‘Higher marks needed for university’
UNIVERSITY will be out of reach for pupils scoring only 30% in any subject.
This is one of the recommendations of the education task team which called for matric standards to be raised and university requirements to be made tougher.
The team warned against political interference lowering the standard of matric exams.
It said the new system could cause a reduction in the pass rate, or a change in the distribution within the pass rate.
“The public and the broader education community need to be ready for the associated challenges and opportunities. The public must clearly understand the minimum requirements to enter further study,” the team said.
“The integrity of the assessment system has to be maintained.
“A risk to be mitigated is that raising the pass mark may lead to making examinations easier under political pressure to maintain the pass rate, so that, for example, the new 50% is actually the old 40%,” the team warned.
A Sunday Times survey in the run-up to the May elections found that 71% of South African voters felt a subject mark of 30% should not be enough to obtain matric.
The team’s recommendations make it impossible to enter university if a pupil obtains less than 40% in any of the six required subjects in the final matric exam.
Nevertheless it defended the current system against accusations that it was of a lower standard than the matric systems of the past.
“Despite public perception, the structure of the old Senior Certificate set the pass marks for subjects at similar and even lower levels than the NSC (National Senior Certificate), particularly by converting failure at one level into a pass at Standard Grade or Lower Grade,” the task team found.
It also defended the South African system against perceptions that it was much weaker than overseas educational systems.
“While it is problematic to compare systems, there are a number of countries that set their pass marks at the same or even lower levels,” it found. “The suggestion that 50% is the norm internationally is not borne out by the survey.”
Currently, a pupil hoping to enter university needs to achieve only 30% in their language of instruction’s final matric exam, provided other
A survey found that 71% of voters felt a subject mark of 30% should not be enough to obtain matric
criteria are met. This will now change.
“If this were raised to 50% for the diploma and bachelor’s pass and to 40% for the higher certificate pass there would be no impact on the overall pass rate, but it would require some re-categorisation of passes within the matric system.
“If this were coupled with improving standards in the examination, and a much clearer reporting of the category of NSC pass, the effect could also be positive at a symbolic level, with a 50% aggregate being a viable requirement for bachelor passes, providing clearer signals to employers, education providers and students, without generating discord about drops in the overall pass rate,” the task team advised.