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TRANSFORMINGEDUCATION

AgangSAs Plan to Transform andRestructure the Education System

in South Africa

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction ................................................................................................................... 2

2. The Current State of Education in South Africa....................................................... 3

3. AgangSAs Education Policy Approach ..................................................................... 9

3.1 Principles to govern the education sector in South Africa ................................. 9

3.2 AgangSAs approach to education in South Africa............................................. 9

4. AgangSAs Plans toTransform the Education System in South Africa............... 14

Sources .............................................................................................................................. 18

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1. Introduction

Nearly two decades after the end of apartheid, the South African education system

is in crisis. This is clearly evident in the countrys unsatisfactory educational

outcomes. In standardised international assessments of educational achievement,

South Africa is consistently ranked worst among all participating middle income

countries. South African learners tend to fare particularly poorly in standardised

assessments of literacy and mathematical ability, even in comparison to their peers

in many low-income African countries. Alarmingly, large shares of South African

learners are functionally illiterate and innumerate.

These unacceptable educational outcomes are due in a large part to the poor quality

of the existing education system in South Africa. Education in the country continues

to be undermined by a corrosive mix oflow expectations of children (especially those

living in rural areas or townships); endlessly layered bureaucracy that blurs lines of

accountability; and eroded legitimate authority that renders leaders powerless.

Moreover, the current schooling system is beset with problems. These include a one

school system that is assumed best for all; wide divergence in access to quality

education across the country; heavily teacher-centred classroom practices; the

presence of teachers who are disillusioned and frustrated; poor perceptions of

teaching as a last resort low-status occupation; and limited access to computer

technology and restricted bandwidth in many schools.

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2. The Current State of Education in South Africa

A defining feature of the apartheid era education system in South Africa was the

institutionalisation of vast inequalities in educational provision, resourcing, access

and quality. Under apartheid, black South Africans were systematically denied access

to the educational opportunities enjoyed by their white counterparts. The Bantu

education system, which sought to educate the black majority, was designed to teach

individuals about apartheid and their role under white minority rule, while providing

only basic skills. This resulted in generations of under-skilled, under-qualified and

unemployed individuals.

In contrast, education for white South Africans was aimed at growing the countrys

skilled labour force and channeling white students into universities in order to ready

them for highly skilled positions in both the private and public sectors. There were

also vast disparities in the quality of education available in South Africas rural and

urban areas, with proper infrastructure largely non-existent in the rural parts of the

country.

As a result of years of underinvestment in black education under apartheid, urgent

reforms were required after 1994 to redress the widespread inequalities and unequal

outcomes that dogged the system and to remove infrastructural backlogs in the

education sector. Recognising the dire need for reform, successive post-apartheid

governments in South Africa have ramped up expenditure on education and initiated

a raft of programmes designed to improve the countrys education system. At

present, one fifth (20%) of total government expenditure is directed towards

education in South Africa. This year, education was allocated the largest share of the

national budget, with R232.5 billion earmarked from the central fiscus for education,

sports and culture.

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At the same time, important policy and legislative changes have been implemented

with the aim of addressing the inequalities in the system stemming from apartheid.

At the macro level, the focus has been on reversing fiscal inequities within the

system, implementing serious curriculum reform and restructuring teacher

deployment. The latter has been introduced in tandem with moves to synchronise

teacher salaries and stabilise teacher to pupil ratios in order to raise teacher

performance and the quality of teaching in South Africa.

Following the end of apartheid, the national government also sought to reform the

education system by addressing issues at the local level. In this respect, reformsincluded the creation of a foundation class before the start of primary school (Grade

R), changes to language policies, and initiatives to localise power in order to give

School Governing Bodies more authority over their schools admission policiesand

codes of conduct. In addition, some schools were turned into no-fee schools where

learners were able to receive an education free of charge with learning materials

provided to them by the school.

Despite these reforms, and the laudable progress in terms of improving access to

education in South Africa that has been achieved since 1994 (particularly at the level

of primary and basic education but also in secondary and higher education), many

problematic features of the education system have endured almost two decades after

the end of apartheid.

South Africas public education system ranks among the worst in the world. A 2011-

2012 World Economic Forum (WEF) study rated the South African education

system a lowly 133rd out of 142 participating countries. The WEFs Global

Information Technology report (released in 2013) ranked the quality of the South

African education system in 140thposition out of 144 countries. South Africas maths

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and science education fares even more poorly, coming in second-last in the world

ahead of only Yemen.

At the same time, the reforms to education introduced since 1994 have been unable

to effectively redress the inequalities that were a feature of the South African

education system under apartheid. Indeed, it has been argued that the current system

actually propagates inequality. The social mobility of individuals hailing from poor

families is severely constrained, not least because high quality educationwhich has

a major influence on social mobility remains geographically and financially

inaccessible to many poor people in South Africa. As a result, there remains anenormous achievement gap between children in advantaged versus disadvantaged

schools.

The inequalities in education in South Africa are evident in the presence of a two-

tier school system which includes both a dysfunctional schooling system (which

encompasses 75% of all schools in the country; and ranks poorly even in comparison

to other African countries)1and a functional schooling system (which accounts for

the remaining 25% of schools; and is equivalent to schooling systems at the lower

end of those found in developed countries). For their part, the dysfunctional schools

are characterised by weak accountability; incompetent school management; a lack of

a culture of learning, discipline and order; inadequate learner-teacher support

material; weak teacher content knowledge; high levels of teacher absenteeism; slow

curriculum coverage; repetition and high dropout rates; and extremely weak learning.

The differences in the performance of schools within these two tiers are stark and

manifest in a clear bi-modality in student performance across the two tiers.

Many school-going Grade 6 learners in South Africa are functionally illiterate and

innumerate. As a result, South African learners tend to perform extremely poorly in

1South Africas own Minister of Basic Education has claimed that as many as 80% of schools in South Africa aredysfunctional.

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standardised measures of literacy and numeracy, even in comparison to other

African countries. In a 2006 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study

(PIRLS), which tested levels of reading and literacy among Grade 4 and 5 learners,

South Africa ranked last out of 45 countries (behind both Botswana and Morocco).

Just 13% of Grade 4 and 22% of Grade 5 learners in South Africa reached the Low

International Benchmark of 400 in the PIRLS in 2006. Likewise, a 2007 study by the

Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality

(SACMEQ), which assessed proficiency in mathematics and reading among Grade

6 learners in 14 African countries, ranked South Africa in 10thposition for reading

and 8th

for mathematics, behind low-income countries such as Swaziland, Tanzaniaand Kenya. South Africa has also performed poorly in comparison to its neighbours

in Trends in Mathematics and Science Studies, which assesses the abilities of Grade

8 learners in maths and science.

The poor performance of South African learners in comparison to their African

peers occurs even though the national governments expenditure on primary

education significantly exceeds that of other African governments. For instance, the

South African government spends nearly five times more than Kenya per child on

primary education (US$ 1 225 in South Africa versus US$ 258 in Kenya), yet only

8% and 11% of Grade 6 learners in Kenya are functionally illiterate and innumerate,

respectively, versus 25% and 39% in South Africa.

A significant amount of South Africas expenditure on education is wasted through

the ineffective use of resources. The 2007 SACMEQ study revealed that just 36%

of South African Grade 6 learners had their own mathematics textbook, well below

the equivalent shares in Mozambique (52%) and Botswana (62%). There is wide

variation across provinces and schools in the capacity to manage financial and

human resources. In certain instances this has manifested in particularly undesirable

outcomes, such as the non-delivery of textbooks to schools in Limpopo in 2012. Six

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months into the 2012 academic year, schools in Limpopo had not yet received

textbooks for Grade 10 learners from the Department of Education. Unsurprisingly,

70% of Grade 10 learners in 25 Limpopo schools failed their Grade 10 exams.

The high level of government expenditure on education has also not translated into

an equitable distribution of resources across schools in South Africa, with many

schools remaining heavily under-resourced. There are still 400 mud schools in the

Eastern Cape. Across the county, many schools lack basic infrastructure such as

electricity and flushing toilets. Of the 24 735 public schools in South Africa, 11 450

schools are using pit latrines and 19 541 schools do not even have space for a library.

In addition, violence within schools continues to be a major problem that has

significant negative repercussions for education outcomes in the country. Many

primary and secondary schools within South Africa have become sites of widespread

violence. The problem of school-based violence has persisted and, in some cases,

has intensified. Most worryingly, there has been a shift from bullying to even more

serious types of violent victimisation in our schools. In many cases, children are the

perpetrators of this violence and there have been a growing number of instances in

which teachers have been the victims. As a result, in many schools across the country

(encompassing all school categories), children are unable to learn in a safe and

protected environment.

Aside from the issues related to resources and safety in schools, the poor educational

outcomes in South Africa are also a function, at least in part, of poor teacher quality

and teacher shortages. With respect to the latter, student teacher ratios have

increased steadily on average in recent years; and teacher shortages are

particularly dire in maths and science. The situation is made worse by the fact that

South Africa is losing over 4 000 teachers each year through emigration. In addition,

the teacher shortages are exacerbated by high levels of teacher absenteeism. At

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3. AgangSAs Education Policy Approach

3.1 Principles to govern the education sector in South Africa

AgangSAs vision of a high quality and well-functioning education system in South

Africa is grounded in the following principles:

Equity of access to quality education for all South Africans, regardless of their

race, where they live and their socio-economic circumstances.

Shared responsibility for education between the state, schools, teachers,learners, families and communities.

A devotion to high quality teaching and school leadership in all schools in

South Africa.

Schools, school leaders and teachers who are professionally accountable to

their learners and their families.

Collaboration across all tiers of the education system.

Schools that offer safe and protected learning environments for children in

South Africa.

3.2AgangSAs approach toeducation in South Africa

We believe that education policies must be designed to transform not merely

reform and improve the existing education system in South Africa. Effective

transformation of the education system requires a focus on transforming leaders.

Moreover, there is a need for a dramatic change in focus towards improving the

quality of teaching and learning in the country. This requires a combined focus on

children, teachers, school leadership and restructuring educational systems and

structures. More broadly, it necessitates an action-based and multi-faceted approach

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to transforming the education system. Each of these elements is discussed briefly

below.

3.2.1 Focus on children

We will establish high expectations for all learners; and entrench a cradle to career

focus that is centred on creating and developing personalised learning paths and

integrating and aligning all elements of the education system to serve the needs of

our children.

3.2.2 Focus on teachers

We will encourage a relentless focus on the processes of teaching and learning in

classrooms. Doing so requires re-igniting belief, passion and commitment in

teachers by focusing on teachers personal development. It also requires the creation

of new paths for ambitious young people to be attracted into education and retained

in the profession.

3.2.3 Focus on school leadership

We believe there is an urgent need to simplify systems of accountability in order to

reduce the burdens of paperwork and increase the time spent by teachers in direct

teaching contact with learners. At the same time, we will look to introduce greater

autonomy and increased accountability within a clearly defined transformative

teaching and learning framework for school leaders and teachers.

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3.2.4 Restructuring systems and structures

In contrast to the existing one school system in South Africa, we believe that it is

necessary to develop a number of parallel systems of schooling that cater for diverse

needs and opportunities and ensure that a variety of schooling options are available

to enable children to move from cradle to career. This approach will also involve a

restructuring of existing schools in order to create smaller focused schools within

schools that will create and develop quality opportunities for all children.

3.2.5 An action-based approach to transforming the education system

We believe that the implementation of multiple parallel action-based strategies is

necessary to transform the education system in South Africa. At a practical level, this

approach will focus on the following:

Lengthening school days to broaden and deepen learning.

Restructuring school time and space carefully to begin to address the real

existing academic deficits.

Cascading peer training for all teachers and professional development relating

to targeted academic intervention in all schools specifically for mathematicsand languages.

Restructuring Life Orientation as a subject to develop: mindfulness; greater

focus on internalising values; peer helping; circles of healing; and children

as agents of change in community development. In doing so, we will aim to

consciously build actively engaged citizens and, thereby, develop the social

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capital needed for continued economic and social growth and development

in South Africa.

Creating and developing educational communities of practice district-by-

district to enable the peer review process to become a reflective tool and

enabler for real school change.

Developing the capacity of school leaders and governors to create, take

ownership of, and implement focused school improvement plans.

Distinguishing between instructional and operational leadership roles and

responsibilities within schools.

Focusing on educational leadership development in all districts with a specific

priority focus on instructional leadership.

Creating and accelerating business mentoring and coaching to support

operational leaders.

Focusing relentlessly on what is happening in the classroom and prioritising

instructional practice.

Focusing on learner-centred teaching by defining clear expectations for lesson

structures, tools and techniques and establishing peer classroom observation

and feedback as a primary self-regulating mechanism.

Developing teachers to ensure appropriate differentiation in teaching and

learning that takes into account learning styles, multiple intelligences, abilities

and difficulties.

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4. AgangSAs Plans toTransform the Education System in

South Africa

There is a need to implement wide-ranging initiatives to transform, reform and

improve the education system in South Africa. To this end, AgangSA plans to

undertake the following:

AIM HIGH:We will aim to be a top 10 education system globally and make

decisions accordingly. Incremental change will no longer be accepted.

PUT STUDENTS FIRST: By improving the quality and competency of

teachers in South Africa. To this end, we will:

o Conduct subject-specific competency tests of all teachers.

o Provide intensive teacher training.

o Link teachers pay increases to competency/qualifications.

o Introduce minimum standards for new teacher hires with an eventual

goal of all teachers having bachelor degrees.

o Encourage and stimulate the growth of Teach South Africa working

with Teach For All.

o Provide incentivised fast-tracked leadership training.

FILL TEACHER VACANCIES:We will hire 15000 more teachers with a

focus on unemployed youth with bachelor degrees; provide allowances for

working in rural areas and scarce skills (e.g. maths); and develop teacher

internship training opportunities for school graduates in high-performing

schools.

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UPGRADE INFRASTRUCTURE: We will eradicate mud schools, fix

basic infrastructure and build libraries to provide our youth with proper

learning environments.

SET MINIMUM STANDARDS:We will define minimum standards for

all elements of the education system so parents know what they should expect

from government and can hold it accountable.

ELIMINATE MEDIOCRITY:We will abandon the 30% pass mark in all

grades andintroduce a 50% minimum pass mark for all subjects and grades.

TOP-UP SOCIAL GRANTS FOR EDUCATION RESULTS:We will

provide additional social grant money to families for students who achieve a

70% pass in any year and for matriculation.

FOCUS ON LEADERSHIP TO ACCELERATE EDUCATIONAL

TRANSFORMATION:We will establish applied national and regional

leadership institutes in education; and identify, train, support and fast track

instructional leader champions in all schools, district-by-district.

ESTABLISH NEW SCHOOL SYSTEMS: We will introduce new legal

options for new school systems to be initiated, supported and monitored. For

example, we will create provision for contract schools targeting access to

quality education to be funded as public schools.

REVIVE DINALEDI SCHOOLS: We will inject funding and human

resources into Dinaledi Schools within a differentiated framework. These

schools will be categorised in terms of history and performance and, for each

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of these categories, school development plans will be developed and

supported with incentivised goals and intentional monitoring.

ELIMINATE VIOLENCE IN SCHOOLS: We will ensure that all

schools in South Africa are safe and protected environments for learning. To

do so, we will adoptan explicitly transversal and strategically coordinated

whole-of-government and whole-of-society focus on schools (encompassing

national and provincial departments of Education, Community Safety,

Culture and Sport, Social Development and Health as well as NGOs and

CBOs) in building safe communities. We will also restore respect andconnectedness between schools and communities; and emphasise the

importance of relationships, attitudes and mentalities in maintaining school

safety.

BOOST THE CAPACITY AND EXPERTISE OF THE

DEPARTMENT OF BASIC EDUCATION (DBE) AND

PROVINCIAL BUREAUCRACIES:We will build greater technical and

educational expertise and managerial and administrative capacity within the

national DBE and provincial education departments. Key to this will be

ensuring that the national DBE and provincial departments are staffed by

personnel with the appropriate expertise and technical competence to

perform their duties.

IMPROVE ACCOUNTABILITY AT ALL LEVELS OF THE

EDUCATION SYSTEM: We will instil a strong chain of accountability

within the South African education system, with verifiable and trackable goals

and responsibilities linked to clearly defined performance criteria for

individualsat each level of the system. This will be accompanied by clearly

defined consequences for instances of non-performance; and reinforced

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through on-going monitoring and evaluation throughout the system. We will

focus, in particular, on articulating responsibilities for pupil learning and

consequences for non-performance and poor educational outcomes.

AIM FOR UNIVERSAL ATTAINMENT OF BASIC SKILLS:We will

set realistic goals based on assessments of capacity and recent rates of

progressthat build towards the target of achieving universal acquisition of

basic skills without compromising educational standards.

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