Pretoria - Basic Education Minister Angie Motshega will tomorrow launch the National Education and Evaluation Unit (NEEDU) which is expected to identify factors that inhibit or advance school improvement.

Identifying the critical factors that inhibit or advance school improvement and to make focused recommendations for redressing problem areas that undermine school improvement are the core responsibilities of the NEEDU.

“The main task of this unit will be to provide the ministry with an authoritative, analytical and accurate account on the state of education in South Africa, in particular, on the status of teaching and learning in all schools,” said the department’s Granville Whittle.

NEEDU is a result of an agreement to establish an external agency that will evaluate the entire education system and report to the minister on the state of education in South Africa. This was due to the low levels of performance which still persist widely in the system.

A Ministerial Committee to investigate and advise the ministry was established in 2008 on how the quality of education can be enhanced through an independent performance evaluation system resulting in the formation of NEEDU.

Dialogue about evaluation models used in developed and developing nations in order to inform the development of South Africa’s own model is needed, said the department. The department also highlighted that NEEDU is still in a “sunrise period” with respect to its own emergence as a fully fledged external evaluation agency in South Africa. - BuaNews

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Pretoria – The Gauteng Education Department is to hold an education summit to address ongoing instability and underperformance in Soweto schools.

The idea of the Soweto Education Summit is the brainchild of Premier Nomvula Mokonyane, who, during the State of the Province Address said the summit would mobilise civil society to contribute towards government’s goal of quality education for all.

The summit is scheduled for next month.

“With Soweto’s rich history, we cannot allow it to lag behind in terms of the culture of learning and teaching. The education of the African child must be everybody’s business and concern,” Mokonyane said at the time.

The summit will bring together government, education stakeholders including teacher and learners’ unions, civil society as well as parents, who will address the disruptions which continued after last year’s teachers’ strike.

Gauteng Education MEC Barbara Creecy said the summit was expected to address issues including improving classroom teaching and learner performance, how to bring back a climate of discipline, safety and social cohesion in Soweto schools, ways of improving school governance and management, and ensuring a political climate that fosters a spirit of learning and teaching.

“The summit will be held against the backdrop of frequent disruption to learning and teaching in the township, the migration of several thousand learners out of schools in the area to other areas in the province and widespread problems with governance, infrastructure, discipline and safety,” Creecy said.

She pointed out that the consequences in Soweto are reflected in the academic performance of schools, where the average 2010 matric pass rate of Soweto secondary schools was 63 percent, compared to provincial average of 79 percent.

In grade tests conducted in 2008, grade 3 learners in Soweto had a performance of 32 percent in Maths, compared to a provincial average of 43 percent and 28 percent in literacy compared to a provincial average of 38 percent.

Grade 6 learner performance in Soweto is 24 percent, compared to a 36 percent provincial average.

“Soweto has by far the highest number of underperforming schools at 60 compared to other townships such as Sharpeville, Katlehong, Tembisa, Mamelodi, Soshanguve, Daveyton and Evaton, that have an average of 10 underperforming schools,” Creecy said. - BuaNews

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