Unions in talks to break impasse

Department hopeful ANAs will take place next month

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 20

W2015 ITH less than two weeks to go before the Annual National Assessments (ANA) are scheduled to be written by pupils around the country, teacher unions and the Department of Basic Education were yesterday trying to break the impasse on the matter.

The department and unions have for several months been at loggerheads about the tests, which assess pupils’ numeracy and literacy skills, and by yesterday afternoon “a very sensitive negotiation process” was still under way.

The tests were initially scheduled to be written in September but, following objections by unions, were postponed to February.

But Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga later announced that the Council of Education Ministers had taken a decision for the tests to be written from December 1 to 4.

Unions said they were shocked by this decision.

The department has since maintained that the tests would go ahead next month despite unions announcing that their members would boycott them.

Criticism of the ANA has included that it was no longer being used as a diagnostic tool and that writing it annually didn’t allow schools enough time to implement intervention programmes.

Unions have said that no pupil would be disadvantaged by not writing the ANA as it doesn’t form part of the requirements to be promoted to the next level.

They said December was a busy time for teachers who had to deal with year-end exams. The ANAs have to be marked by teachers.

In a statement yesterday, the department said it was “in the throngs of a mediation process” with unions in a bid to resolve the impasse.

“The Department of Basic Education remains resolute that these assessments are an important diagnostic tool used to identify and remediate challenges in the sector.

“We have agreed with teacher unions that there is a need to reform the current model of the assessments and have invited teacher unions to work with the department to make recommendations based on their experiences in this regard.”

In September, some schools who didn’t receive the message that the tests had been postponed, opened the boxes and wrote the tests.

The department has said it didn’t believe that this would compromise “the ANA as a whole”.