Canning of 2015 assessments welcomed
THE Annual National Assessment has been put on hold until a re-designed version can be launched next year.
This was announced on Friday by the Department of Basic Education and affects 8.6 million pupils nationally who were set to begin ANA on Tuesday (yesterday).
Department spokesman Elijah Mhlangu said teacher unions Sadtu, Naptosa and SAOU had expressed concerns about ANA and consensus was reached to postpone ANA to February 2016.
ANA was introduced in 2011 and tests pupils from Grades 19 in maths and literacy.
“The main concern of the teacher unions related to the frequency of the administration of ANA, and its administrative demands, which did not leave enough time and room for improvement strategies to take root, before learners are reassessed,” said Mhlangu.
“It was agreed that the schooling environment, given the prevailing conditions and union concerns (about) the administration of ANA, was not conducive to the writing of this very significant test, which provides valuable information on learner performance at the national, provincial, district and school level.”
Mhlangu confirmed that National Assessments had indicated a general improvement in the performance of learners in literacy and numeracy over the last four years.
He added that over the next three months a task team would engage teacher unions and address their concerns so the future design features of the national assessment were more amenable to the schools, teachers, pupils and parents.
A school principal, who cannot be identified because he is not authorised to speak to the media, has welcomed the decision to can ANA.
“I don’t see how ANA has benefited school, teachers and more importantly pupils.”
The principal, at a primary school on the North Coast, said by Monday morning he had not received an official document from the Department of Education regarding the cancelling of ANA but had been preparing to send out letters to parents.
Prepared
“The only upsetting thing is that we had prepared for ANA months ago and we should have been informed in advance.”
He said teachers had prepared internal papers and pupils would still be tested even though ANA was cancelled.
“If ANA is scrapped totally, I’ll be thrilled. In the beginning ANA seemed promising, however we could not see the benefits, because we could not see our shortcomings and had to come to our own conclusions.”
Another high school principal said ANA was designed to ensure pupil improvement but the “plot was lost” for what is was intended for.
“It was more a testing of the school than the learner.”
He said that advance notice should have been given to schools.
“Planning is very important when it comes to assessment and every party should be taken cognisance of.”
He said assessment would continue as normal and planned to inform parents even though their school had received no official word from the Department of Education.
Parent Kamsiliya Arumugam, a programme administrator, who has a 12-year-old son in Grade 6, welcomed the decision.
She described ANA as “not beneficial and an added burden for pupils”.
“My son doesn’t know whether to study for ANA or tests. We as parents have to sit with our children and go over the work for ANA. It is a large amount of work and this has to be done in between projects, tests and orals.”
Arumugam believed that there should not be a redesigned version next year.
“I say can it completely, because it is too much work and to much pressure for pupils.”
She said that her son was thrilled ANA was cancelled and he could focus on his tests.
Anthony Pierce, KZN spokesman for Naptosa, the second largest teaching union in the country, welcomed the decision to postpone ANA until next year until a task team addresses issues concerning ANA, one being the manner in which ANA was structured.