ACCOUNTABILITY IN SOUTH AFRICAN SCHOOLING

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ACCOUNTABILITYIN SOUTH AFRICANSCHOOLING
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General propositions

• South African schooling is driven largely by
  supply-side measures
• Since 1994 government has made great strides in
  equalising public inputs to schools
• On the accountability side government makes few
  demands on its officials, principals and teachers
  

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General propositions (contd)

• While little is known about actual performance
  what evidence exists indicates that little
  learning is happening in the early years
• Where direct measures of performance do exist,
  these are often not well constructed
• In addition the debate on indicators is in a
  crude stage of development
• Hence the application of indicators can lead to
  system deformation

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Indicators of sytemic quality

• Inputs
• Funding
• Processes
• Performance management
• Outputs
• Participation of girls
• Throughput rates
• Senior Certificate results
• Systemic assessment

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Inputs School and overall social spending
Year Black Coloured Indian White TOTAL
Social services spending increase (Rm) 1993-95 8375 -417 -395 -1455 6108
Social services spending increase (Rm) 1995-97 14467 318 -74 -35 14677
Social services spending increase (Rm) 1993-97 22842 -99 -470 -1490 20785
Social services per capita increase () 1993-95 14,1 -10,2 -16,8 -16,6 5,7
Social services per capita increase () 1995-97 22,6 0,2 -5,0 -0,6 17,1
Social services per capita increase () 1993-97 39,8 -10,0 -20,9 -17,1 23,8
Schooling share of spending () 1993 58,1 14,3 5,9 21,6 100
Schooling share of spending () 1995 70,5 10,9 4,0 14,7 100
Schooling share of spending () 1997 79,2 8,2 2,6 9,9 100
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Processes performance management

• Standoff with the teacher unions has delayed the
  establishment of any system for 10 years
• This is a legacy of apartheid, where school
  inspection was seen as part of government
  surveillance
• In 2003 an accord was signed between DoE and
  unions
• However, this will require a long period of
  development before it can have any effect on
  quality of schooling

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Number of Male and Female Learners by Grade, 2000
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Flow through rates by race 1982-1993
Grade and year Blacks Whites Coloureds Indians
G1 in 1982 100 100 100 100
G10 in 1991 40,4 91,5 43,9 96,0
G12 in 1993 39,0 79,0 25,6 73,6
SC passes 14,1 70,9 21,0 66,7
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Flow through rates 1993, 1997 and 2001
LEVEL 1982-93 1986-97 1990-01
Grade 1 100 100 100.0
Grade 8 56.8 68.5 69.9
Grade 12 41.3 44.7 na
Matric pass 19.8 20.6 19.3
Exemption 5.6 5.4 4.7
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Senior Certificate results 1994-2002
Year No Candidates No Passes Percent increase Percent Pass
1994 495 408 287 343 58
1995 531 453 283 742 -1,25 53
1996 518 032 278 958 -1,69 54
1997 555 267 261 400 -6,29 47
1998 552 384 272 488 4,24 49
1999 511 159 249 831 -8,31 49
2000 489 941 283 294 13,39 58
2001 449 371 277 206 -2.15 62
2002 471 309 324 752 17,15 69
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Senior Certificate exemptions
Year No Candidates No Exemptions Percent Exempt Percent increase
1994 495 408 88 497 18
1995 531 453 78 821 15 -10,93
1996 518 032 79 768 15 1,20
1997 555 267 69 007 12 -13,49
1998 552 384 69 856 13 1,23
1999 511 159 63 725 12 -8,78
2000 489 941 68 626 14 7,69
2001 449 371 67 707 15 -1,34
2002 471 309 75 048 16 10,84
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Math Senior Certificate results
1996 1999 2000 2001 2002
No of candidates 518 225 511 225 489 941 449 371 444 259
Percent writing math 42 55 58 59 59
Percent math pass 21 24 26 27 32
Pass on SG 17 20 21 23 27
Pass on HG 4 4 5 4 5
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Systemic assessment Government

• Policy promulgated in 1998 for periodic sample
  testing in grades 3, 6 and 9
• A pilot was conducted in 2001, but the report was
  delayed for 18 months
• When it was finally released at beginning of 2003
  it raised more questions than it answered
• WC province began administering grade 3 and 6
  literacy and numeracy tests in 2002, and plans to
  repeat these every 2 years

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Systemic assessment Non-Government

• TIMSS 38 countries, including SA at grade 8 in
  1998
• Monitoring Learning Achievement 14 Southern
  African countries, including SA involved in 1995
  (grade 4) and 2003 (grade 6)

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South Africa performance on Grade 4 MLA numeracy
test
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Systemic assessment Non-Government

• JET literacy and numeracy tests for grade 3 and 6
  
• Commenced in 1999
• Motivated by donor need to establish baselines
  and track progress in school reform programmes
• To date administered in over 1000 schools in 5
  languages in 7 provinces
• Provided the model for the WC provincial tests

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Conclusion SA

• What few output indicators exist show the SA
  school system in a poor state of health
• This will not improve without greater demand from
  stakeholders for information
• The greatest inhibitor to developing a climate of
  accountability is lack of government leadership
• Not clear whether government tardiness is due to
  lack of capacity, or ideological distaste for
  output measures, probably both

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Conclusion Role of Ngo sector

• Provide workable models for collecting and using
  information eg test now in use in WC
• Which information?
• Balanced picture so as not to distort system
• need info in Inputs, Process, and Outputs
• Within each of these categories need balance
• eg on Outputs need info on eg Quantity, Quality
  and Efficiency
• Balance sophistication vs ease of collection and
  ease of public understanding