Extra marks will prevent many pupils from failing

THE RAISING of the pass mark for pupils in grades 7, 8 and 9 this year has put so many at risk of failing that the Basic Education Department has told schools across the country to adjust pupils’ scores and award extra marks.

To try to improve the quality of education in the public school system, the department upped the standard required to pass these grades – but with unforeseen consequences.

Yesterday, teachers’ unions that The Star’s sister paper, The Mercury, spoke to were either strongly in favour of the move or strongly opposed.

Last year, pupils in grades 7, 8 and 9 would only have had to pass seven of their nine subjects, and earn 40 percent in one official language and 30 percent in a second official language to be promoted to the next grade.

But with the introduction of the new Caps curriculum, this year’s crop have had to pass eight of their nine subjects, and score at least 50 percent in their home language and a minimum of 40 percent for their first additional language.

And whereas last year, pupils might have been granted a condoned pass in one of their subjects, that allowance falls away this year.

The department said intensive teacher training and the provision of learning and teaching support material had preceded the introduction of the new curriculum.

Department spokesman Elijah Mhlanga argued it was the case elsewhere in the world too that changes to the curriculum resulted in some degree of “instability”.

From this year’s June exam results, it had become apparent that the new pass requirements had caused a dip in pupils’ marks. Reports from provincial education departments was that the impact was worse than they had expected.

“It would therefore be unfair to the 2014 cohort of learners to bear the brunt of a systemic change, and there is a need for the department to manage the transition and the possible depressed learner performance,” Mhlanga said.

The national department has opted to issue provincial education departments with guidelines on how pupils’ marks should be adjusted, so that this year's scores do not differ too much from the average performance of previous years.

“Where there is a substantial drop in the school performance, the district manager will make adjustments to the results within clearly defined parameters,” Mhlanga said.

Even with the tweaking of the marks, the overall academic performance of pupils in grades 7, 8 and 9 (called the senior phase) is expected to be lower this year than in previous years.

In a circular from the national department dated last Friday, principals are told to determine these statistics:

The overall pass percentage for grades 7, 8 and 9 for this year;

The overall pass percentage for grades 7, 8 and 9 for each of the previous three years;

The average pass percentage for the previous three years, combined, for grades 7, 8 and 9.

National Professional Teachers Organisation of SA (Naptosa) president Basil Manuel said the change in the pass requirements had simply been too drastic, even for some of the top schools.

He said a survey of Naptosa’s top schools in Joburg, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth had revealed that 40 percent of pupils would fail this year, in terms of the new pass mark.