Four Years On: Meeting the Objectives in Our Strategic Plan

Statement by Minister of Education, Donald Grant

One of the overarching goals of the Western Cape Government is to provide quality education to all the learners in this province, which is the cornerstone of our vision of an open opportunity society for all.

To make this vision a reality, in November 2009, we released a strategic plan for education for the years 2010 – 2019.

The objective of the plan is to improve academic performance in literacy and numeracy and the National Senior Certificate, as well as, to reduce the number of underperforming schools.

In order to achieve this, the plan focuses on 10 key priority areas and also sets targets for improvement in the province.

As an open and accountable government, we are subject to review in achieving the objectives as set out in this plan. Therefore, we constantly question whether we are fulfilling our commitments as set out in the plan, we review the priorities, and analyse learner results.

It has now been four years since this plan was adopted.

The attached document will provide you with a full summary of our 10 strategic priorities and what we have achieved to date.

I would like to emphasise that none of our 10 key priorities has changed. They all remain the same, as they were formulated in 2009. There is no "shifting of the goal posts" to suit our needs or to hide failures. These are the objectives we have set – the objectives that will carry us till 2019.

It is a sustained, focused and systematic approach that will see us in the period 2010 – 2014 laying the foundation for solid improvements in learner performance in the period that will follow in 2014 – 2019, during which learners will reap the benefits of a system that has been designed and managed to deliver on the targets set.

Some recent highlights this year include:

• The introduction of the e-Recruitment System, which allows teachers to capture and store their CVs online, as well as, apply for vacant teaching posts. Over 20 000 educators have registered on this system in the last year. (Pg. 6)
• The introduction of a breakfast meal for learners, in addition to the lunch meal they receive each day. (Pg.9)
• The launch of the School Resource Officer (SRO) pilot, which aims to build safer school environments. (Pg. 9)
• There are 130 maintenance projects currently underway in our schools. (Pg. 10)
• 216 schools were offered the opportunity to apply for no-fee status to assist in alleviating some of the funding challenges they face as a result of the non-payment of school fees by parents. (Pg. 11)
• The WCED are currently completing construction on four new schools and 17 replacement schools which are due for completion next year. A further 11 new schools and 16 replacement schools are in planning. (Pg. 12)
• 102 new principal appointments in 2013. (Pg. 13)

Some long-term highlights over the past four years include:

• Expanded systemic testing in Grade 3, 6 and 9. 
• 690 additional posts have been allocated to the Foundation Phase since 2009. (Pg. 3)
• Revised the Western Cape Provincial School Education Act. (Pg. 4)
• Developed the School Improvement Plan System (SIPS) (Pg. 4)
• The acceleration in the filling of teacher vacancies. (Pg. 6)
• Over 13 000 educators have received training at the Cape Teaching and Leadership Institute in the last four years. (Pg. 7)
• Approximately 30 000 educators were trained in preparation for the implementation of CAPS. (Pg. 7)
• Over eight million books delivered to schools within a three–year period. (Pg. 7)
• Over 600 schools have received security infrastructure in the last four years. (Pg. 9)
• Since 2011, the WCED have paid out over R92 million in compensation for fee exemption. (Pg. 11)
• Increase in interventions in our underperforming schools. (Pg. 11)
• The development of the Geographic Information System (GIS) for Infrastructure Planning. (Pg. 12)
• The completion of 47 new and replacement schools in the province in the last three years – benefitting approximately 57 000 learners. (Pg. 12)
• Over 1 600 principals and school management teams have participated in training workshops that have been held over the last four years. (Pg. 13)
• 583 new school principals have been appointed since 2009. (Pg. 13)
• 900 bursaries have been awarded to aspirant and existing school principals to improve their qualifications through the ACE in School Management and Leadership since 2009. (Pg. 13)

By meeting our objectives we can already see improvements in the system.

Results indicate improvement right from Grade 3 and 6 to Grade 12. The number of learners passing the NSC has increased, the number of bachelor passes is on the rise, and the number of underperforming schools has decreased. There have also been improvements in Grade 3 and 6.

Conclusion:

While the Western Cape still has some way to go to achieve the objectives set out in its strategic plan, we can point to significant progress that has been made so far.

In 2010, we laid the foundations needed to complete this plan, and in 2011 and 2012, we built on these foundations, specifically targeting assistance to our poorer schools and the Foundation Phase. In 2013, we re-enforced these foundations ensuring further stability in the system so that ultimately our focus can remain on and improve the lives of those most important of people – the learners.

What we have today is a maturing provincial education system which has responded positively to a number of systems improvements. We have managed to weed out policies that were not working, introduce new ones and fine-tune successful ones every year.

We are extremely proud of what we have achieved and are expecting even further improvements in both literacy and numeracy and in the National Senior Certificate this year.

In everything we do, we will continue to put our learners first and ensure that our teachers are treated as the valued professionals that they are.

Every decision taken in relation to education in the Western Cape will continue to be informed by the need to improve learner outcomes in this province and to provide greater access to quality education.

Indicators for Success

With reference to the performance levels included in the table below, it is evident that we have improved the quality of education in this province in the last two years.

* (In 2011, the WCED, expanded the tests, as well as increased their levels of difficulty so that they are in line with international experience and best practice. Because of the changes made, it is no longer possible to make comparisons between past literacy/language results and numeracy/mathematics and the most recent results. Therefore, the 2011 results should be seen as a new beginning and not in contrast to the 2010 results.)

# (We were faced with a statistical anomaly with the Class of 2011 as a result of the standardisation of age of admission in January 2000. The Grade 1 intake in the year 2000 dropped by approximately 20 000 learners in the Western Cape. Therefore a smaller cohort progressed annually through the system.)