Advanced level set to improve quality of education

UNTIL recently, I have always been wondering why the Namibian school system did not have an advanced level qualification. Knowing all the benefits of teaching subjects at an advanced level, especially the preparation students at the advanced level get for tertiary education; it did not make sense why the Namibian school system was shying away from introducing this crucial level. The angst and torment the lack of Advanced Level brought to me as an educator and stakeholder are now a thing of the past. This is because the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture recently introduced a new qualification – the Namibia Senior Secondary Certificate Advanced Subsidiary (NSSC-AS) Level, which is benchmarked on the British Cambridge International’s AS level.

If I was giving a speech to an enlightened audience, I know there would be a thunderous ovation for the ministry, after pronouncing that the Namibian school system has a new AS qualification modelled along with the international yardstick of quality education – the prestigious Cambridge University education system. There is no doubt that the Cambridge system is the hallmark of quality education in Africa and elsewhere.

But what is advanced subsidiary level and how does it differ from the two-year traditional Advanced Level? Responding to these two questions, the National Institute for Educational Development explained that advanced subsidiary refers to a half step towards the full advanced level. In other words, AS is generally a part of the A-Level subject curriculum.

“AS is a stand-alone qualification in its own right. This means learners can take AS Level only. The syllabus content for Cambridge International AS Level is half of an A level programme,” explained NIED Director, Dr Patrick Simalumba recently. He added that learners can take AS Level in Year 1 and A Level in Year 2. The syllabus content for AS is half of the A-Level programme.

“The syllabus is one, that is AS level plus A-Level. Both qualifications provide in-depth preparation for university education. Let us use the example of Cambridge International’s Advanced Subsidiary (AS Level and the A-Level) qualifications for clarification since Namibia does not offer A-Level. Namibia offers only the new AS Level,” Dr Simalumba further elaborated.

Cambridge International’s AS and A Levels are subject-based qualifications usually taken in the final two years of senior secondary school after the completion of IGCSE. In the Namibian context, learners are required to complete the NSSC-O (two years) covered in grade 10 and 11 and meet the requirement to progress to the NSSC-AS Level. To differentiate the

AS, the grades are awarded using “a-e” (lower case) while the grades for A-Level are “A-E” (upper case). The long term plan is for Namibia to extend to A-Level as teachers gain experience in teaching assessment and management of AS Level.

From my experience of running the A-Level system, it is true that thorough preparation is needed before rolling out the full A-Level qualification. It is pleasing to note that the ministry is pumping a lot of money into the training of teachers, buying of books and improvement of infrastructure to make the AS Level success in selected schools in the regions. Currently, the ministry has provided induction and training to 1 100 teachers. These are teachers who had at least teaching experience on the old, phased-out NSSH curriculum.

With the Ministry’s support and appropriate learning materials, teachers should be able to transition to the AS level syllabus. The University of Namibia and other higher education institutions responsible for pre-service training of teachers revised their teacher education programmes to respond to the demands of the reformed basic education curriculum. Although 120 schools indicated their readiness to offer AS Level, this will depend on the performance of learners in their 2020 NSSC-O examinations and the availability of teachers in the preferred fields of study.

According to Simalumba, AS Level promotes independent thinking in the learners. AS Level learners receive in-depth subject content in which advanced key concepts are introduced in the curriculum. Holders of AS Level will be able to apply knowledge to new as well as familiar situations. In addition, learners find it easy to handle and evaluate different types of information sources. There will be enhancement in thinking logically and presenting arguments in a coherent manner. Namibian students with an AS qualification compete favourably with other students on the international scene.

While everything looks rosy concerning the introduction of the AS Level, some academics have raised concern, arguing that if grade 11 (NSSC-O, NQF Level 3) and AS Level (NQF Level 4) students are admitted into the same university degree or diploma programme, there are most likely to be problems of matching the demands of these two groups of students. Admittedly, the NSSC-O students will require more support when put together with NSSC-AS Level students. AS Level students will be at an advantage because of the depth of the subject content and the complexity of skills they were exposed to.

It is important to note that the AS Level is not being launched in a vacuum; there are different stakeholders who play significant roles in the implementation of the new AS Level curriculum. Simalumba’s message to stakeholders is: “Just to inform the public that AS Level is a new qualification aimed to improve the quality output from the basic education in Namibia. There will be a few challenges to address during the first years of implementation. Stakeholders such as higher education institutions, parents, guardians, non-governmental organisations, youth organisations and teachers’ unions should support the implementation of the AS Level curriculum.”

To all intents and purposes, the AS Level is set to improve the quality of students who enrol in our higher education institutions. It is envisaged that more schools will offer AS Level so that in the end higher education institutions will make this level a mandatory entry requirement in their programmes.