Education Management Information Systems - Activities

The on-going work of the Directorate: Information Systems (in partnership with the nine provincial EMIS units) includes:

• The acquisition of appropriate hardware, software, training, capacity and other resources for data management and information use in education.
• The development of strategies for accurate education information and data reporting to the public, local and international agencies.
• The updating and integration of EMIS databases with related databases including the Census data and PERSAL data.
• Co-ordination of education data collection activities at all levels.
• Education information policies to improve collection, validation, and reporting of timely, reliable data on the education system.
• The expansion of the EMIS into all education sub-sectors.
• Promoting the use of information in policy-making, management, planning and decision making.
• Participation in exchanging best practices, information and collaboration with colleagues in education management information locally and internationally.
  
  

Education Management Information System Activities since 1999 (click to expand)

• Schools.

  • The tender for the School/Colleges Register of Needs (SRN) update, which is to be carried out by the second quarter of the year 2000, was awarded.

• Higher Education.

  • Extensive development of the unit-record Higher Education MIS and preparations for implementation in 2000. The HEMIS will be used to collect, analyse, and report on higher Education staff, learners and institutions.

• Colleges of Education and Training.

  • The 1998 Annual Survey of Colleges of Education and Training (also referred to as Teacher Training Colleges) was completed and the comprehensive database of the survey results will be integrated into the new Higher Education MIS which is being developed.

• Further Education and Training (FET).

  • Work started on the development of a FET MIS and a national consultative meeting was held in September 1999 to get recommendations from FET role players on the design, components and national core data set for the envisaged FETMIS. The implementation of the FETMIS will be in three phases starting with implementation in technical colleges (in 2000), then in secondary schools (in 2001) and then in other FET institutions (in 2002). Data, hardware and software specifications will be developed in the first half of 2000. The Directorate has had extensive collaboration with colleagues in the Skills Development Planning Unit in the Department of Labour on the development of a Skills Development Information System.

• Early Childhood Development (ECD) and Education for Learners with Special Education Needs (ELSEN).

  • An audit of all centres is being developed in collaboration with the ECD and LSEN components.

• Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET).

  • An audit of public ABET centres was completed in 1999. This survey was contracted out, by the Department of Education, to a service provider (the Human Sciences Research Council). The service provider worked through provincial EMIS and ABET components to collect data, which has been assembled into a comprehensive ABET database.

• Technical assistance.

  • The Directorate was involved in the co-ordination of technical assistance to provincial EMIS units. Provinces were provided with technical support when required throughout the 1999 annual school survey collection process.

• Advocacy.

  • The staff of the Directorate: Information Systems have facilitated training programmes and have made presentations to political and administrative officials in provincial departments of education. In addition, presentations and substantive inputs were made at various conferences including the national Education For All 2000 conference (held in November 1999), and the Association for the Development of Education in Africa conference held in (December 1999). The Directorate has also collaborated and made input on education information matters in the work of local and international NGOs and agencies such as UNICEF.

• Collaboration.

  • The Directorate has been involved in inter-departmental and inter-agency initiatives with organisations such as : the Department of Welfare and Population Development - projects on population development; the Department of Health - projects on the planning implications of the effect of the HIV/AIDS pandemic on education; the Department Labour - collaboration in the development of a Skills Development Information System; the Department of Public Service and Administration; the Department of Finance; Statistics South Africa;

• Research.

  • The Directorate is responsible for studying the planning implications of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on the education sector in South Africa. In the last quarter of 1999, the staff of the Directorate were extensively involved in gathering comparative information on the epidemic in South Africa and other sub-Saharan countries. Local and international specialists were also consulted in this information-gathering exercise. A draft document entitled 'HIV/AIDS impact assessments in the education sector in South Africa' has since been developed by the Directorate to guide HIV/AIDS impact assessment initiatives in education.