Matric report: Better, but room for much improvement in dropout rate
The majority of our teachers perform heroically, but they are underresourced and undersupported
● The national senior certificate (NSC) results were announced with delight by basic education minister Angie Motshekga — justifiably so. There are solid and significant improvements, and the department of basic education reported frankly on the many remaining challenges. There has been progress in reducing inequality of performance between schools serving poor (quintiles 1 to 3 )and wealthy (quintiles 4 and 5) communities. More Q 1-3 schools achieved a pass of over 80%, and more of these schools achieved a “bachelor’s degree” quality of pass.
The pass rate improved in eight provinces. In three poor and rural provinces (North West, the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal) it increased by 5%-6%, with a bachelor pass rate improvement of 5%. As KZN contributes 23% of those writing, its improvement had a significantly positive impact on the national result.
All 75 districts in the country are now performing above 60%, with 60% of districts at 80% and above (in 2009, 25% of districts performed below 60%). Without considering the decrease in the numbers writing these subjects, the physical science pass rate has increased from 59% in 2015 to 76% in 2019 and accountancy has improved from 60% to 78%. The maths pass rate improved from 49% in 2015 to 55%. There are now more high-level subject passes in maths and physical science in historically disadvantaged schools. All of this progress is real and should be celebrated however justifiably hungry we are for more rapid progress.
In last week’s Sunday Times, I argued that the pass rate must be read together with the proportion of learners who make it to grade 12 without dropping out. In 2016 Servaas van der Berg showed that nationally only 60% of learners reach grade 12 and only 37% of those who start the journey pass the NSC exam. This year, the department reported that the percentage of youngsters successfully completing grade 12 has increased from 45% in 2005 to 55% in 2018, and only 80% of these pass the NSC exam. This is far short of the National Development Plan goal of a completion rate of between 80% and 90% (including learners in Technical & Vocational Education & Training colleges).
Monitoring dropout rates is critical to corrective action. This year, the minister committed to report annually on a basket of indicators, which should include the completion rate, nationally and provincially. We need to know who is left behind, where they are, and what impact this has on the NSC results. KZN has in recent years performed poorly in the NSC but, to its credit, the low dropout rate impacts negatively on the pass rate. It has the second-highest grade 12 completion rate nationally; nearly 55% of people between the ages of 20 and 28 in KZN have attained grade 12.
Gauteng MEC Panyaza Lesufi this year took the brave step of tweeting Gauteng’s 2019 enrolment relative to Grade 1 enrolment in 2003. His “throughput rate” of 77% means that 62% of those who started successfully completed the NSC. KZN MEC Kwazi Mshengu has committed to track dropouts and inform follow-up interventions, and to monitor and track performance in the critical years of grade 8 and 9.
The Zero Dropout campaign was launched by the DG Murray Trust this week. It should propel a national campaign to combat dropout and its massive personal, social and economic devastation. One of the strategies is the use of the department’s management information system to monitor attendance and dropout. The Data Driven Districts project already collates information for districts to monitor performance, including attendance. This data must be shared publicly and routinely so that all responsible are held to account and we act collectively and rapidly. This challenge can’t be solved by educators on their own.
As the department acknowledges, it must be a national concern and a priority that half of our young people do not obtain the NSC and leave the schooling system without a formal qualification. Young people feel betrayed by not receiving a fair chance in education. This fair chance starts with improving quality in the early years. Our high rates of failure and repetition are economically costly, estimated to be R20bn a year. In human terms, dropout follows repeated failure. The Zero Dropout campaign argues that this is not a “poverty of aspiration” but a “poverty of opportunity”, better understood as a “push-out” resulting from deficits in material and professional resources. Success from the foundation years builds confidence, reduces failure and repetition, and so reduces dropout. Ensuring that all learners can read for meaning by the age of 10 and improving early numeracy are fundamental.
The only place education improves is in the classroom. This requires accurate and up-to-date information about material conditions of teaching and learning and prompt responses to problems identified. It also requires adequate professional support to teachers and school managers in their work of improving learning, and it requires levers of management and support that are short enough to impact on teachers in the classroom.
The monitoring and response gap must be short and prioritise functions fundamental to improving teaching and learning, and accountability for these. MECs must report on real-time data on fundamentals — including resources (textbooks, water and sanitation), and the frequency of professional and supportive conversations about teaching and learning between district officials and schools.
Our strategies for improvement must appreciate and build on our greatest asset — our educators’ immense professionalism and capacity, agency, and desire to drive improvement in teaching and learning.
The majority of our teachers perform heroically but are underresourced and undersupported. They deserve better professional support in order to improve the quality of teaching, and of our learning outcomes.
Metcalfe is an education specialist and former directorgeneral of the department of higher education and training