STAFF REPORTER|

THE court case between SECTION27 and the South African Council for Educators (SACE) is back in the Johannesburg high court on Tuesday after two incidents of corporal punishment involving Grade 2 and Grade 5 learners whose assaulters received a light fine and continue to teach.

In December 2020, SECTION27, on behalf of the Centre for Child Law and the parents of two young learners (ages 7 and 10), initiated a case against the SACE for imposing lenient sanctions on two educators who pleaded guilty for assaulting learners in their classroom.

In South Africa, corporal punishment has been banned since 1996.

“We are taking SACE to court and requesting that it reconsiders the decisions it made in respect of the two educators, as well as revise its Mandatory Sanctions on Contraventions of the Code of Professional Ethics, a document used by SACE when sanctioning educators for misbehaviour, in an effort to protect learners from further harm and ensure that the ban on corporal punishment is taken seriously,” said the public interest law centre on Monday.

SACE, the professional body responsible for maintaining and protecting educators’ ethical and professional standards, is opposing the case.

Their code of professional ethics expressly states that educators must refrain from any form of abuse, physical or psychological, and they are mandated to investigate and sanction any educator found guilty of this behaviour.

“Therefore the body is one of the important institutions that can help address and stop the use of corporal punishment in schools,” said SECTION27 in a statement.

“Sadly, they are failing in this role by imposing very lenient sanctions on educators found guilty of corporal punishment, including suspended sentences or mere fines, without addressing teachers’ violent behaviour or equipping them with the tools to implement non-violent discipline strategies.”

SECTION27 said although corporal punishment has been banned from South African schools since 1996, teachers are still tragically using corporal punishment to discipline learners, thereby perpetuating the culture of violence and abuse that already characterises many South African Communities.

Countless reports of learners being hit, thrown with objects, or verbally abused in class indicate that the ban on corporal punishment is not being properly enforced in schools, said SECTION27.

Children’s Institute, represented by Equal Education Law Centre, has been admitted to the case as amicus curiae (friend of the court), and will be making submissions to support our relief.

INSIDE EDUCATION

BLENDED mode of learning’s footprints can be traced back in mid of nineteen century.

It spread its wings in late 20th Century with Learning Management System and interactive learning experience through sound and Video with extensive usage of CD ROM developing it into First Web based Instruction.

Union between face-to- face and technology-based learning gave new impetus to students’ educational experience.

Pandemic propelled Digitization, Technology based learning seeping rapidly in the Education right from Junior KG to Graduation Level studies.

Leap bound technological development in the form of various User friendly easily accessible Video conferencing platforms facilitated blended learning during pandemic and is even facilitating other sectors also.

The concept of borrowing notes got promoted as sharing of pdfs, homework in notebooks rapidly converted into word document assignments.

This complete online mode soon made students as well as teachers miss their classroom environment but made them wish that technology could become a seamless part of their classroom learning.

Blended Learning assists in making this wish of an explorative digital classroom come true.

Blended Learning is the methodology of using digital learning tools along with the traditional face to face classroom teaching.

But then the question arises whether such digitization just of using pdfs instead of books or having files uploaded in LMS instead of workbooks submitted in staffroom, proves to be Blended learning?

Of course not.

Blended Learning has the potential to transform the entire teaching and learning process into a fruitful, engaging, and collaborative learning environment.

It is more about allowing students to control how they learn thus enabling them to gain personalized learning experiences.

The combination of in-person teaching techniques, teacher-led online modules, and self-paced learning forms the core of the Blended Learning strategy.

The teaching units developed under this umbrella focuses on:

* Creating micro lessons for helping students grasp content easily.
* Perform in between checks for understanding and design assessment that will align with the learning goals to be achieved.
* Collaborate with peer students to assimilate different perspectives
* Explore scenarios and connect the student’s understanding with them

Nowadays it is quite feasible to build student centric study materials with the help of modern multimedia tools.

Developing interactive lessons using ICT can really bring in an excitement among students to learn new skills. The teacher is now in the role of Facilitator rather than just a knowledge provider.

Advantages of Blended Learning:

Blended learning helps students to get a customized education as the teachers can assess their performance in multiple ways and can provide e-materials accordingly to help students grasp the subject matter according to their learning style.
Digital technology is helping to create interesting e-lessons involving gamification which explain concepts effectively to different learning styles of learners.
The blended mode of learning offers more time for student-teacher interaction as the online dissemination of study materials saves times of classroom teaching hours. This time can be utilized for student centric in-class activities.

Students learn at their own pace. The slow learners can go through online resources at their own speed for concept understanding which they would have found challenging to do so in regular classrooms.

The advanced learners get a chance to explore a lot more via content rich study materials. Currently it is possible to create a nourishing academic environment with the usage of different types of e-resources.

Collaboration with peers is one of the major differences that is seen during blended learning. When the students are trained to use the online tools effectively, they can communicate and collaborate with each other in a better way, even surpassing the geographical and time constraints.

They get time to interact with teachers and their classmates, thus gathering different perspectives leading towards deeper understanding.

Students discuss their ideas, experiment while working in teams and most importantly, they can do so within their campus or remotely, even with other student communities.

Multi language support with translated versions of e-resources is helping students to learn from teachers across the globe.

Knowledge now flows over the language hurdles and has spread across with help digitization.

Special e-content is developed for hearing and visually impaired learners with the help of which their teachers can make their classroom activities quite engaging.

Teachers have a greater responsibility to blend the online education with experiential and activity-based learning. It must be realized that Blended learning is not just a mix of our teaching and technology.

Merely replacing blackboards with presentations or a classroom lecture with an online video streaming does not become a blended mode of teaching.

The in-person learning, and online factors must work together to design enhanced experiential learning environments.

The digital education initiatives launched by the Indian government are providing online education across the country.

Teachers can take advantage of these initiatives for a blended mode of teaching. Several portal hosts MOOCs which can be accessed by all citizens for quality education.

Various portals provide engaging learning resources in multiple languages. Virtual Labs enables the undergraduate and postgraduate students to remotely access the virtual labs for their practicals.

The Open Educational Resources (OER) materials have opened the doors of learning to everyone willing to educate themselves.

Blended learning aims to develop a student-centered model of education.

With technology progressing rapidly, digitization and blended learning will create a promising definition of education and enrich students’ learning experience.

SUPPLIED| TOI

ALMOST one-third of the National Science and Technology Forum’s (NSTF) top 19 science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) matriculants from 2021 were accepted to study at the University of Cape Town.

These first-year students, who are all studying STEM-related courses at various universities, are part of the NSTF’s Brilliants programme, now in its 21st year.

One top male and one top female learner from each of the provinces (three were chosen from Mpumalanga, the result of a tie) was chosen by the NSTF for their 2021/2022 NSTF Brilliants programme.

This supports young South Africans who have the potential to be future STEM leaders and innovators.

Of the 19, six (three females and three males) are at UCT. Half are registered with the Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment and half with the Faculty of Health Sciences.

One of the students is from the Eastern Cape, one is from the Free State, two are from Limpopo and two are from Mpumalanga.
Each of the 19 impressed with their marks in mathematics and physical science in the 2021 National Senior Certificate examinations.

Two of the three Mpumalanga candidates scored 100% for physical science and one got 100% for mathematics.

One of the awardees’ rewards is an educational tour sponsored by the Lewis Foundation.

The sponsors of the Brilliants programme are South32 in the Department of Science and Innovation and the South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions.

SUPPLIED| UCT

CYRIL RAMAPHOSA|

LATER this week, we will commemorate Youth Day in honour of the bravery and sacrifices of the generation of 1976 in its struggle against an unjust and illegitimate regime.

Today, the youth of South Africa confront new struggles in their quest to lead lives of dignity and in pursuit of a better life. Though we have made substantial progress in broadening opportunities for young people in basic and higher education, millions of young people remain unemployed.

While the latest employment figures give some cause for optimism – some 370,000 jobs were created in the first quarter of this year – we still have a huge mountain to climb in our quest to create more jobs, especially for young people.

According to Stats SA, youth unemployment in South Africa is at 66.5%. No society can expect to grow or thrive when the vast majority of its young people are out of work.

Our foremost priority as government is to achieve higher rates of inclusive growth that generate sustainable jobs at the scale of social need.

The economic reforms we are implementing, alongside measures such as industrial policy to support labour-intensive growth sectors, aim to drive growth and expand private sector employment. However, we cannot simply wait for higher growth to create jobs, especially for young people.

I hold the view that even as millions of people are unemployed, there is no shortage of work to be done to build a better South Africa.

This is the fundamental premise of the Presidential Employment Stimulus, which is designed as a once-in-a-generation effort to tackle unemployment at scale.

The employment stimulus is on track to support a million jobs through a wide range of programmes, all of which contribute to improving communities and creating public goods that will last beyond the work itself.

Eighty-four per cent of all participants in these programmes are young people, and 62% are women.

The most recent initiative to be launched through the stimulus is the Social Employment Fund, which will pioneer a new and innovative approach to public employment.

The Social Employment Fund will partner with non-governmental organisations across the country to deliver ‘work for the common good’. This work is in areas like community safety, food kitchens, urban agriculture, early childhood development and the fight against gender-based violence.

The Social Employment Fund will create 50,000 new work opportunities in the first phase before scaling up further in subsequent phases.

The unique feature of social employment is that it recognises that unemployed people in communities are a powerful resource for development, not a ‘problem’ to be solved.

We have many real problems to address – from improving waste collection to creating safe and beautiful public spaces – that require work, and many people who are eager to do it.

Not only does social employment provide an income for participants by supporting locally-driven initiatives to fulfil local needs; social employment can also unlock creativity and agency, build local participation and strengthen mutual support systems in communities.

Another important programme that has now entered implementation, and which I announced in the State of the Nation Address, is a revitalised National Youth Service.

This programme will create a further 50,000 jobs for unemployed young people performing acts of service across the country, while providing much-needed work experience and reinforcing the value of active citizenship.

The recruitment of participants for social employment and the youth service is currently underway.

What these programmes show is that public employment can achieve multiple objectives at once. These include addressing unemployment, building skills and experience, providing public goods and services, and, perhaps most important of all, contributing to a massive national effort to improve the state of our country.

Despite the great setback caused by COVID-19, our economy is slowly returning to pre-pandemic levels. As government, we will continue to champion programmes and initiatives that limit the impact of unemployment on young people until the private sector starts creating more jobs at scale.

I once again call on business to be part of this effort by employing more young people, by making use of the Employee Tax Incentive and other measures, and by supporting and buying from businesses owned and run by young people.

This Youth Day, as we recall the struggles of our past, let us remain firmly focused on the work that we are doing – including through our innovative public employment programmes – to build a better future for all the young people of our country.

From the desk of the President

JAAMIA GALANT & URSULA HOADLEY

LEARNING to read, write, count and calculate forms the basis for all other learning in school and beyond. Pupils start to learn these basic skills in the first three years of schooling. Their learning continues throughout their time in school as the content becomes more complex.

In 2020 and 2021, learners across South Africa missed at least a quarter of a school year due to COVID-related lockdowns and rotational timetabling. Many learners lost much more school time.

Given these disruptions, how much learning was lost across the schooling system? The systemic tests carried out by the country’s Western Cape province provided an ideal opportunity to find out.

Each year the Western Cape Education Department tests learners in mathematics and language at the grade 3, 6 and 9 levels.

A team of researchers from Stellenbosch University and the University of Cape Town compared learner performance on the mathematics and language tests in 2019 with that of 2021 on a range of mathematical and reading and writing competencies.

The study is the largest of its kind in South Africa. It investigated the performance of about 80,000 learners, aged between nine and 15 years, in each of the three grades, across both poor and rich schools in the Western Cape province.

The size and range of the sample makes it likely that the results will generally hold for South Africa as a whole and for learners in all grades.

A conservative estimate from the results is that learners have fallen 40% to 70% of a school year behind earlier cohorts in language learning and much more – 95% to 106% of a school year – in maths.

The greater losses in maths are consistent with international findings. This possibly stems from the more specialised nature of the subject and greater need for it to be formally taught, face to face.

Learning is a cumulative process and in language and maths this is especially critical as each year of learning sets up the building blocks for the next year of learning.

If children lose out on learning essential knowledge and skills for reading and writing they will struggle in all subjects where they have to read, interpret texts and express their understanding in writing.

Similarly, maths has its own specialised language and concepts that build progressively over grades. If learners lose out on basic concepts and skills, their later learning will compromised as mathematical problems and contexts become more complex.

Learning losses

Our study found that the greatest losses on the language test were at the grade 6 level. This is probably linked to learners being exposed less to the language of teaching and learning in the two previous years. Most South African learners are taught in their home language in the foundation phase (grades 1-3). From grade 4 onwards, they are taught in English for all subjects (except their home language). The pandemic has made this difficult language transition even more difficult.

We analysed language results in relation to reading comprehension, writing and vocabulary.

Although there is cause for concern across the three areas, learners performed particularly poorly in writing tasks at the grade 3 and grade 6 levels. Declines in vocabulary knowledge were particularly acute at the grade 6 level.

This could partly be attributed to a lack of exposure to print material and vocabulary instruction.

It would be worse for those learners who had changed to a different language of instruction in grade 4.

In mathematics, learning losses were severe across all three grades. The results illustrate how learning losses in this subject are compounded as learners move up the grades, resulting in the poorest performances at grade 9 level.

In “Number, Operations and Relationships”, the most fundamental content area, the average mark for grade 3 learners dropped from 57% in 2019 to 48% in 2021.

Learners are struggling with routine addition and subtraction problems and simple fractions. They also struggle with simple word sums.

Learning losses in “Number, Operations and Relationships” were apparent in grades 6 and 9 as well, and evidently led to poor performance in other areas, most notably in “Measurement”, where basic number knowledge is applied.

In grade 9, the biggest proportion of the curriculum is spent on “Patterns, Functions and Algebra”.
Yet average marks for this area dropped below 40% for grade 9 learners in the 2021 test. Grade 9 learners are struggling to grasp basic principles of algebraic language.

Curriculum areas to prioritise

It is clear that schools need to allocate more time for language and mathematics. Where feasible, time allocations for other subjects could be reduced or non-core subjects suspended or integrated into other subjects.

Existing timetables could be used more efficiently. Suspending tests and homework in other subjects would free up time to focus on language and maths.

These curriculum areas should be prioritised:
Reading, writing, number and measurement in the foundation phase English first additional language in the intermediate phase (children aged 9 to 12 years), especially writing and vocabulary.
In the senior phase (ages 13 to 15), proficiency in routine operations with whole numbers, fractions and basic algebra.
For at least the next three years, priority should be given to mastering the skills and concepts that are necessary for progression in learning. “Stand alone” topics in social science for example can be left for later grades.

Going forward

Teachers need assistance with diagnostic tests – not only administering them but also analysing the results and planning on the basis of outcomes.

They also need support in providing opportunities for learners to catch up previous grades’ content.

The Presidential Youth Employment Initiative allows for young “educator assistants” to help teachers in classrooms. Phase 3 of the initiative began in April 2022.

These assistants should now focus on assisting individual children with mathematics and language.
Their sole task could be to work through the previous year’s Department of Basic Education Rainbow Workbooks developed for each grade.

This would provide learners with one-on-one tuition to catch up to required levels of competence in language and mathematics.

(Jaamia Galant, Researcher University of Cape Town)
(Ursula Hoadley, Professor, University of Cape Town)

THE CONVERSATION

SIX University of Johannesburg (UJ) student-athletes and Netball Club manager and coach, Bongiwe Msomi, were named as part of Team South Africa’s athletes headed to the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC) made the announcement on Wednesday, 08 June 2022, just 50 days before the Games begin.

UJ students Yane van der Merwe (para-athlete), Caitlin Rooskrantz (gymnastics), Kristen Paton (hockey), Boitumelo Mahloko (netball), Bongiwe Msomi (netball), Monique Reyneke (netball), Michelle Moganedi (wheelchair basketball) and alumnus Ronald Brown (rugby 7s) where among the players announced as part of Team SA.

“We are very proud of our club members and wish them well,” said Lezanne Bruwer, Manager: UJ Sport for Students with Disabilities (SSD).

The 2022 Commonwealth Games will be feature different sporting codes such as netball, 7s rugby, boxing, cycling, table tennis, gymnastics, weightlifting, lawn bowl and para-lawn bowls, among other sports.

The Team SA announcement comes a day after Netball SA announced 24 players that, for the first time in the history of netball in South Africa, were offered professional contracts starting 0n 1 April 2022 to December 2023. Msomi, Mahloko and Reyneke were among the contracted players. Msomi is the SPAR Proteas captain and has represented the country on numerous occasions and was also appointed the World Netball Official Athlete Ambassador for the African Region ahead of the 2023 Netball World Cup.

UJ Sportswoman of the year and Master of Health Science, Chiropractic student and intern, Paton, was recently announced as part of the SA senior women’s hockey team that will participate in the 2022 FIH Women’s World Cup in July. Paton was part of the SA Women’s Hockey team that participated in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and the 2022 AFCON Hockey Tournament in Ghana in January this year.

Brown is the UJ Sportsman of the year and plays for the SA rugby 7’s team.

Moganedi is no stranger to representing SA; she has previously donned the national colors at the recent Wheelchair Basketball Federation (IWBF) Afro World Championship qualifiers in January 2022. In March 2022, Moganedi was also selected as part of the IWBF Players Commission and will be participating in 3×3 wheelchair basketball.

Sport Science honours student and para-athlete in the UJ SSD Club, van der Merwe will represent South Africa in Javelin.

Rooskrantz is a first year BCom Marketing Management UJ student who won gold at the 2022 FIG Artistic Gymnastic World Cup in March 2022 at Egypt.

“Anybody who brings a medal will be awarded, anybody who breaks a record will be awarded double. Enjoy Birmingham, but remember you must do the best that you can, and I want you to bring those medals. From the 37 that the team before you brought, you are bringing 37 times two,” said Nocawe Mafu, Deputy Minister of Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture.

SUPPLIED

JONATHAN Kennedy Sowah says wherever he goes, he’s always looking for a problem to solve.

His latest mission is to help transform Ghana’s approach to STEM — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — and he believes he’s found a solution.

His company, InovTech STEM Center, travels to schools across Ghana to teach students and teachers the ins and outs of STEM through robotics education.

“Computing [and coding] should be like a basic language — every child should learn,” Sowah, 23, says.

InovTech STEM Center offers lessons in web design, app development and 3D modeling and printing, among other skills.

Workshops empower students to flex their creative muscles and find ways to apply the lessons they learn in the classroom to the tech field.

Jonathan Kennedy Sowah, founder of InovTech STEM Center, teaches students at the the Teshie Anglican School in Ghana how to program a robot.

“Now they know the relevance of what they’re learning in class. They know that if I’m able to learn geometry, this is what I can do with a robot,” he says.

Digital skills are critical to learn as there is a growing demand for tech jobs throughout sub-Saharan Africa. A 2019 study by the International Finance Corporation estimated about 230 million jobs across the region will require digital skills by 2030 — and more than nine million of those jobs will be in Ghana.

Like many entrepreneurs, Sowah’s path to success was a bit unconventional. The Ghanaian was born and raised in the coastal township of Teshie, close to the capital Accra, where he spent most days working at his grandmother’s provisions store.

He says he was interested in information technology (IT) from a young age, but he grew frustrated with how it was being taught in school. So, at 13 years old, Sowah decided to drop out and get a job at a local internet café.

“I knew I could do so much better, and I was so restricted,” he recalls.

Once he had free access to the internet, he says he spent his spare time surfing the web to watch robotics tutorials, adding, “I was always researching, I was learning new things.”

The self-taught computer scientist eventually went back to school and enrolled in Labone Senior High School with dreams of becoming a neurosurgeon.

But once again, Sowah says he was disappointed with a lack of emphasis on IT. This time, he took it upon himself to start a creative technology club called CREATECH.
“We started learning. We started teaching ourselves as well. And then we started going for robotics competitions,” Sowah says.

He credits his geography teacher for pushing him to turn CREATECH into the InovTech STEM Center.

Today, the company is reaching students and teachers throughout the country.

It works closely with the Ghana Educational Service to buy robotics kits and work with schools. But Sowah tells CNN many rural areas still face significant challenges to education.

“You go to these places, and they don’t have computers,” he says. “It’s up to us to learn it as the privileged ones and then go and teach the underprivileged ones.”

In recent years, Ghana’s Ministry of Education began implementing new policies to transform the country into a “learning nation,” including an Education Strategic Plan that outlines ways to improve the quality of teaching STEM across all educational levels by 2030.

The ministry says it wants to achieve an enrollment ratio of 60:40 in favor of STEM subjects over humanities.

In January, it also announced plans to build 20 STEM centers and 10 STEM senior high schools across the country. It says the projects are in various stages of completion and some are expected to be operational this year.

In addition to improving access to resources, Sowah is determined to help close the gender gap in STEM.

According to UNICEF, girls are consistently underrepresented among top performers in STEM subjects and lack digital skills compared to their male peers.

It found only 7% of girls in Ghana have digital skills compared to 16% of boys.

InovTech STEM Center empowers young women through its “STEM for Her” outreach program and also launched a “Girl Power Workshop” last year.

“We wanted to introduce girls to the exciting part of robotics, for them to meet those people that are already in the industry doing robotic or tech-related careers, and then mentor them, teach them and then guide them,” Sowah says, adding he believes the government can do more to support the advancement of STEM.

Sowah asks the government and other international organizations to invest in STEM across Africa, particularly in Ghana, “because what we are doing, we are doing for our country.”

“My dream for Ghana is a Ghana [where] every student [has] access to education … no matter where they are,” he adds.
“A Ghana [where] every teacher is skilled … [and] has the right to resources to train the students, to inspire them and empower them.”

CNN

WITS University says it is appalled to learn of the suspension of Dr Tim De Maayer, a paediatric gastroenterologist based at the Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital, and who is also a joint appointee of the University of the Witwatersrand.

Dr De Maayer was served with a precautionary suspension for having spoken out against the conditions in the Hospital.

In a statement, Wits University called for the unconditional and immediate lifting of his suspension by the Gauteng Department of Health.

“This is a ludicrous situation – instead of resolving the issues raised by the doctor at the coalface, the Department has chosen to shoot the messenger,” said Professor Shabir Madhi, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences.

“It is not like our healthcare professionals have not raised these issues multiple times through the correct channels, but nothing has happened. How much louder can our doctors and clinicians on the ground speak?”

“These actions are against the spirit of the agreement between Wits and the Department with regard to the management of our joint staff,” added Madhi.

The university has been in contact with the Gauteng Department of Health since the suspension was announced and are optimistic that it will be rescinded.

Failing the lifting of the suspension, the university said it will embark on a public protest in support of Dr De Maayer.

Gauteng Health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi said that she had been made aware of the precautionary suspension.

“The Gauteng department of health once again acknowledges the issues previously raised by Dr De Maayer. The department concedes that there are challenges within the health system in the province and in the country in general, which require multifaceted interventions. The department remains committed to tackling these challenges while continuing to render services to millions of patients annually,” she said.

INSIDE EDUCATION

HIGHER Education, Science And Innovation minister Blade Nzimande says the country needs to produce more graduate students if it is to meet its workforce needs.

Speaking at a fuel meeting on Thursday (9 June), Nzimande cited the country’s current graduate statistics and how few students ultimately make it through SouthAfrica’s school system.

“One of the challenges that we need to confront head-on, is the number of students who enter our university system, as a proportion of those who started Grade 1. Out of 100 students, only 12 access our university system, and only six complete – four with a degree.

“This clearly indicates that there are many young people who are lost through the system. We, therefore, need to cater for these students for us to expand our post-school opportunities.”

Nzimande added that the government has made a significant effort to open the education system to more students, with the majority of current university students receiving some form of fiduciary support.

“I must indicate that through government funding, we are already funding a substantial number of learners in our institutions.  Out of 1,110,361 university enrolments, 76.6% and out of 508,445 TVET college enrolments, 98% are funded through the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).”

Growing problem 

South Africa’s education outcome could be further exacerbated in the coming years a new study by Stellenbosch University shows.

The study shows most learners in South African schools missed at least three-quarters of a school year over the course of 2020 and 2021, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, lockdowns, school closures and rotational timetables that were introduced to maintain social distancing in classrooms.

These lost school days are known to have affected learning, but lack of data has thus far limited attempts at measuring learning losses. The only two studies measuring learning loss thus far were limited to fairly small samples of learners in relatively poor schools, to reading and only to the lower grades.

The Stellenbosch University study considers a much larger sample, virtually all public schools in the Western Cape, across Grades 3, 6 and 9 in both Language and Mathematics, comparing 2021 performance with that in 2019.

By investigating performance in the Western Cape Systemic Tests that are written in Grades 3, 6, and 9 in both Language and Mathematics, the study was also able to compare the performance of the same schools on the same questions in 2021 to performance in 2019.

Some of the key findings of the study include:

Low average marks were evident already in 2019 for Grade 3 Language (42.7%) and Grade 9 Maths (37.7%), despite many multiple-choice questions.Conservatively estimated, learners have fallen 40% to 70% of a school year behind earlier cohorts in Language and much more, 95% to 106% of a school year in Mathematics.In most tests, girls significantly outperform boys. In Grade 9, boys experienced greater learning losses, wiping out the pro-boy advantage in Mathematics.

“The findings are indeed extremely concerning – losses in mathematics tend to be the largest, even when using a relatively conservative measure (assuming that a year’s learning is as much as 40% of a standard deviation in primary and 30% in secondary schools, the losses indicate that learners in 2021 had fallen more than a year of learning behind learners in the same grade in 2019,” the researchers said.

“In language, losses are smaller, around three-quarters of a year equivalent in terms of learning.”

The researchers added that two policy areas require special attention:

The first is to find more time for Mathematics, to overcome the deficit that has accumulated during the Covid years. For instance, Grade 9 learners in 2021 are performing more than a year behind Grade 9 learners two years earlier, so they must catch up a full year before they write matric. This requires that they progress more than four years in the three years before they write matric. In Language, the big challenge is to ensure that reading has been mastered in the Foundation Phase, while at the same time giving urgent attention to ease the language transition. Weak reading skills and English vocabulary can inhibit all further learning for the majority of learners who have to make this language transition.

BUSINESS TECH

THE latest QS World University Rankings have boosted the University of Johannesburg’s (UJ’s) standing in South Africa and on the African continent.

According to the latest figures, UJ now ranks second in South Africa and in Africa, climbing up one position.

UJ Vice-Chancellor and Principal Professor Tshilidzi Marwala said the achievement was “tremendous” as UJ went up against 2 462 academic institutions.

Globally, UJ ranks 412, up from 434 last year. It also ranked 94.3 in the International Research Network and 88.1 in the International Faculty Ratio category.

The QS World University Rankings account for global academic and employer reputation, research output, quality of research, internationalisation, teaching and learning.

“The latest global rankings reaffirm the fact that our academic programmes remain on par with international standards, as we continue with our mission to position UJ as the international university of choice, anchored in Africa and dynamically shaping the future. These rankings are a wonderful tribute to the sustained work by our staff and students as we continue to forge ahead and scale new heights,” Marwala said.

SUPPLIED|