Matric results; School Sport and challenges: DBE & Department of Sport and Recreation

Meeting report

The meeting started with a deliberation by Members of Parliament (MPs) on the adoption of the agenda and several pending reports on oversight visits to Gauteng, Limpopo, and Northern Cape Provinces

Mr C Hattingh (DA) if all the members of the Committee were invited for the oversight.

The Chairperson replied to say that not all members were invited because the oversight visit coincided with other oversight visits, with some members in the Eastern Cape and in other provinces.

Mr Hattingh said that he cannot comment on the report because he had not previously received it, so he did not have enough time to actually go through the entire report. With that being said, he asked for an opportunity to ask questions at a later stage after the perusal of the report.

The Chairperson then suggested that the committee proceeds with the Limpopo province oversight report. 

Members supported the suggestion, and proceeded with the report page by page.

After careful consideration and perusal of the report, members moved for adoption of the report with the proposed non-substantive amendments.

The minutes of previous meetings were considered and adopted as well.

Mr C Hattingh (DA) moved for the adoption of the minutes of 22 February 2017 and was seconded by Ms P Samka-Mququ (ANC).

In commencing the presentations by the departments, the Chairperson noted that the purpose of engaging with the departments was to consider the issue of school sports based on the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Department of Basic Education (DBE) and Department of Sports and Recreation South Africa (SRSA). Sport was an important aspect of a learner’s life, especially with regard to ensuring physical fitness, active brains, and development of some learners into professional sports. Sport also served as a tool for diverting young people from destructive activities and social vices, such as involvement in drugs, alcohol abuse, unplanned pregnancies, and so on.

Presentation by the Department of Basic Education (DBE)
Mr Hubert Mweli, Director General (DG) of DBE noted that the Chief Executive Officer of Umalusi was also present with the delegation from Umalusi. He tendered apologies from the Minister and Deputy Minister of DBE, who were unavoidably absent from the meeting due to Cabinet meeting.

The Chairperson acknowledged the presence of and welcomed the delegates from Umalusi.

Mr Mweli noted that the presentations should be made in collaboration with SRSA. However, the DG of DSRSA and members of the department were yet to arrive at the meeting. Nevertheless, DBE’s presentation would be made by Dr Granville Whittle, as the branch head in charge of sports and recreation within DBE.

Dr Whittle noted that in terms of the MoU, DBE was responsible for the first three levels, namely mass participation at school level, local competitions and circuit competitions. The other three levels were managed by SRSA.

Some of the key strategic achievements of the department in terms of the MoU included the establishment of a joint national task team on schools sport that comprised of national and provincial coordinators from DBE, SRSA, National Federations and school code structures; increase in participation and number of registered schools since the MoU came into effect; broadening the offering of sporting codes from four to 16 during the last five years, and this included nine indigenous games that were added; and segmentation of annual school sport programme into autumn, winter and summer games.

Physical education was an important aspect of the school sports’ policy but this has been a missing element in South Africa for some years now. In 2014, DBE collaborated with some universities to make a concerted effort to improve the quality of physical education in schools. The department was currently participating in a project with UNESCO. This project was launched in 2015 and was aimed at providing support to UNESCO’s pilot in five countries, namely Fiji, Mexico, South Africa, Tunisia and Zambia. It was also aimed at strengthening physical education in the curriculum. A symposium would be held with universities in the first week of April on steps to be taken in strengthening physical education.
There was a big gap in the South African system as many of the universities had phased out the training of physical education teachers in the last couple of years. The department was therefore, trying to fill those gaps in the system.

In terms of the national overview, 13 500 schools were currently registered. This number had grown consistently over the last five years. Even though some provinces recorded high numbers of registered schools, registration was not equivalent to optimal participation (see slide 7 of the attached document for details of registered schools in provinces).

The budget allocation for school sports for the medium term framework (MTF) was already low but a consideration of the budget for the next few years revealed shrinkage in the coming years. Eastern Cape had the biggest budget but the lowest participation rate and this posed a challenge. The budgets for all other provinces were dropping, with the exception of KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo (see slide 8 of the attached document for details).

Human resource capacity in districts and provinces was another challenge. Very little human resource capacity was provided in education (see slide 9 of the attached document).
The issue of facilities was another challenge facing school sports. DBE has made a decision in terms of its norms and standards, that sporting facilities must be included in the construction of new schools. There were backlogs in terms of implementing this decision. The department therefore, entered into a number of partnerships with the private sector to begin to deliver facilities to schools (see slide 10 of the attached document for details). DBE and SRSA decided that the most cost effective way to provide sporting facilities was to provide multipurpose sports, as this would allow for more than one sporting code in schools. Multipurpose sports could also be utilized by more than one school.

Apart from the partnerships entered into for the provision of sporting facilities, DBE also had partners that focused on some of the interventions initiated by the DBE. These partnerships and sport facility donations were outlined (see slide 11 of the attached document). The Let’s Play challenge has been going on for the last ten years and DBE played a major role. The aim was to increase the physical activity levels of children, through the organisation of a national competition that was launched two years ago. The physical challenge competition required children to navigate through an obstacle course within 45 minutes. This competition had grown from having an average of 400 school participants to over 1000 schools in 2016.

The partnership with UNICEF was aimed at providing support to the physical education component of DBE’s intervention programme.

A cricket hub system was being developed with the help of Cricket South Africa (Cricket SA). SRSA was also a key partner in this process. Because cricket was a resource-intensive sport, the department constructed 58 hubs around the country with Cricket SA, with each hub serving about 20 to 30 neighbouring schools. Cricket SA currently paid for specialized coaches to work in those facilities.
Dreamfields was another partner of DBE, which was run by radio personality; John said that cricket is quite resource intensive, so what has been done is constructing 58 hubs around the country with Cricket SA and those hubs serve the local schools closer to the hubs and Cricket SA also pays for a specialised coach in hopes to grow the game in the disadvantaged communities.  The model adopted by Dreamfields was the provision of a level-playing surface for encouraging children to participate in sports. This model was more effective in areas where schools were isolated, such as schools in rural communities, faced with the challenge of transportation. Dreamfields also provided children with equipment and playing kits.
The Motsepe Foundation signed a ten-year deal with DBE to make R120 million available, which would be directed mostly to school sports. However, a large part of the money would also be directed to netball and football development in the country. DBE had begun a conversation with the foundation on the need to reposition private sector support for tournaments in order to alleviate the resource requirement currently placed on SRSA because of the national championships.
The SAFA safe hub system was an interesting model of how sports development was linked to the reduction of delinquency. In Khayelitsha for example, SAFA built four multi-purpose courts and opened them to about six or seven neighbouring schools. Within a two-year period after building those courts, the crime rate dropped to about 44% without any other interventions in that area. This emphasized the importance of keeping children active through sports.

Some of the facilities donated and launched in 2016 were highlighted through pictures (see slide 12 of the attached document).

Apart from the challenge of budget and HR capacity, DBE was faced with other challenges including inadequate attention being given to intra and inter-sport leagues; and inadequate sports facilities. Addressing the challenge of parallel tournaments, conflict of interest for education officials and contradiction between federations and codes was critical to the improvement of sports in the country. Running parallel tournaments translated to a split in resources and inexistence of a joint development programme, and this affected the inter-school leagues. SRSA has been able to prevent sport officials that joined the department from playing a role in co-structures or federations. DBE had no prohibition for education officials, which meant that an education official could function in his role as an education official whilst taking up roles in sports.
Another challenge facing DBE was the lack of human capacity to facilitate school sports in provinces.

To conclude, DBE noted that it had performed relatively well over the last five years despite the challenges faced.
The implementation of the partnership with SRSA to broaden the offering of sporting codes from four to 16 including nine indigenous games was quite strenuous. Therefore, a decision was made to split the implementation process into three phases, and this led to further discussions on the resource constraint. However, it was expected that the current review of the SRSA Act, and the DBE-SRSA MoU would have great implications for the implementation of school sport.

Presentation of SRSA’s update on school sport programme and general performance of provinces
Mr Alec Moemi, DG, SRSA apologized for the department’s late arrival at the meeting. According to him, he sent an SMS informing the Chairperson of the department’s impromptu visit to Durban but the Chairperson did not receive the message.

He noted that SRSA and DBE’s strategies were now fully aligned, having heard the presentation made by DBE. However, there were issues that required a continuous engagement with DBE. The MoU was also up for a review, as 2017 was the last year in the five-year cycle of the MoU. Even though the MoU was reviewed on an annual basis, a bigger review will be carried out immediately after the 2017 championships.

In terms of the coaching framework, there was a challenge of running school sports through teachers in South Africa other countries of the world. The total number of SRSA officials was insufficient to cater for over 24 000 schools. It was therefore, important for school sports to be primarily driven by teachers, while the SRSA officials would provide support to those teachers. However, the biggest teacher union currently had a problem with this arrangement. SRSA held the view that the situation could be remedied, especially because school sports used to be compulsory before the adoption of the new Schools Act. A proposal has been made to DBE for an amendment of the Schools Act to make school sports compulsory and to make provision of quality physical education compulsory in schools.

The power to designate sporting codes has been vested in the school governing bodies by law. SRSA opined that this arrangement was problematic on two grounds. Firstly, the priority codes for the country in terms of the Sports and Recreation Act (SRA) were determined by the Minister of Sports and Recreation, but articulation of this power has been transferred to governing bodies. SRSA was aware of the bad use of this power by the governing bodies, especially in the historically white schools, where football is not allowed based on the fact that the sport would pave way for participation of black kids. SRSA’s view was that the big-5 codes should be made compulsory in all schools, while schools could choose any other codes from the remaining 11 sporting codes as an addition to the five compulsory sporting codes. Schools must have the basic five codes, including football. The power to designate codes should be remain as provided for by the Act, and the articulation of the power should be done in alignment with the SRA. Both Ministers of DBE and SRSA should consult with each other to agree on the designation for compulsory codes.
It was important to address this issue before addressing the issue of training for coaches, under which all teachers were prioritized. SRSA was halfway through the training of coaches for the registered schools already highlighted by DBE. However, it was not all 13 500 registered schools that actually participated. The department would be pleased if 8 000 schools could participate, as this would supersede the projection of 5 500 schools based on the low budget of DBE and SRSA on sports.

Mr Moemi assured the Committee that the issue of not observing sports on Wednesdays in schools would be addressed and all schools, including the historically white schools would begin to observe sports day.
Inter and intra-school tournaments at the lower levels did not take place often, and this posed a major challenge, particularly because intra-school tournaments were the cheapest form of school sports. Continuous participation in these kinds of tournament was the most important unlike what obtained in local festivals, where schools in the same locality competed with each other.

The 16 identified sport codes (see slide 7 of the attached document) would be reviewed by SRSA. This was because the codes were too many and there was a need to narrow them down. Australia had four codes; United Kingdom (UK) had five codes, while New Zealand had three codes. South Africa’s sports budget was little compared to these countries. It was therefore, necessary for SRSA to focus on the big-5. The department was working towards designating these codes, and strategizing a funding model for these codes. This would mean that some codes would be State-aided codes but not State funded. Such codes would be free of charge.

An indication of provincial performance in school sports was highlighted (see slide 26 of the attached document). The biggest concern at the moment was the high expenditure of provinces. The outstanding numbers for each programme, particularly the training of teachers in provinces revealed a poor performance of all provinces. The issue of high expenditure and low performance was one of the main concerns of the department at the moment.
The performance in terms of the number of schools, hubs and clubs provided with equipment was also not impressive. It was only the Western Cape Province that met its target.

The dashboard for customized indicators in terms of the usefulness of findings made during visits to provinces was highlighted (see slide 38 of the attached document). The dashboard revealed that most of the work done in most provinces could be verified. The data from Limpopo province was queried, while the department was unable to verify the data from Western Cape, because no indicator was selected. The same problem affected North West Province.
SRSA was of the view that the accelerated schools infrastructure delivery initiative (ASIDI) could serve as a solution to this problem. It was expected that new schools would be built in accordance to the new norms and standards of basic education that required schools to be built with sport facilities. However, most of the new schools were built without sport facilities. This posed a big challenge for the department.

The issue of tournaments was another challenge facing the department. It was necessary for both DBE and SRSA to deliberate on this issue and come up with a way forward. There were underlying political issues surrounding tournaments, one of which was old sports bodies approaching the DBE for funds after being rejected by the SRSA for not aligning their programmes with that of SRSA. SRSA has appealed to DBE to cease funding for these organizations in order to foster alignment and expand the reach to more schools. Another problem was the fact that some of the tournaments organized by other bodies did not only conflict with national tournaments, but were organized along racial lines. Some of the private tournaments levied parents as high as R3 500 before their children can participate, and claimed to be funded by DBE. SRSA’s visit to one of those parallel tournaments however, revealed that no DBE official was in attendance. The mode of operation of such private tournaments was not pleasing; the proceedings for the competition including announcements were made in Afrikaans, without consideration for black athletes that may be participating. Progress in school sports would only be made when both DBE and SRSA jointly refuse to fund such private tournaments and divert all resources to the mainstream tournaments. Nevertheless, tremendous progress has been made over the past five years of signing the MoU with DBE.

Discussion
Mr C Hattingh (DA) remarked it was impossible to verify the impact of the number of registered schools and the budget from the information provided by the DBE. The department was asked to provide information on the learners in order to evaluate the impact of registered schools.
He also observed that the budget reflected an allocation of a larger amount to the poorest performing Province, which was Eastern Cape, while the second best performing Province (Western Cape) received less than 10 percent of the budget as its allocation. The department was asked to explain the rationale behind the budget allocation to provinces.

Mr Hattingh said that SRSA’s emphasis on white schools seemed to be highly politicized. This was because there were a number of coloured schools at the SAOU annual conference he attended in Port Elizabeth. It should rather be acknowledged that some schools in the country went beyond the trade union guidelines and committed themselves to being part of the conference with very limited resources. It was this level of commitment that was needed in order to identify young talents to participate at the commonwealth games and Olympic Games.

He also observed that the department’s submission on mass participation was not a reality. There was no sustainable mass participation module that was working. The only evidence of mass participation in his province was instances where t-shirts were printed and distributed, a lot of money spent, and a 5-kilometer walk or run was organized once or twice a year. A sustainable module was needed and should be developed by the department.

Mr M Khawula (IFP) agreed with Mr Hattingh on the absence of the practical aspect of mass participation. A sustainable programme that would involve the communities, schools, and all stakeholders, and run for an entire year should be developed.
He also observed that the flow of information was very poor, and some schools did not get information promptly. However, he agreed with the DGs of DBE and SRSA that the conflicting priorities of government contributed to the difficulty in implementing the MoU. The departments could not be blamed, as the allocation for sports over the years, as well as the priority placed on sports was not as high as other aspects of school education.

The department was urged to speak with the unions to allow the teachers to take up sports as a passion and ensure commitment by these teachers. He noted that SRSA once offered school sport assistants to DBE to administer sports in schools, as part of its pilot programme. Unless such programme is revived and sustained, the possibility of achieving the MoU would remain slim.

Ms P Samka-Mququ (ANC) referred to the information provided on the number of registered schools in the Eastern Cape and compared it with the percentage and the number of registered schools in the same Province, as well as the budgetary allocation for the province, the budget should be in line with the number of the schools in the Eastern Cape not allocated according to the performance of the schools. The DGs in those provinces should be brought to the committee and account, because they are the people that are actually on the ground. At the beginning of the year, she requested for sporting gear but it still has not arrived yet, because the communities or schools in the remote areas are neglected to an extent that she has to cough the money out of her own pocket. So the MECs need to be invited as well, but not only from the Eastern Cape area but other struggling provinces as well so that the committee can hear the crux of the matter and what is actually being done to help the schools that are in the remote areas.  She registered further concern about the fact that it seems that the discussions are based on the numbers when in actual fact, the focus should be on the impact. She wanted to know how the Province performed with the budget allocated to it; as well as the actual number of schools in the Province in order to ensure that the budget was allocated based on the number of schools in the Province.

She also said that there was a need for the Committee to invite underperforming Members of the Executive Council (MEC) along with the DGs of the respective departments to share the challenges facing them with the Committee.
She also pointed out that the teachers and educators in schools constituted the membership of the unions referred to by the departments. She urged the Committee to invite not only the Eastern Cape MEC but MECs from provinces that were faced with several challenges, such as the Northern Cape, in order to have a proper engagement with the departments on the challenges being faced.

The Chairperson observed that the figures presented on paper were often considered without a consideration of the demographics in the provinces. This led to concerns around the funding allocation, without recognition of many other factors that were taken into consideration before allocating funds.
She reiterated the need for the MECs to appear before the Committee in order to work out a solution for the current challenges being faced by provinces.

Ms T Mpambo-Sibhukwana (DA) said that the problems inherent in sporting codes for black schools could be linked to the change of cultural mindset, which would require an involvement of the parents of learners. Most times, parents of learners in black schools were not involved in the sporting activities of their children, unlike the white parents of children in urban schools.
She suggested that the promotion of scarce sporting codes in rural schools could be achieved by merging urban schools with those in the rural areas. The black schools only do the most common sporting codes like netball and soccer, so there must be some sort of arrangement to ensure that other sporting codes are introduced and catered for in the black or township schools.

She requested that detailed information should be submitted in writing on the criteria being used for allocation of funds for sports, especially in the Eastern Cape. This report was necessary in order to understand the reasons for underperformance in the Eastern Cape, despite its high budgetary allocation.

Non-existent sporting codes in some schools was a concern. Adopting modules from provinces could be helpful in this regard. An example could be seen in the way the Department of Arts and Culture in the Western Cape Province (with mass opportunity development setup) was working together with DBE to identify young talents through various sporting activities. Hence, implementing a good module will assist in achieving best results, as well as impact the children positively in the long run.

Ms M Moshodi (ANC) wanted to know what strategy had been put in place by the department to ensure maximum performance of provinces; and what the departments could do to ensure that coaches and volunteers received the needed training. She also asked for a follow up on the equipment provided in sports facilities.

The Chairperson requested the DGs of both departments to respond briefly to the issues raised within the limited time, with a focus on the way forward on the MoU. Another session of engagement would be organized with the MECs and departments present. Despite the conflicting priorities of the government, sports and recreation should be taken seriously and invested in. as it formed part of the nation building process. She expressed hope that the MoU would work; it only needed to be reviewed. She also requested that the departments submit responses to the question raised by MPs to the Committee in writing.

Mr Moemi said that SRSA had noted the questions raised by MPs and would respond in writing. The department was confident that the MoU was working, and there were results to prove same. A review of the MoU would be done together with DBE. Schools that have not participated in sports for over 22 years were beginning to participate. 90% of the initial challenges have been worked on, and the remaining would be addressed.

Mr Mweli agreed with Mr Moemi on the progress of the MoU. However, there were specific things that should be sorted out between the two departments. There were some other things that public representatives would assist in sorting out, such as issues relating to legislation, radical socio-economic transformation in sports, and so on.
Issues of sports and mass participation could not be promoted by government and Parliament alone. Every aspect of civil society should be involved.
He proposed that the caution should be applied in comparing provinces, due to the existence of varying factors such as sizes, learner performance and population, which affected the needs and dynamics of each province. Eastern Cape might appear to be underperforming but it was excelling in some sporting codes.
He applauded the suggestion for an engagement of national departments and provinces together with the Committee.

The meeting continued with a deliberation on outstanding reports.

Mr Hattingh noted that he had not received some reports that were before the Committee for consideration. He suggested that a list of all outstanding reports should be compiled and distributed to assist MPs in tracking reports.

The Chairperson said that she already emphasized the need for MPs to keep track of outstanding reports, refer to minutes and follow up on issues arising.

DBE’s Presentation of Evidence Based Report and Reflection on the 2016 NSC Examination Results
A Department official explained that the presentation was divided into two; the evidence based report (EBR) as a primary tool used in supporting the standardization process; and the national senior certificate (NSC) examination results.
The EBR was a quality report compiled by DBE in order to support standardization at the end of the year. It contained specific interventions in addition to the normal teaching carried out by teachers; and was presented twice a year to the assessment standards committee (ASC) for it to study the impact of the proffered interventions.
The EBR also contained quantitative and qualitative information that focused on the interventions done by the DBE in provinces.

The design features of the EBR were highlighted (see slide 8 of the attached document). The report selected seven key areas that highlighted the greatest potential to improve learner performance. These key areas were outlined (see slide 9 of the attached document).

In terms of language proficiency, provinces focused particular interventions that would assist learners in both English language as a first additional language, and home language speaking. In terms of English as a first additional language, the department’s strategy was to include English language across the curriculum, and this has been implemented since the introduction in 2011. Provinces implemented this strategy on an annual basis, and provided support to learners. The focus of the strategy was to ensure that every teacher becomes a language teacher and can focus on the four key language skills. Examples of activities organized in furtherance of the improvement of language proficiency in various provinces were highlighted (see slides 11 to 15 of the attached document).

In terms of subject interventions, each of the provinces and DBE focused their attention on specific subjects. A list of provincial interventions was highlighted (see slide 19 of the attached document). Vacation classes was one of the biggest interventions adopted by all provinces. A report on the vacation classes held in winter and spring camps was highlighted (see slide 20 of the attached document). Additional support was provided for some specific subjects in provinces. An example was the additional support provided for accounting in North West; as well as additional support.

The support for progressed learners has been a challenge for the past three years. However, it would appear that provinces have increased the type of support provided for progressed learners. An overview of the support provided by provinces for progressed learners was highlighted (see slide 26 of the attached document).

The provision of information and communication technologies (ICT) was one of the biggest interventions being used by provinces because of its potential to reach a large number of learners.
In terms of learning and teaching support material (LTSM), it was pointed out that 2016 learners benefited from the LTSM that was provided to them since grade 10.

All provinces and the DBE tracked learner performance on a quarterly basis. The purpose of tracking learner performance was to identify progress, measure the progress with the target, and identify areas in need of interventions at an early stage, where the province and the DBE intervene at an earlier stage to increase the support provided to learners. Provinces tracked learner performance in various ways. One of such ways is comparison between the different co-opts and tracking, as early as grade 8 up to grade 12, and determine the impact of the intervention on whether it worked or it didn’t work.

The EBR also focused on impact assessment of interventions. Most provinces carried out impact studies to determine the impact of interventions offered to teachers and learners. Examples of such impact studies were highlighted (see slides 37 to 39 of the attached document).

The EBR was entrenched within the department’s national strategy for learner attainment. It served as the umbrella strategy to provide guidance to the entire sector in terms of provision of support for key areas.

A Department official presented the reflection on the 2016 NSC examinations. The NSC exams remained an important tool that could be used in evaluating the success of the sector. It was sometimes difficult to make use of the NSC exams alone, as there were other factors that contributed to the overall outcomes. However, three key targets have been identified from the Action Plan and were used in measuring performance in NSC examinations. These targets were the number of grade 12 learners that become eligible for a Bachelor’s programme at a university; the number of grade 12 learners that passed mathematics; and the number of grade 12 learners that passed physical science.

The class of 2016 was the largest class ever recorded in terms of the Matric exams.
The implementation of the policy on progression in the FET band that included a provision for learners not to spend more than four years in a phase attracted a lot of attention from the public. However, the interventions alluded to by the previous presenter reflected the positive results from the implementation of the policy.
One of the rationales behind policy on progression was the need to minimize high dropout rate and maximize school retention. The department came up with pre-conditions for progression and additional criteria for learners to progress (see slide 50 of the attached document for details).
Learners were monitored carefully in grade 12. Identified learners in need of additional support were advised to write their exams in multiple sittings. However, there were set criteria to be met before a learner could qualify for multiple examination opportunity (see slide 52 of the attached document for details).
The number of progressed learners increased in 2016 (see slide 53 of the attached document for details).

The significant gains recorded in the sector for 2016 were outlined (see slides 79 and 80 of the attached document). One of the main significant gains was 33 511 learners that achieved a mark of 60% or more in mathematics in the 2016 examinations. 1 308 of the 1 700 learners from 2015 were black African learners. 32 districts out of the 82 districts achieved a pass rate of 89% and above; and the number of districts attaining a pass rate of below 505 decreased from 8 to 5. Quality passes were also identified in the schools from quintiles 1 to 3. More learners in quintiles 1 to 3 were achieving Bachelor passes.

In previous years, the department considered the overall performance of schools, provinces and districts through the use of overall pass percentage. The department was now making use of other quality indicators to evaluate the performance of different districts, schools and provinces; and this was referred to as the inclusive basket of criteria. The criteria included the mathematics pass percentage; physical science pass percentage; bachelor attainment pass percentage; distinction percentage; mathematics participation rate; and the throughput rate. The inclusive basket criteria were used in evaluating the performance of each province, district and school; and an inclusive basket score was reached to assist with identifying areas in need of interventions.
Information on the performance indicators of each criterion at provincial and district level was highlighted (see slides 84 to 92 of the attached document).

After the examinations, the department conducted a diagnostic analysis of learner performance in selected subjects as the practice was for a number of years. The purpose of the analysis was to be able to track areas of weaknesses, track improvement in previously identified problematic areas; and implement programmes and interventions for a particular year.
One of the key findings from the diagnostic analysis was an improvement in the quality of responses amongst a large group of candidates across all subjects. The department was still faced with the challenge of deficiencies in mathematical and language skills.

A diagnostic report has been prepared and distributed to schools. The report would give an indication on a per-question and sub-question level, with a focus on the areas of weaknesses and performance of candidates (see slides 101 to 103 of the attached document for examples).

School based assessment remained a key component.  School based assessment was not only the 25% that formed the final examination mark. The process however, assisted in evaluating learner performance and identifying areas of weaknesses in formative learning before the final examination is conducted.
Key challenges identified in 2016 and proposed interventions in 2017 were highlighted (see slide 106 of the attached document). Nevertheless, the department identified a lot of improvement in the quality of its school based assessment.
One major intervention carried out in 2016 was a comparative analysis of 2016 school based assessment (SBA) mark with the examination marks for 2016 NSC. The average marks from the SBA were compared with the examination marks recorded in each school. An identified discrepancy would then speak to the quality of the SBA (see slides 108 to 110 of the attached document). The discrepancy identified in 2015 was quite high, but it had been narrowed down in 2016. For instance, there was a reduction in the number of schools with rejected SBA marks in 2016 unlike what obtained in 2015.

DBE has gathered the examination results data, the SBA results data, as well as all other information generated from the system. This information has been packaged and distributed to all provinces for them to come up with programmes and interventions for the current year.

Presentation by Umalusi on the analysis of the 2016 National Senior Certificate examinations; Quality Assurance of assessment in the public and private assessment bodies
Dr MS Rakometsi, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Umalusi, tendered the apology of Professor John Volmink, Chairperson of Council, who was absent from the meeting due to other prior commitments.
In starting the presentation, he noted that the same quality assurance used for the DBE was also used for all other assessment bodies.

Umalusi’s mandate was derived from the General and Further Education and Training Quality Assurance Act (GENFETQA). Section 17 of the Act was quoted (see slide 2 of the attached document). Its mandate was also derived from the Section 27 (h) of the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) Act. The quality assurance framework used by Umalusi in carrying out assessment was highlighted (see slide 4 of the attached document. An advocacy campaign would be organized throughout the year to educate South Africans on standardization process.

An overview on the feedback on quality assurance of assessment process in the public and private assessment bodies, particularly in relation to DBE was highlighted (see slide 6 of the attached document). All question papers were sent by members of the different assessment bodies. The DBE carries out internal moderation on the question papers, after which they would be sent to Umalusi for external moderation and stamp of approval for such paper to be written.
Umalusi also carried out statistical moderation of SBA marks; marker selection and training; and verification of marking. Areas of poor performance in gateway subjects were looked into through verification of marking findings. Directives were also tracked for compliance.

In terms of question paper moderation, it was pointed out that the percentage of question papers approved at first moderation improved from 11.5% in November 2015 to 22.6% in November 2016. The difference in percentages of question papers approved at second to fifth moderation was also highlighted (see slide 7 of the attached document). Overall, DBE examiners had improved in terms of meeting the set standards of Umalusi. DBE examiners were commended for achieving acceptable standards in the setting of examination question papers in some subjects (see slide 8 of the attached document for listed subjects).
However, one of the identified areas of weaknesses was the failure by both examiners and internal moderators to address recurrent non-compliance that led to some papers requiring more than two moderations. It should be noted that this report had been given to DBE to note the areas of weaknesses and strengths already identified by Umalusi. This would help in identifying areas where necessary remedial action was required. Other areas of weaknesses were outlined (see slide 9 of the attached document).
Recommendations for improvement on question paper moderation were highlighted (see slide 10 of the attached document).

The scope of the SBA moderation conducted by Umalusi was divided into subjects verified in July/August 2016 and subjects verified in October 2016 (see slide 11 of the attached document for details).
Areas of good practice identified from the SBA moderation included verification of adequate content coverage in most subjects; well presented, neat, dated, organized and indexed presentation of many teachers’ files and evidence of learner performance (ELP); evidence of internal moderation observed in most of the teacher and learner files; and use of common tasks for capacity building and promotion of equivalence of standards.
Areas of weaknesses identified during the moderation were highlighted (see slides 13 and 14 of the attached document).
Recommendations for improvement with regard to SBA moderation were also outlined (see slides 15 and 16 of the attached document).

The statistical moderation of SBA based on Umalusi’s directives was highlighted (see slide 17 of the attached document). Adjustments were made in instances where teachers have been too strict or too lenient with SBA.
Details of schools with an SBA mean/average that was 15% and above, and where SBA marks were adjusted in some subjects, were given (see slide 18 of the attached document).

The issues that contribute to inflated SBA marks; identified areas of weaknesses; and recommendations for improvement were highlighted (see slide 19, 20 and 21 of the attached document respectively).

Umalusi also monitored marker selection and training. Details of the marker selection and training process; identified areas of good practice; areas of weaknesses; and recommendations for improvement were highlighted (see slides 22 through 26 of the attached document).

Areas of poor performance in selected subjects were noted. The summary of the identified subjects with areas of poor performance was that the weaknesses were a result of the contents taught in grades 10 and11, which often forgotten by learners when they get to grade 12. Also, the subjects involving calculations and graphs such as mathematics and economics, were problematic for most learners.

The slides on quality assurance of the Independent Examinations Board (IEB) (slides 42 to 71 of the attached document); and South African Comprehensive Assessment Institute (SACAI) (slides 72 to 91 of the attached document) followed the same pattern as that of DBE.

In terms of standardization, Umalusi was required to standardize according to the GENFETQA Act. Standardization was an international practice used in large scale assessment systems. It was a process used in mitigating the effect of factors other than learners’ knowledge and aptitude on learner performance. Sources of variability may stem from the difficulty in question paper, undetected errors, and interpretation of questions by learners.
One of the objectives of standardization was the achievement of comparability and consistency from one year to the next, and to deliver a constant product to stakeholders, including TVET colleges, universities, employers and the society in general.

Umalusi has been criticized in the past for considering only statistics that formed a norm of five years. However, Umalusi currently considered qualitative reports from external moderators and examiners on learners’ feedbacks on the question papers. Qualitative inputs were received and compared.

The practice of standardization was inherited from the Joint Matriculation Board (JMB) and SAFCERT. The only improvement introduced by Umalusi was the consideration of qualitative reports.

It was noted that out of the 58 subjects submitted by DBE, raw marks were retained in 26 subjects; 28 subjects were adjusted upwards; and four subjects were adjusted downwards.
Out of the 64 subjects submitted by IEB, 52 raw marks were retained; seven subjects were adjusted upward; while five subjects were adjusted downwards.
28 subjects were submitted by SACAI. Raw marks were retained in 16 of them; while nine subjects were adjusted upwards and three were adjusted downwards.

In conclusion, both private and public assessment bodies should be commended for consistent improvement in assessment practices over the years. Umalusi has witnessed a high level of compliance by assessment bodies in executing its directives for improvement issued to each of the bodies after each examination cycle. Despite the few areas of concern raised and a few irregularities reported during the administration of the 2016 NSC examinations, Umalusi was satisfied with all assessment processed from the three assessment bodies; and their results were duly approved in December 2016.

Discussion
Mr Khawula observed that there were too many adjustments to the subjects submitted by DBE. He asked if this was a cause for worry to Umalusi, and if it implied that quality work was not done by DBE in assessing the papers before they were written.
He enquired about an issue that arose between the department and the teacher unions on assessing markers before such markers could be given jobs; and asked for an update on the issue.

Mr Hattingh asked Umalusi if it was able to pick up provincial deviations in specific subjects when such arose; and how such deviations were addressed.

The Chairperson asked for the mechanisms that have been put in place to ensure adequate training proper empowerment for bodies responsible for SBA.
With regard to progressed learners and the multiple examination module alluded to by DBE, she asked if there were other modules available for learners such writing examinations privately without affecting the overall results.
She applauded the inclusive basket of criteria.
One of the observations gathered from oversight visits to provinces by the Committee, was that many provinces and districts battled with the challenge of inadequate subject advisers. She wanted to know what the department was doing to assist the teachers in producing good results.
Other questions would be forwarded to the department and Umalusi in writing.

In responding to the issue raised by Mr Khawula, Dr Rakometsi said that Umalusi usually became worried when a lot of marks had to be adjusted either upwards or downwards. The need for adjustments could be traced to a change in the syllabus, and teachers still trying to adjust to the new standards.
A commitment has been made to the DG of DBE that boundaries would be pushed in terms of the difficulty levels of question papers. Umalusi would maintain high standards for learners that would help them to compete in the global village. The implication of this was that questions would become more difficult each year, and this may necessitate more adjustments until a targeted standard is achieved.
Also, some teachers were not conversant with the style of setting question papers and this contributed to the challenges facing standardization, resulting in adjustments.

One of the provinces was conducting a marker competency test for marker selection. Umalusi has not been involved in the matter, because the instrument used for testing marker competency has not been quality assured by Umalusi, and as such, cannot be vouched for. Umalusi only showed support for anything that would perfect the selection of markers.

Dr Rakometsi said that it was difficult to detect provincial deviations, since the standardization process was done for the entire country. Umalusi could only attest to all processes leading to standardization.

Although SBA was compulsory, it could become weak in instances where the teachers were too strict and exceeded the limit of 15% or too lenient. In such instances, the learners loose out and end up fending for themselves only on the written component. Umalusi therefore, urged the department to provide adequate training for teachers on SBA.

The council has advised that no distinction should be made between the results of progressed learners and non-progressed learners. Umalusi has observed that the difference between progressed and non-progressed learners was quite small.

Mr Mweli said that some of the pending issues could not be highlighted at the meeting because they formed decisions of the Council of Education Ministers. He implored the Committee to go through the outcomes of standardization of the different assessment bodies. The only missing information in the report presented by Umalusi was on the MCV.
The outcomes of private assessment bodies were more favourable than those of DBE. This reflected a practice of the elites protecting themselves, which affected the results of the poor, unemployed, and marginalized.

The subjection of teachers to competency assessments for marker selection did not guarantee better performance or outcomes. This did not imply that the assessment did not contribute to outcomes. Its contribution was only yet to be scientifically proven.

The department has embarked on training of teachers for SBA and improvements have been recorded.

In terms of the issues raised on progressed learners, Mr Mweli said that the Council of Education Ministers would consider the suggestions made by Umalusi.
He agreed with the Chairperson on the issue of shortage of subject advisers.

He concluded by saying that DBE should have recorded more favourable outcomes of standardization in the previous year, but the department was subjected to the decision reached by Umalusi. In Mr Mweli’s opinion, DBE was the only assessment body that provided comprehensive evidence on qualitative inputs injected into the system. He expressed interest in a comparison of DBE’s efforts with those of other countries in terms of providing evidence on the impact made in the system.

The Chairperson appreciated the CEO of Umalusi for its presentation. She urged entities to send in their presentation documents to MPs in ample time before the meeting.

The Chairperson informed MPs that the Committee has been invited by the DBE to the national awards on 25 March 2017. The Committee would be paying a visit to Mpumalanga on the Monday of the same week.

The meeting was adjourned.