The DBE, in collaboration with Provincial Education Departments (PEDs) are busy with the last push towards the realization of the full-scale implementation of the General Education Certificate (GEC) across all secondary schools during the 2025 school calendar. The pilot was initially launched in 2021 with a few schools and upscaled to 1,000 schools during 2023, and significant progress has been made in terms of GEC pilot studies. In 2024, the DBE will broaden the reach to 3,000 schools, which will include schools of skill, where learners take occupational subjects, and technical schools, where learners take more vocationally oriented subjects, deriving lessons from 2023. The administration in 3,000 schools in 2024 forms the last phase of piloting whilst paving the way for the full-scale implementation of the GEC.
As part of accelerating the system readiness for the programme, Chief Director for National Assessment and Public Examinations, Dr Rufus Poliah and Director for National Assessments, Dr Mark Chetty, co-chaired the GEC training held at the Birchwood Hotel and OR Tambo Conference in Gauteng from 15 – 18 April 2024. The training was targeted at master trainers from the provincial training teams and teacher unions. During the training, the participants were expected to share insights on the GEC Assessment Model i.e. School Based Assessment, with a focus on the integrated project and 21st Century skills, the Inclinations Assessment and the Curriculum Tests which will ultimately lead to a holistic report card for each learner.
The GEC is an innovative programme for improving the teaching and learning of subject skills, integrating 21st Century skills, and understanding learner inclinations in General Education and Training (GET) with a focus on preparing learners for successful career pathing into, and post Further Education and Training (FET). The GEC seeks to set a report on all learners' abilities over a 10-year period culminating in Grade 9 inclusively, regardless of their barriers to learning.
Ms Ziyanda Gobodo, a Departmental Head for Mathematics at Westview Special School in the Eastern Cape Province, said that the engagement and training on the GEC will assist the different types of schools to implement the GEC in 2024. “The introduction of the GEC is a great move because our learners require additional career guidance, particularly in the non-academic streams. Our school is looking forward to participating in the full-scale implementation of the GEC in 2025.” Ms Saloshini Pillay, Subject Advisor for English at Umlazi District in the KwaZulu-Natal Province, stated that the GEC will become critical for parents to guide their children in making the right career choice before Grade 10, which is the entry point for FET: “The training has been well facilitated and it helped us to engage on misconceptions around GEC. The GEC is not meant to encourage learners to exit schooling at Grade 9, but to detect a suitable career pathway according to learners’ abilities,” she said.
Dr Chetty indicated that the DBE intended to make the GEC an inclusive qualification for all learners, including learners with disabilities and learners from other special schools: “One of the criticisms levelled against our education system is that we do not sufficiently promote critical creative thinking and that we are not developing problem-solving skills. “Through the GEC, we have been demonstrating practical ways on how to introduce these important cognitive skills in teaching, learning and assessment in the GET Band. Through this programme, learners are required to achieve in three different areas: curriculum knowledge, general capabilities or skills and career inclinations and talents. Through continuous and varied assessment forms in GET, they will gain a better understanding of these talents and capabilities and will, at the end of Grade 9, receive a GEC report card/certificate that will assist them in selecting pathways other than just the academic stream”. Addressing participants, Dr Poliah said the training was organised to strengthen various aspects of GEC, including the assessment model. “The GEC should not be compared with the National Senior Certificate (NSC), which is an exit certificate to institutions of higher learning. Our approach with the GEC training is to strengthen our efforts towards the holistic development of learners, including career inclinations and entrepreneurship. We want to see the GEC being regarded as an effective tool for learners to make correct career choices beyond GET.”