Officials expect improved assessment test results
Grade 3 pupils at St Anthony's Primary School in Durban, clockwise, Aphiwe Zulu, Asanda Mngoma, Kiara Sewpujan, English and maths teacher Bernadene Velusamy, Amillio Franscis, Amahle Mathe, and Alyssa Reddy, revise for the four-day national assessments that will take place from September 18 to 21. Picture: Sibusiso Ndlovu Grade 3 pupils at St Anthony's Primary School in Durban, clockwise, Aphiwe Zulu, Asanda Mngoma, Kiara Sewpujan, English and maths teacher Bernadene Velusamy, Amillio Franscis, Amahle Mathe, and Alyssa Reddy, revise for the four-day national assessments that will take place from September 18 to 21. Picture: Sibusiso Ndlovu
Education authorities are hoping a change in the date of the annual national assessment (ANA) tests written by millions of pupils will have a positive impact on results.
Some 7.2 million pupils in grades 1 to 6 and 9 from more than 20 000 schools will be tested from September 18 to 21 on numeracy, literacy, maths and languages.
About 1.5 million of them are in KwaZulu-Natal.
Last year’s results were dismal, showing that many pupils could not count or did not understand what they had been taught. The Grade 3 class of 2011 scored 28 percent for numeracy and 35 percent for literacy, while grade 6 pupils managed 28 percent for languages and 30 percent in maths.
But the tests were written in February last year; this time the pupils would have had more time to get to grips with the requirements of the particular grade’s schoolwork.
Basic Education Director-General Bobby Soobrayan said the tests were developed by selected teams of teachers, who were approved by international specialists in assessments of literacy and numeracy.
“The content of the tests was sampled from work that pupils are expected to have covered by the end of the third school quarter,” Soobrayan said at the launch of the test’s readiness programme in Pretoria this week.
Provincial education superintendent-general Nkosinathi Sishi said he was happy with the preparations for the tests, although he was worried about potential administrative hiccups.
“Districts need to check that everything about the packaging of the question papers is correct – the number of papers, the languages – so that during the test, no child is left without a paper,” he said.
Orientation sessions on the administration of the tests have been conducted with district officials, who then have to train school principals and teachers.
Pupils at St Anthony’s Primary School in Durban, who had completed the syllabus, were busy with revision this week. “If a teacher has covered the work according to the curriculum, pupils should be adequately prepared and able to cope with the assessments,” said Bernadene Velusamy, a head of department for the junior primary school.
The ANA answer scripts will be marked by subject teachers in schools, and verified by both the provincial and national education departments.
Anthony Pierce, the CEO of the National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of SA in KZN, said there had been much awareness around the tests during the course of the year.
Allen Thompson, deputy president of the National Teachers’ Union, urged parents to help children revise at home.