somecommentsonschoolinginthe westerncape
TRANSCRIPT
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Some comments on schooling in the Western Cape
and an introduc6on to the work of the Schools Development Unit (SDU)
Dr Jonathan Clark Schools Development Unit, School of Educa6on, University of Cape Town
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“I say to them, they must come back as den6sts and accountants…” anon. township primary school teacher
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The 120-‐odd exCED schools are the thick icing on the achievement cake here almost no-‐one fails Matric
Matric QUANTITY versus QUALITY in Western Cape secondary schools
The 60-‐odd exDET schools represent a thick base of severe under-‐achievement – around half the learners in these schools fail Matric
The 160-‐odd exHOR schools are the ‘filling in the middle’ with varying achievement levels – around a quarter of the learners fail Matric. And in key subjects, the ‘filling’ has collapsed into the base
Mathema6cs & Physical Sciences
The thick icing on the ‘achievement cake’ (i.e. performance in exCED schools) tends to mask the high levels of under-‐achievement in the rest of the schooling system
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GENERAL STATE OF AFFAIRS IN THE WESTERN CAPE Poor performance in matric Mathema6cs and Physical Sciences is deeply entrenched in the majority of schools outside of the exCED sector
The ‘opportunity index’ Ra6o of matric candidates who score 50%+ in both mathema6cs & physical sciences in the final exams
Both exDET & exHOR schools
1:30
exCED schools
1:5 2008
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Matric results in 20 Khayelitsha schools 2007 -‐ 2010
around 2,500 candidates per year
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Matric 2010: In extremis…
Subject DisEncEons
403
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At high-‐achieving schools, a learner is likely to obtain between 2-‐3 dis6nc6ons in matric; at low-‐achieving schools, a handful achieve one or more dis6nc6ons in matric
Number wrote
B-‐degree passes
1 exModel C school
165 164
19 Khayelitsha schools 3,228 350
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634 matriculants
Close to 1 in 37
of those who wrote matric
2009 Matric performance in seven exHOR schools in Cape Town
78.2% pass rate
119 (18.5%) B-‐degree passes
17 matriculants passed both mathema6cs & physical sciences
at the 50%+ level
The scale of things: total grade enrolments in seven secondary schools
17 matriculants passed both mathema6cs
& physical sciences
at the 50%+ level
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Build the State’s organisa6onal and logis6c capacity to func6on more effec6vely in a suppor6ve role to schools
Do everything in our power to rejuvenate the teaching profession
Beyond the poliEcs, what’s to be done?
We need to build teachers’ capacity to teach beier!
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There is no ques6on that we need intensive and sustained high quality professional learning for teachers with the goal of improving student achievement
No quick fixes
No magic bullets
One size never fits all
Avoid the ‘three step’
fable
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Curriculum Leadership Literacy & Numeracy
Curriculum Leadership Language & Maths
GET Mathematics GET Sciences
FET Mathematics FET Maths Literacy
FET Life Orientation Advanced Certificates in Education (ACEs) Two year, part-time university-accredited programmes – main vehicle for upgrading of teacher qualifications.
Foundation Phase Intermediate Phase Senior Phase FET
Ikwezi 1/Ikwezi 2 (2010-2012)/(2013-2015)
MSEP (2009-2012)
SCHOOL-‐BASED PROJECTS
Provincial Literacy & Numeracy Testing
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PRIMARY SECONDARY
R SCHOOLING
GrassLow (2011 - 2014)
Materials Development – MacMillan ‘Maths for All’ & ‘Maths Literacy for All’ textbook series
Schools Development Unit
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Advanced CerEficates in Teaching (ACTs) – from 2014?
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1 3 2 4 6 5
PRIMARY
Curriculum Leadership Literacy & Numeracy
Curriculum Leadership Language & Maths
Advanced Certificates in Education (ACEs)
Foundation Phase Intermediate Phase
R
Ikwezi (2010-2012)
School-‐based support AND formal professional development – under-‐qualified teachers enrol in ACE programme
Mandated by and working in close co-‐opera6on with WCED district officials
Three-‐year Early Childhood Development (ECD) project. Interven6ons focus on isiXhosa mother tongue instruc6on and the raising of standards of literacy and numeracy in Grades R & 1 in primary schools and associated community creches
Ikwezi
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1. TEACHER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Con6nue to offer university-‐cer6fied formal qualifica6ons for under-‐qualified teachers and grow Short Courses programme
2. SCHOOL-‐BASED PROJECT WORK Ongoing collabora6ons with both primary & secondary schools in support of classroom curriculum management & delivery and broader organisa6onal capacity building
3. MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT Build on our extensive experience in this area and explore alternate modes of presenta6on including web-‐based delivery
4. ASSESSMENT INITIATIVES Develop research-‐informed interven6ons with teachers to improve the level of assessment for learning in the school system
Into the future…
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UCT’s Schools Improvement Initiative (SII)
Focus on Khayelitsha (in collabora6on with WCED)
100-‐UP Five Grade 10s from all 20 secondary schools. Three-‐year support programme in prepara6on for ter6ary studies
(2011-‐2013)
Teacher Professional & School Organisa6onal Development Programmes
Short Courses CAPS implementa6on
(2012-‐)
Ikwezi 2 Founda6on Phase Grade R-‐1 Lit.Num.
(2013-‐2016)
Broad-ranging university-wide inputs: curriculum enrichment & support; student tutoring & service learning. Teaching training & advocacy for graduate teacher placement in schools.
University-school-in-community partnership models
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‘Poor children can learn and excel but the odds are against them. Reformers like to say that “demography is not destiny”, but saying so doesn’t make it true…’
Diane Ravitch, 2011