The Western Cape Education Department is investing more than R8m this year in a plan to improve the quality of matric passes.
|||Cape Town - The Western Cape Education Department is investing more than R8 million this year in a plan to improve the quality of matric passes.
Education MEC Donald Grant said reducing the number of underperforming schools would be a main focus.
Schools are classified as underperforming if they obtain a matric pass rate of below 60 percent.
Twenty-six schools fell into this category with their matric results last year.
“Our goal is to support each of these 26 schools in order for them to move out of the underperforming school category,” said Grant.
Focus areas include monitoring the use of textbooks and developing teachers’ skills in setting exam papers.
Schools were also required to submit targets for performance and plans for the year through a school improvement strategy.
“These targets and plans will be monitored quarterly and, where required, the department will provide appropriate, differentiated support to teachers and school management teams.”
Other interventions include:
* The tutoring of pupils over weekends and holidays.
* A telematics project, broadcasting lessons by satellite to 144 schools after school and at weekends.
* Providing safe homework and study spaces for pupils.
* Issuing Grade 12 pupils with a study guide, Tips for Success, which includes advice on how and what to study for each subject, the structure of exam papers, and the managing of study time.
* Providing previous exam papers.
* Regular visits by officials for curriculum support and monitoring.
Jonavon Rustin, provincial secretary of the SA Democratic Teachers Union, said the union welcomed the plan, but it was unclear how it would be implemented. It failed to address the problem of large class sizes. The department developed plans without discussion with unions, Rustin said.
ilse.fredericks@inl.co.za
Cape Argus