Provincial Legislature - Questions

Having arrived from a visit to the United Kingdom yesterday, Education MEC Cameron Dugmore had to answer eight parliamentary questions from Members in the House today (Tuesday 15 November 2005), which ranged from the role of Teacher Assistants to schools recycling projects, safety and the late arrival of Common Tasks Assessment (CTAs) papers:

QUESTION 1

Mr. Y Gabru (ANC) to ask Mr. C M Dugmore, Minister of Education:

Answer: There are currently qualified teachers in our Foundation Phase classes. However, our Literacy and Numeracy tests in Primary Schools indicate a need to enhance this aspect as the critical basis for learning. By appointing Teacher Assistants we wish to follow international examples and build on experiences in some of our schools. The teacher assistants will give extra time and attention to individual or small groups of learners in a class, especially those needing special attention or more time in practicing essential basic reading, writing and numeracy skills.

These teachers' assistants will assist the qualified full-time teachers in the classroom. Given budgetary constraints, it would not be possible to employ additional fully qualified teachers in the Foundation Phase in all schools. This initiative of teachers' assistants will allow the WCED to alleviate workload pressure from teachers in most schools, which in turn would allow teachers to concentrate on the literacy and numeracy challenges in the Foundation Phase. Our initiative to employ teachers' assistants has the full support of teacher unions and school governing body associations.

We will place teachers' assistants in selected schools across the Province from February next year on a pilot basis and as contract appointments.

QUESTION 2

Mr. S Esau (DA) to ask:

Answer: In terms of Article 3 of the South African Schools Act (SASA), parents must ensure that their children of compulsory school-going age attend school.

(a) The Head of Education may apply procedures described in Article 3 (5) of the SASA to compel parents to comply with the requirements of the Act.

In addition to these procedures, the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) is currently employing 25 Learner Support Officers (LSOs) to assist the department in investigating cases of truancy, among other duties, to ensure that truants return to school.

The WCED will deploy four LSO in each of the province's four urban education districts and three in each of the rural education districts, to work with the WCED's Safe Schools Division on influencing various aspects of learner behaviour, including truancy.

(b) The WCED has already applied the procedures described in Article 3 (5) on rare occasions, and will continue doing so, should this be the most appropriate means of ensuring that parents comply with their legal requirements.

Meanwhile, the LSOs will comment duty on 1 December 2005. During the December 2005 school holiday, they will attend initial training and assist in managing a holiday programme for youth at risk. The WCED will deploy the LSOs in each district during 2006. They will receive additional training during the course of the year.

QUESTION 3

Mr. S Esau to ask:

Answer: (a) No, there is no duplication in the roles of the LSOs and police officers appointed at high-risk schools. We currently only have police reservists at five schools in Mannenberg. It allows for rapid police response should there be an emergency at the school. They address learners during assembly regarding crime prevention, they have arresting powers and assist the principal with managing criminal activity at schools.

The Learner Support Officer's Job Description is to:

• Assist the Safe Schools Co-ordinator to initiate, support and to resource youth clusters to address the major challenges facing the learning sites and communities, for example gangsterism, abuse, crime, rape, racism, teenage sexuality, vandalism and burglaries.
• Assist Safe Schools Co-ordinator to combat the root causes of crime and violence by developing schools into centres of excellence with strong community links in order to promote youth development.
• Assist the Safe Schools Co-ordinator to facilitate various attitudinal and behavioural programmes, to transform hearts and minds, where we are able to support, modify or influence parent, educator, and learner behaviour, at school and the surrounding community.
• Develop / Conduct advocacy campaigns to gain support of parents and broader community. It is critical to conduct an ongoing advocacy campaign to effectively change the culture of truancy.
• Co-ordinate after-school and holiday programmes, Back-to-School Drives, parent meetings and training within the scope of crime prevention.
• Co-ordinate support structures to assist schools and school communities with creative and sustainable structures to deal with truant and at risk learners.
• Facilitate good working relationships between local communities and the School.
• Practice confidentiality pertaining sensitive information and documentation.
• Facilitate the assessment of truant learners and placement for intervention.
• Assist Safe Schools Co-ordinator with administrative responsibilities.

Further:

• The L.S.O. will investigate the allegations of truancy through home visits and will hand over a letter of notification to the parent explaining their rights and responsibilities. (Article 3.1 of the South African Schools Act of 1996, Section 84 of 1996).
• File parent response within 14 days of delivery of letter.
• If there is reason to believe that the learner played truant, assessment is needed, with the support of the parents, L.S.O. and EMDC multi-functional team.
• L.S.O. provides written reports to Safe Schools, the School, EMDC Director and parent.
• L.S.O. refers to service provider for counseling, debriefing or relevant Behavioural programmes.
• Further support will be provided with the LSO, educator and Safe Schools Co-ordinator with regard to prevention, intervention and response strategies.
• If the learner does not respond the L.S.O. will submit all relevant documentation to the EMDC Director or Head of Education.

(b) The WCED Safe Schools Division, in partnership with the Department of Community Safety (DOCS), initiated the LSO Project in response to the serious problems and consequences related to the effects of truancy. This Truancy Reduction Project started off in 2000, with DOCS paying for 14 Learner Support Officers. In 2001, WCED added Conditional Grant funded 30 additional schools and it. Safe Schools were forced to terminate the project based on lack of funding. Community Safety continued with the project in the six Urban Renewal Strategy Areas.

During the period 2002 * 2003, no Conditional Grant funds were available to further the project. The Department of Community Safety continued with their 30 LSO's. Towards the end of 2003, and in 2004, the Heads of Education and Community Safety engaged in discussions to relocate LSO's to Education.

QUESTION 4

Mr. S Esau to ask:

Answer: Schools were asked if they wished to become focus schools, in which case they were requested to draw up a business plan, indicating how they would offer curriculum redress and quality education in a focus area. No school was approved until 2 November 2005. Prior to this time, Môrester High School had arranged to make alterations to buildings, etc. The school was informed in October that no school had yet been selected as consultations were taking place with top management, teacher unions and other stakeholders.

The school was advised that all business plans had to be approved by WCED and all plans for building alterations had to be approved by The Department of Public Works. Their decision to commit to any arrangements prior to the decision being taken, as to which schools would become focus schools, was therefore ill-advised.

Focus schools were approved in the meantime and the names were announced on 2 November 2005. Môrester High School, located within the EMDC: Southern Cape/Karoo, has been included as a focus school.

QUESTION 5

Mr. S Esau to ask:

Answer: In order to accommodate more learners on waiting lists in special schools in 2006, the following are planned:

• The establishment of two skills schools in Mitchell`s Plain and Tulbach for skills training of learners with learning barriers
• The establishment of skills sections in special schools where physical facilities (such as workshops) exist, which are not used fully by the learners for whom the schools were originally built
• The abolition of the principle of differentiated admission to special schools based on the specific barriers to learning for which certain schools have traditionally catered, so that provision can be made for the placement of more learners with barriers to learning in special schools with available space
• Specialised teacher support, in multifunctional regard, to learners on waiting lists by learning support personnel in the various EMDCs until such learners can be accommodated in special schools. (Care will thus be taken that these learners receive support while they are still accommodated in the mainstream schools. In this way they will not be deprived of their right to receive basic education while they are waiting to be placed.)
  

QUESTION 6

Mr. GCR Haskin (ACDP) to ask:

Answer: (a) Information gathered from Education service providers excluding government departments like City of Cape Town and Department of Environment Affairs and Development Planning indicate that more that eighty schools are involved in recycling projects.

(b) Schools located in various EMDCs are actively running recycling projects. Examples of such schools include:
Sivile Primary School at EMDC East Metropole, Rocklands Secondary (South), Vuyani Primary school (South), Groote Schuur High School and Greenfields Primary (Central).

(c) Some schools in affluent suburbs buy their own recycling bins, while others join school competitions e.g. those that are run by Consol Glass and get bins free of charge. The cost of a bin is R5000.00. Consol Glass, Enviro-Class, Mondi recycling donate bins to, and collect waste from schools, therefore most schools do not incur any cost of running recycling project. Schools get money to the amount of R170.00 per ton of waste. Winners in competitions e.g. those run by Consol, get money as prizes and incentives, for recycling.

(d) Recycling companies bear the costs in most cases.

(e) The WCED Department has provided curriculum guideline documents that lay emphasis on integration of Environmental Education in the Curriculum at all levels of teaching and learning. In addition, the WCED runs curriculum orientation workshops and programmes, which provide guidance for the integration of EE in the curriculum. Similar workshops are run for education service providers, including higher education institutions.

The WCED works in collaboration with recycling agents including government departments, and assists to align curriculum materials designed by various service providers (including government department) to the National Curriculum Statement. Recently curriculum designers employed by the Fairest Cape Association, as well as those employed by the City of Cape Town received guideline documents from the WCED for the purpose designing Learner and Teacher support Materials (LSTM) that is aligned to the National Curriculum Statements.

Recycling companies like Consol Glass, Enviro-Glass and Tsoga Environmental Resources Centre, agree with the WCED that the only way of ensuring sustainable waste management in communities is by encouraging and supporting schools to use the Teacher's Guides for the development of learning programmes to integrate recycling and waste management into the school curriculum.

QUESTION 7

Mr GCR Haskin to ask:

Answer: (a) (i) The distribution of the CTAs was delayed because the original plan by the Department of Education in Pretoria indicated that the master copies would be received in the province by 1 June 2005. The plan for the printing of CTAs, Senior Certificate Examination question papers and other examination printing was developed around this date. WCED was informed that there would be a delay until 1 July and the plan was adapted. When they were not received by that date, all machines were used to print the Senior Certificate examination papers that had been delayed. The last master copy of a CTA was received in October after schools had opened.

(ii) All schools received their CTAs by 7 November 2005.

(iii) The CTAs were sent out in three batches. All schools received the first two batches before the end of October. The third batch was sent out at the beginning of November.

(b) Examinations in Grade 9 form one component of the 5 Continuous Assessment components. Continuous Assessment comprises 75% of the promotion mark as per Gazette No 25699 of 2003. Schools themselves determine how many examinations and tests they wish to write and include in the test component of the Continuous Assessment section. Grade 9 examinations are, therefore, not lengthy examinations as is the case in senior classes. They do not need to take a full day to write an examination and the CTAs can be worked on after examinations have been written in the morning. One CTA takes between 3 and 4 hours to complete. Every school that has conducted at least one test or examination during the course of the year may choose not to write examinations in November.

(c) A detailed report has been sent to the Director-General of the national Department of Education requesting that the matter be addressed appropriately to ensure that CTAs are of high quality and are delivered timeously.

I have raised my concerns with the National Minister and am satisfied that the necessary steps are being taken to avoid a recurrence of the situation in 2006.

QUESTION 8

Mr Y Gabru to ask:

Answer: The situation at the school is not satisfactory, but it is under control since the appointment of acting principal, Mr Quentin Newman. The school has a long history of division among staff members, as well as within the governing body. These problems date back to the years before the advent of the new democratic dispensation, as early as 1985, when the school was established.

The divisions have led to the contesting of appointments into promotion posts, as well as in disagreement between governance and management. These divisions are debilitating, to the extent that the school has had eleven (11) school principals since 1985, of which only two (2) have been permanently appointed (1987-1988, and 1996-1998). The last time the school had a permanently appointed principal was in 1998.

The nomination of a school principal in 2001 generated a dispute, followed by court action in 2004, compelling the WCED to repeat the process. A principal was nominated and appointed again, and again an individual, which dispute is presently being processed, disputed the process. An acting principal is presently managing the school, and is keeping the situation stable.

If tensions persist after the completion of the process to have a permanently appointed principal in place, the WCED may be compelled to consider its options and take drastic remedial actions. Our key priority is to ensure the appointment of a principal and that the SGB operates effectively so that effective learning and teaching takes place on a daily basis.

For enquiries,

Gert Witbooi
Media Liaison Officer
Office of the MEC for Education
Western Cape
Tel: 021 467 2523
Fax: 021 425 5689
gwitbooi@pgwc.gov.za
Visit our website: http://wced.wcape.gov.za