Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Education braces for further rationalisation
THE EDUCATION system is set for a major shake-up in the next few years as technical and occupational teaching is expanded at high school level in an attempt to meet the demand for these skills.
The country is battling to meet the target of producing 10 000 artisans a year that was to have been met by 2014, and is expected to churn out 30 000 a year by 2030, Mathanzima Mweli, director-general in the Basic Education Department, said this week.
Briefing Parliament’s basic education oversight committee, Mweli said schools would be rationalised into three streams – academic, technical and schools of skills offering occupational learning – to reduce the number of institutions offering the same subjects.
At present more than 80 percent of pupils were following the academic stream, but this led to high repetition and dropout rates in the upper grades.
“What you see in Grade 9 is an accumulated knowledge and skills gap beginning to show in grades 7 and 8, but mounting when you start Grade 9 and get to the summit when you get to Grade 10,” Mweli said.
However, the system had improved since the National Planning Commission’s diagnostic report of 2011 found an overall dropout rate of 50 percent between an age cohort entering the schooling system and exiting at Grade 12.
The figure was now between 15 and 20 percent, he said.
The occupational stream would focus on children with special needs, which would reduce the number of dropouts.
Referring to the Western Cape’s lower dropout rate, 33 percent in 2011 compared to more than 50 percent in some provinces, Mweli said this was thanks to its ability to screen, identify and refer pupils with special needs to schools of skills.
“That’s what makes the difference. If you look at the retention rate and the throughput rate of the Western Cape, it’s attributable to that.”
The number of pupils in technical schools has been increasing steadily since 2010, when a total of 17 746 were enrolled in these schools, reaching 73 196 in 2014, according to figures supplied by the department.
Two new subjects – techni- cal maths and science – will be piloted this year in Grade 10, and expanded to grades 11 and 12 in the following two years.
But this would mean the offerings of these schools would now be identical to those of TVET colleges, Mweli said, with the result that the colleges would have to shift their focus to higher qualifications similar to those offered by the old technikons.
“TVET colleges offer a qualification equivalent to matric, which is NQF (national qualifications framework) level 4,” Mweli said.
“For learners to finish matric and go to TVET colleges, starting at Grade 10, it takes them two years back.
“Therefore, there is a consideration to raise the level of qualification in TVET colleges to NQF level 5, and even con- sider offering NQF level 6.”
This would culminate in a three- tier education system similar to those of Germany or Australia.
The private sector was playing a key role in expanding the system and had contributed to the development of the curriculum and learning materials, also sponsoring some of the equipment required.
“They are not just a partner on the sideline, they are right at the core – development of the curriculum, implementation of the curriculum, giving workplace experience, absorbing young people into the labour market, they are right at the centre – and that is very important in determining the sustainability of this,” Mweli said.
craig.dodds@inl.co.za