Basic Education Director-General, Mr Mathanzima Mweli, is currently hosting virtual engagement meetings with provincial officials and school principals as part of the school readiness programme for the new academic year. This week’s meeting with the Mpumalanga Province was chaired by Mr Paddy Padayachee, DDG for Teachers, HR and Institutional Development, on behalf of DG Mweli. “We need to take stock of our performance in the sector and ensure the alignment of policy formulation and implementation from national to provincial, to district and classroom levels to meet the social justice principles. Teaching and learning should continue within safe school environments for us to ensure our objectives for 2023 of 90% of learners achieving an 80% pass rate in Mathematics, Sciences and Languages,” he said.

Mr Jan Mkhwanazi, Acting DDG for Curriculum, represented the Head of Department (HoD), Ms Lucy Moyane, during the session. Despite the impact of COVID-19, loadshedding and community protests on the Class of 2022, they have remained resilient and the NSC examination results have improved across the country. “We are proud of Mpumalanga’s improvement: we have achieved 76.8%, a 2.9% increase from 2021, a 7^th position in the overall rating. We find these meetings extremely useful in reviewing our gains and areas for improvement to identify priority areas, and to chart the way forward, along with the guidance and support of the DBE. It is only through collaboration that our learning efforts and outcomes can be strengthened”.

Mr Hilton Visagie, DBE Director for Assessment and Administration, gave an overview of the Class of 2022 performance; Dr Faith Kumalo, Chief Director in the DG’s Office, shared a presentation on Public Health Matters as they relate to the Basic Education Sector. This was followed by an overview of the new, 2.0 DDD dashboard, an enhanced version of the current system, enabling information on the profile and performance levels of SA schools, educators and learners per grade, subjects and educators, based on SA-SAMS data.

Dr Aron Nkosi, Curriculum Research Director at the DBE, delivered a presentation on the Learning Recovery Programme (LRP). During the systemic evaluation, Reading and Mathematics were identified as major challenges due to learning losses suffered during the pandemic. These learning losses must be addressed during the 2021 – 2024 recovery period to create effective and quality classrooms for learners. The key focus areas for a strengthened curriculum for 21^st Century Skills will include a focus on competencies; reduced content; deeper learning; performance-based assessment; and a focus on formative assessment and Vocational and Occupational education. In this process, the teacher will be the focus with the provision of intensive teacher training and teacher guidelines during 2025 and beyond. The LRP has been developed in collaboration with unions and provinces, led by a Teacher Development and Curriculum Management (TDCM) sub-committee, which has been meeting regularly. Progress was reported to the Heads of Education Departments Committee (HEDCOM) during 2022, and the LRP was adopted by HEDCOM on 6 February 2023, along with the guidelines and training plan. Provinces have requested to submit the details of their respective representatives for the LRP Task Teams by 14 February 2022. As teachers are key in this process, they will be required to align themselves to the process, using the South African Council for Educators (SACE) endorsed training material and guidelines.

Mr Elijah Nkosi, Director for Mathematics and Science from the Mpumalanga Province, delivered the provincial presentation. “Our Learner Performance Improvement Plan for 2023, which also informs our Subject Performance Improvement Plan, was shared with teachers during workshops conducted by Subject Advisors at the beginning of the year to articulate the 2023 Annual Teaching Plans (ATPs) across all grades. The province also conducted a detailed analysis to create a profile of the Class of 2023, using Grade 11 performance as an indicator. This will inform specific activities at school level, circuit and district level, and supported by the province. We need to reflect on what worked during 2022, and what needs to be improved on. He had a lot of praise for the DDD dashboard, saying that the data was very useful to inform the various interventions. The monitoring of ATPs; on-sight monitoring; and additional classes extended to Grades 8 to 11 will continue, as well as the use of technology and eLearning by providing all Grade 12 learners with tablets. We have managed to retrieve last year’s tablets to provide the new cohort with these devices. Cluster Leaders fill the gap to assure quality assessment and moderation in schools. It is anticipated that the National Reading Plan will assist to improve reading across grades; home language performance will be strengthened; teaching posts will be filled; LTSM digitised; and teachers will be trained to use technology optimally. Our vision is to obtain an 83% pass rate for 2023,” he concluded.

The next Provincial Engagement Meetings will be taking place with the Gauteng, the Northern Cape and the Free State Provinces on 13,14 and 16 February respectively.