The department of basic education has unveiled an ambitious learning recovery programme to claw back losses suffered by pupils during Covid-19 disruptions.
Rufus Poliah, the department’s chief director for public exams and assessments, outlined the proposed framework for the project during the annual basic education sector lekgotla in Johannesburg on Wednesday.
Poliah said the plan will take place over three years, starting this year, and be followed by a “strengthened” curriculum in 2025.
The trimmed annual teaching plan will be the curriculum to be implemented over the recovery period, he said. The plan will be reviewed in 2022 to ensure it is suitable for implementation in 2023 and 2024.”
Poliah said elements of the strengthened curriculum will be “infused” during the recovery period.
According to the proposals, the strengthened curriculum will entail a focus on 21st-century skills and competencies, a reduction of the curriculum content to ensure deeper learning and a focus on vocational and occupational education.
He said the national curriculum statement, the current curriculum, could also be tweaked.
“Learning losses need to be determined at a systemic level, as well as at a classroom level by the teacher.”
Educators will be provided with “a battery of baseline tests that could be used in the assessment of learners before the start of the topic”.
“The diagnostics emanating from baseline testing will direct the teacher in planning the teaching programme for learners in the subject.”
Poliah stressed that the implementation of the programme is dependent on subject advisers, adding: “I think this is one group used too widely in a number of administrative duties. They need to be brought back to their core business, which is supporting the subject and teachers and learning in the classroom.”
Principals and circuit managers have to be trained to support teachers in class.
Importantly, he said, matrics “cannot be an island and cannot be insulated indefinitely”.
“At some point, with Umalusi (the matric quality assurer), we need to look at how we amend the curriculum and teaching and learning without compromising the standards in terms of what is required for certification. It is about preparing learners for the grade 12 examinations vs preparing learners to meaningfully engage in and acquire desirable skills.
“We are saying we cannot go back to the original curriculum and assessment policy statement). We need to look at the trimmed annual teaching plan as the way forward,” Poliah said.
Nompumelelo Mohohlwane, an education researcher in the department, said results of the early grade reading study conducted in Mpumalanga and the North West found pupils in grade 4 home language were more than 15 months behind in their learning.
“Learners in grade 4 English first additional language are half a year behind.”
She said pupils were also writing much less and, based on current and previous data, it was clear that, in the majority of schools, they were the only place for meaningful learning.
“We need to equip our teachers to teach to an even more diverse classroom than what they had in the past.”
She said a telephonic survey conducted with parents indicated the main intervention they supported was the full return to school by all pupils, as well as extending the school day.
Prof Mark Tomlinson, from the department of psychology at Stellenbosch University, said he was working in four schools in Khayelitsha in the Western Cape, trying to make the environment “a thriving place” for pupils and teachers.
“There’s an advisory adolescent group and much of the content is designed in partnership with learners and teachers. It’s about how do we improve the school learning environment so it becomes a quality learning space.”
Tomlinson said teachers “are more often than not feeling burnt out, stressed and sometimes even traumatised because of personal or professional challenges”.
While the focus was on the curriculum and getting many matrics to achieve a bachelor pass, “we also need to think of skills such as self-reliance, decision-making, anxiety management, communication and assertiveness”, he said.
“It’s those skills, in addition to skills around maths, history, geography, language, that children are going to need.”
Meanwhile, basic education director-general Mathanzima Mweli said they were waiting for the cabinet to pronounce on whether all children should return to school full-time.
He said a presentation was made to the national coronavirus command council last Thursday, which was supported by the ministerial advisory committee. It was well received by the national joint operational and intelligence structure and the national coronavirus command council, he said.
TimesLIVE
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