have left school without an exit-level qualification, it provides the opportunity to acquire a school-leaving certificate and where possible access to higher education. The NASCA qualification was registered by the South African Qualifications Authority on 04 December 2013 (SAQA ID number: 91672). The SAQA further extended the registration date on 01 July 2018.

Prof John Volmink, on behalf of the Umalusi Council, wrote a letter to the Minister dated 02 September 2021 providing advice on the implementation of the NASCA. The Umalusi Council is indicating that the pilot implementation of the NASCA is fraught with serious challenges that could make practical implementation a challenge. Based on the advice provided by the Umalusi outlined in slide 11 for postponement of the NASCA and the GETCA, the Department will publish the notice in the Government Gazette withdrawing the previous notice no: 45058 for the implementation in 2022. As a result of the delay in the implementation of the NASCA and the lack of funding allocation thereof, the pilot implementation plan and the NASCA implementation would have to be revised.

The revisions will consider the time frames to be approved for implementation and additional activities that must be undertaken.

No new money was provided for the implementation of the NASCA. The amount required for the implementation of the NASCA is R287.3 million.

She said the DBE introduced the Second Chance Matric Programme (SCMP) 2016 as a pilot project in support of the National Senior Certificate (NSC) and the Senior Certificate (SC). The SCMP support modes of provision are face-to-face, digital online/offline programmes, Television/Radio broadcasts, Multimedia platforms, Mzanzi libraries online and learning material. The SCMP benefits are improved learning quality with the potential to increase life skills, job opportunities and career pathing and academic progression. The protocol was signed by the DHET DG in January 2021 for 5 years. The aim was to collaborate in addressing the need for a Senior Certificate qualification and increases the success rate. It provides the Second Chance Matric Programme (SCMP) support to the Senior Certificate students in the nine CET colleges and their Community Learning Centres (CLCs). It shares expertise and resources to advance the goal of supporting out-of-school youth and adults to achieve a matric qualification.

The combined responsibilities of the two departments were outlined as follows:
Make human resources available for the objectives of this Protocol
Assess, monitor, and evaluate the effectiveness of the collaboration
Ensure access to inclusive education to accommodate teachers, lecturers, and learners with disabilities
Develop and implement psycho-social programmes
Develop a joint monitoring strategy to monitor the effectiveness and efficiency of the Second Chance Matric Programme
Establish an Oversight Committee for the implementation of this Protocol

Lastly, on examinations, the Protocol Agreement between the PEDs and the DHET on the administration and management of exams lapsed in March 2022. The Department is engaging the DBE to continue supporting the DHET in resulting, clearing of the certification backlog and examination data and archiving.

Discussion
Ms C King (DA) was a bit disappointed that the Department of Basic Education and the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education could not make it to the meeting. Under the NSFAS programme dates for the enrolment exams have been determined and gazetted but Umalusi has raised concerns about this for the consideration of revising the date. She asked now that the date is already highlighted and gazetted; will the deadline be met for the absorption of students, or will the gazetted date be reconsidered.

There is a challenge with Funza Lushaka bursaries. She said during her teaching stint, she would find that at most schools children were not taking subjects like Mathematics, physical science, and CAT and this is having a bearing when it comes to the absorption of students into the Funza Lushaka bursary scheme on Stem subjects. ‘How is the Funza Lushaka Bursary Scheme structured to ensure that there are more students enrolled’? ‘When we conduct oversight, it becomes clear that more and more teachers for those Stem subjects are becoming scarce’. Many other schools are experiencing the same challenge. As for subjects like robotics and coding, without the Department of Science and Innovation assistance like one saw in the Northern Cape, ‘how is the Funza Lushaka bursary structured for the DBE curriculum to ensure that life is given to Robotics and Coding at the school level’? Teachers are being trained for these subjects, but if there is no proper acumen in the ICT, it might pose a bigger challenge in the future. One also sees with the Funza Lushaka bursaries that when the students become trainee-teachers, the concern arises when there is a mismatch in what they have been taught and what they must teach at the school. There are history teachers that you find teaching business studies at schools.

‘There are 54 pilot centres for the NSFAS, what are the names of these pilot centres that have been identified’? There is no money, yet R287.3 million was set aside for the NSFAS, which would only take 10 000 students. ‘150 000 students might not be able to access the NSFAS system but what plans are in place to ensure no one is left behind to have access to this system in the long run’? ‘How involved is the Department to ensure that the mathematical framework of the DBE is properly envisaged given that it was implemented in 2019’? There was a need to update what benefits this framework will have in terms of ensuring that one performs better.

Lastly, Ms King said that in the Funza Lushaka Bursary Scheme, beneficiaries are normally absorbed at a higher rate compared to those who were self-funded. The latter students seem to be considered last for employment. If one conducts a proper study, one would find the self-funded students are the ones with the specialisation of the STEM subjects and they get absorbed in the quintal five schools. This has adverse results on the lower quintal schools.

Ms J Mananiso (ANC) said she was interested in knowing about the challenges that could have obliterated the Department from implementing its programme on the NACSA. ‘Secondly, is there any prospect to include sign language in the plans for subjects’? Last week it was announced that sign language was now recognised as one of the official languages. ‘What is the Department doing to ensure that there is a smooth transition between basic education, FET and CET colleges and that the SETAs allocate some funding for the education programme as a stand-alone item’?

Ms N Marchesi (DA) commented on the qualification of early childhood development practitioners was under review; she asked if NQF level four was now the final qualification that one must acquire or if the qualification was still under review.

Regarding the Second Chance Matric programme, it was discovered that it had a high dropout rate; if this is still the case, what is being done to ensure that more students completed the programme? On the DBE policy, there was a study that was done on grade fours, and it was discovered that most of these learners cannot read to understand. In addition to that, it is coupled with the policy that progresses learners who repeat a class twice to the next grade. This means that these learners that cannot read to understand possibly end up in TVET colleges, which are academic unlike the CET colleges; how is the Department dealing with that and ensuring that those learners are identified and assisted?

She said she was concerned that there were limited teachers who taught African languages and asked for details on whether these teachers were scarce or not and how many of them completed the courses in those languages and got absorbed by the system. Finally, she bemoaned the high dropout rate in Basic Education and asked if the learners who dropped out were absorbed by the TVET colleges.

Ms D Mahlatsi (DA) was pleased with the work that the Department is doing in this area and focusing on improving the TVET college system. This presentation has given us comfort that we are moving in the right direction. She wanted to know whether there was an alignment between the Funza Lushaka Scheme and the skills priorities of the country.

On ECD matters, she asked what the extent of collaboration was concerning curriculum development particularly on inter-relations with Higher Education research output and the learning materials for the ECD sector. In a recent report study by the DBE, it was highlighted that 42% of ECDs are not registered and the risk to the quality of learning of children is heightened. How were the departments collaborating to increase the education focus on ECDs?

As for mother tongue languages, Ms Mahlatsi said some institutions focussed on different languages, but Mother Tongue teaching and learning had a direct impact on learning outcomes. She asked how were the departments working together to have a systemic way of developing African languages for teaching and learning in various subjects or disciplines.

On teacher development, she asked how the Department was supporting efforts of articulation for learners who do not get a school leaving certificate in grades 9, 10 or 11. ‘What is the potential impact of the implementation of the NACSA and why is it not prioritised in terms of the budget. What is the impact of the lack of funding’?

She recommended that the Department should have a focused programme on early childhood learning to harness the cognitive development of children. The support should be content development-related and practitioner development-related to strengthen the research focus on early learning to transform the ECD sector. She said that one may do well in higher education but if the foundation is not proper, then it makes the entire education system less seamless and tardy. It is the primary foundation that makes the output of higher education seamless.

Secondly, Ms Mahlatsi added the Department should expand protocols in various areas to include the Science and innovation component of the mainstream research and development enhancing government implementation. It is important that the research phase, as far as output is concerned, is so concrete that it becomes exactly what one wants to see. Institutions of higher learning were reservoirs of knowledge, but that knowledge must be user-friendly to respond to the economic needs of the country and ensure that the skillset developed out of these institutions, basic education and ECD becomes a useful product to take the country forward.

Ms D Sibiya (ANC) asked how the Department monitors the outcomes of its collaboration with the Department of Basic Education about the transformation of the curriculum.

Dr W Boshoff (FF Plus) said that mathematics literacy and pure mathematics should be regarded as two different subjects suitable for different persons. He was one of the learners who struggled with mathematics. He caught up with mathematics in post-school education. It is important to realise that it is not a first grade and second-grade subject. One has people who have different abilities and different levels of development. Learners are graded into classes as if they are similar or as if learners have all mastered the same things. Mathematics is essential for our education system. It should not be regarded as something “bad” if some learners prefer mathematics literacy. This is a serious subject that is well-adapted to people’s needs and can be applied to ordinary daily life.

The Chairperson commenced with languages and said that the Department indicated as part of its strategic project that resonates with the DBE’s priorities several interventions around African languages and literacy; the Department should assist the Committee on whether there are sufficient African languages educators in different African languages. ‘Do we have a situation where a particular language is dense, or it is generally the case in different languages’?

The three centres of special needs are currently at the University of Johannesburg, the University of Pretoria, and Wits University; one would like to understand if there is an intention to replicate such centres across the country and in rural areas and small towns. ‘Is this initiative taken solely by the universities or is it the Department’s initiative’?

On the evaluation of university programmes, she said one worries about the training that educators receive, and one needs to bring each other into confidence on how we are implementing the strengthening of the curricula that educators need to go through. For example, in Unisa, there is a segment of a study guide that was speaking about educational technology and the digital divide in 2020.

When you look at the study guide at Unisa that speaks on language, and the politics of language in education is nowhere close to the presentation of the Department on work around language transformation that was given to the Committee in Stellenbosch. It is nowhere near it, and it is worrisome. If one speaks of the assessments, it is even more worrisome. We should reflect on the push that Covid-19 has given us as a sector on remote learning and teaching. When one looks at Unisa, the authenticity of one’s qualification is worrisome. The numbers coming out of Unisa are massive and Members need to be brought into confidence about this. It is problematic that one invests so much in education, but the outcomes do not reflect the impact of the investment made in the sector.

‘How many educators have been produced over the years’? Understanding the relationship between supply and demand, one needs to ascertain whether it is concentrated in various subjects.

She said we are not doing enough on career guidance. She asked: ‘Is the Khetha programme responsible for this adequately funded option, and how do we strengthen the work that still needs to be done under that programme’? There was a time when there were many NGOs and organisations that went out there to educate and guide students or learners on their career choices. From grade nine, we should be assisting young people in understanding career paths because even when they get to university, there is still a great sense of confusion about career choices. We should all come in and assist in this space as stakeholders of these sectors.

There is a view that universities are increasing their APS scores over time to manage the demand for universities. The Department should assist in clarifying this narrative.

The Department should indicate whether the DHET and the DBE did consult each other during the development of the DBE three-stream model which may have some overlaps and duplications with the NCV. ‘Could the Department indicate if there are overlaps that we could see in the future for the NCV, or will it be absorbed in the three-stream model of the DBE’? If so, the departments would need to review both programmes to identify and address the duplications.

She said it was concerning that the Department continued to implement mandates that were not funded from the fiscus, and it should explain when the EU funding was received and what would happen when these funds were depleted. The Department should also indicate whether it had engaged the DBE in the delay of the phasing out of the Senior Certificate to allow the full development and implementation of the NASCA; if the allocation to the DBE for the implementation of the Senior Certificate and whether there was a consideration to redirect the funds from the CET to the NASCA.

If there are questions that need to be responded to in writing, the Department is more than welcome to do so.

Responses
Ms Michelle Mathey, Director: Teaching, DHET, responded to the EU funding and said that in 2015 the DHET signed a contract with the EU for R200 million over five years for teaching and education. Within this project, they were able to address some priority issues across the pre-schooling and post-schooling sectors. The money was coming to an end and the projects were going to be closed. There was R30 million left from the funding, and we hope to use it to respond to other urgent priority areas in the sector. Once the money gets depleted, the DHET will explore other avenues to source funding.

On the quality of teaching and its variability, the content excludes some of the important components that need to be taught.

There are a few policies that frame the development of curriculum in teacher education. The minimum requirements to teach education qualifications are the one that was developed in 2015. When universities submit their programmes in compliance with the policy, they must make sure they are in alignment with that policy and that cover a range of learning areas and scarce skills areas that Funza Lushaka will support students and allocate bursaries. In that way, there is a strong collaboration with the DBE and the universities are aware of those scarce skills subjects and accommodate the new students in their programmes.

Sign language is a scarce skill and recommended subject for new teachers to take up. We have a few universities (two) that offer sign language as a subject. We do ensure that is covered in the policy for minimum requirements for teacher education qualifications.

The inclusion of African languages in the teacher education programmes was attended to in 2015 in the foundation phase where it was ensured that African languages were part of the curriculum and across the rest of the schooling phase that policy dictated that all student teachers must take one African language as home or first additional language or as a language of communicative competence. The statistics around the number of learners who do the African language have indicated that IsiXhosa, Setswana and isiZulu have the highest numbers of learners. When we developed the centres for African languages, we covered isiZulu and Sesotho in UJ and isiXhosa in UWC in collaboration with Rhodes University, Walter Sisulu University and the University of Fort Hare. Currently, there is a proposal to develop a centre of African language teaching for Setswana and we do tend to offer funding committed to the development of two other centres of African language teaching in the faculties of education in terms of the provinces in which those languages are located.

In terms of the Pearl’s research findings around South African learners and their performance in reading in all spoken languages, the results were abysmal, and it was way below the 500, it was at around 369. The DBE is working endlessly to address these issues for teachers who are in service. The teaching of reading is crucial and in both the centres we have set aside funding for the universities to develop units in terms of how to teach these languages and support lecturers to acquire the skills in how to teach reading to their students. Research shows that the teaching of reading is a priority because it is not of a good enough quality for our learners.

The DHET has utilised EU funding to implement a report study on the supply and demand of teaching in South Africa. The findings have been received and numerous discussions have been held in different forums within the provinces, with the DBE and the SACE. We have also hosted a national dialogue around this area, and it could potentially lead to a crisis. The report shows that by 2030, we should have 45 500 new teachers produced in that year. We publish an annual report on the number of teachers, and it is disaggregated by specialisation and languages. In 2020, we produced 30 806 new teachers into the system. The supply and demand data showed that we are in a bit of crisis but if we track the pattern of increases each year, approximately 1 500 increases take place every year, but we are not worried about numbers but rather the specialisations of those students coming out and if they are talking to the demands in the country. This also includes the phases in which they teach. In 2018, one of our reports showed that of the total percentage of graduates that year, the number that was appointed in public schools was 43%. So, if we are employing less than half of the cohort that is produced, we are not addressing the issue of supply and demand properly. The Department was now working on phase two of the supply and demand of teachers to address and gather data on the concerns that were prevalent.

The studies were based on five phases namely learner/teacher ratio, attrition of teachers in terms of retirement or being ill or dying, enrolments, subject choices and the languages of learning and teaching and how that would inform our supply of teachers. We hope this takes off the ground in phase two.

The DHET collaborates with the DBE in terms of the priority areas for Funza Lushaka and the universities do offer the scarce skill subjects. They were encouraging universities to include coding and robotics in their teacher education qualifications and their programmes. Two universities have developed short courses in coding and robotics and some of the lecturers are attending these courses. These two universities are also supporting the DBE in terms of teachers in service.

Employment preferences have been an issue that has come up in various forums, but it is something that the DHET will engage with the DBE on further down the line.

Lastly, on ECD qualifications, they were under review and the DBE has completed a report which shows the data regarding the qualifications of practitioners. Both the DHET and the DBE should be working towards the professionalisation of those ECD practitioners and the developed policy from the EU funding specifically focuses on professionalisation. There is also scope for the practitioners to upskill. It starts from level five – the DHET works with the DBE in terms of the number of practitioners that still have level four certificates. Currently, we have level five higher certificates in the ECD which the practitioners can transition into and from the higher certificate; they can go into a Bachelor qualification right up to the Doctorate level.

Ms Futshane responded on the gazetted dates for the absorption of the students. This gazette will be withdrawn and a new one with new timeframes will be issued. The Department will not be able to implement the NASCA in the second half of the year. The advantage is that the DHET has not started the process of advocacy for new students or enrolments, so there will be no students that will be left behind. The Senior Certificate is still in place and will continue as normal. There is no negative impact on any student in terms of the delay of the implementation of the NASCA if the Senior Certificate still exists.

Secondly, in the 55 pilot centres, the principle that was used was that there must not be duplications within the different districts. These centres are not only for the implementation of NASCA but also for strengthening the CET colleges to enhance programme delivery.

The biggest challenge is funding for the implementation of the NASCA. The second challenge is that supply chain processes have given us challenges because using the EU funding, one had to advertise three times for procurement. Therefore, the nature of the proposals that DHET gets does not meet the requirements at times of the development work required for NASCA.

The Second Chance Matric programme does indeed have a high rate of dropouts, but it happens when there are not enough support programmes to ensure the retention of those students. The DBE has done some work to ensure that it provided learning support material and readiness programmes to keep these students in the institutions because there is no third chance matric programme. The mental well-being of the students is a concern, both for those in the DBE schools and the CET colleges. Some of them had not succeeded in their first attempt at school because many things in life happen to them, hence the importance of psycho-social support. The DBE is bringing this in, and we are also introducing this support for the student teachers through Higher Health.

What will help to attract and keep the students in the centres is to combine the Second Chance Matric programme with skill, particularly because some of them are coming in to do one or two subjects.

Many of the students in the CET colleges are students who did not make it to mainstream schooling. One must continue with the implementation of the Senior Certificate at least until 2025 because this will avoid affecting students due to the non-implementation of the NASCA. The intention was to cease implementation of the Senior Certificate by 2023 and the DHET is engaging with the DBE to continue beyond 2023 until the NASCA is well established and operational. One needs to do this balancing act and we are looking at about 160 000 students that were in the Senior Certificate that would have to be absorbed in the NASCA should the Senior Certificate cease. The DBE is aware of our plight and plea for the continuation of our Senior Certificate.

Engagement with National Treasury has not stopped. Last week unfunded mandates were submitted – this included the implementation of the NASCA. The estimates that have been provided for the piloting are R287 million for 10 000 students.

The DHET has continuous meetings with the DBE, and we also have an oversight committee that has been established, this oversight committee is responsible for monitoring and evaluation and support.

The allocation for the Senior Certificate is with the DBE not with the DHET. This information can be provided to the Committee. The allocation is for assessment and exams only. At this point, there is no certainty whether the Senior Certificate funds will come to the DHET when the programme ceases in the DBE. However, it is important to note that this was not a shifting of the function from one Department to another. If this was the case, the budget allocation of that function must follow the shift to the new department. The NASCA is also a new programme of the Department.

Mr Sam Zungu, Deputy Director-General: TVET branch, DHET, touched on the collaboration between DHET and DBE through entities like the SETAs. One of the SETAs that work closely with the DBE is the ETDP SETA, which has offered several bursaries for educators within the DBE. There are other SETAs but the main one is the ETDP SETA.

On the dropouts of grade nine’s and whether they are absorbed in the TVET colleges, this may not be directly to the TVET College but rather the CET colleges. The entry-level for the NCV is someone that has passed grade nine. If the student drops out in grade nine, they are likely to take the CET route. However, if the learner drops out of grade 10, they stand a good chance of entering the NCV level two in TVET colleges. The DBE is resuscitating the technical high schools in the country, but it has also used TVET colleges to capacitate the teachers

The Chairperson announced that the meeting with Basic Education will take place. Some of the outstanding matters may be addressed then. All responses to be submitted in writing are expected to be submitted to the Committee within seven days.

The Committee is expected to have a mid-term review meeting to reflect on the work of the Committee in the last three years. The Committee will also look at what needs to be prioritised going forward.

The meeting was adjourned.