IEB National Senior Certificate 2017

 The 2017 pass rate is 98.76%, comparable to last year’s pass rate of 98.67%. All candidates who passed achieved a pass that is good enough to enter tertiary study at one of the three levels:

88.50% (compared to 87.61% in 2016) of the cohort achieved entry to degree study.

8.96% (compared to 9.83% in 2016) qualified for entry to diploma study.

1.30% (compared to 1.23% in 2016) achieved entry for study at the Higher Certificate level.

 11 464 full-time and 666 part-time candidates from 212 examination centres across Southern Africa wrote the Independent Examinations Board (IEB) National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations in October and November 2017. This is an increase from 2016 when there were 11 022 full-time candidates and 703 part-time candidates.

 Umalusi has monitored all aspects of the 2017 examination process and has declared the results to be fair and valid. There is a clear realisation among IEB learners, their parents and teachers that having the knowledge and understanding that lies behind the results on the certificate is far more important and meaningful for success after one’s schooling. 

 “The 2017 NSC candidates have done very well and have once again shown that with a commitment to hard work over their 12 years of schooling, and supported by a dedicated cohort of teachers and parents, they have passed with flying colours. They are ready for the next step in their journey of life-long learning,” says Anne Oberholzer, CEO of the IEB.

 The closing date for the application for re-marking is 10 January 2018 and the results from re-marking will be released on 5 February 2018. The closing date for learners who qualify to enroll for the supplementary examination to do so, is 12 February 2018.

***

Exam Statistics

National Senior Certificate - NSC NSC 2017 November Examinations

Certification Breakdown

Number of Candidates who took the whole examination - 11464

***

 Advanced Programmes 2017

The Advanced Programme courses are extension courses in Mathematics, English and Afrikaans. They are available to any learner in South Africa attending either state or IEB schools who chooses to participate. The assessment has been benchmarked by UK NARIC, the UK equivalent of the South African Qualifications Authority, and is considered equivalent to the UK A-levels.   

The 2017 performance in AP Mathematics, consisting of 1 424 learners from IEB schools and 1749 learners in state schools, has been very pleasing with 92.72% achieving a pass above 40%, compared to 87.9% in 2016. From a total of 599 learners offering AP English, 96.66% achieved a pass mark of 40% or above; all learners offering AP Afrikaans achieved a mark of 40% and above.

 Combined Abitur-NSC 2017

The Combined Abitur-NSC is a qualification offered by the German Schools in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Pretoria. The qualification consists of five subjects assessed by the IEB and seven subjects assessed by the German Education authorities. Through this government-to-government agreement, successful learners in the Combined Abitur-NSC are recognised by German education authorities for entry to German universities and by the South African education authorities for entry to South African universities. Of the 51 candidates who offered this qualification, all passed with entry to degree study. The IEB sees its involvement with this qualification as a means of keeping South African students in touch with global standards and developments. 

 A new lens is needed on tertiary education and lifelong learning

Our world offers many new fields of study to explore and fields of work that were not available 20 years ago. Gone are the days when a successful development path meant good high school grades followed by a university degree followed by post-graduate study and then employment with a salaried income in a protected permanent post with guaranteed benefits of pension, housing allowance and medical aid. The modern world is far less certain. More and more we are seeing the traditional paths not necessarily resulting in the expectations our parents had. 

 “As the world around us changes, it is inevitable that traditional educational pathways will be challenged and demands will be placed on the mass education system to respond appropriately. The advances in technology have already enabled alternate learning spaces – blended learning, online study. These in turn have exposed the need for the development of new cognitive competencies. Globalisation and the integration of societies across traditional boundaries demand that citizens develop appropriate social and emotional skills to manage a variety of non-traditional relationships effectively. Possibly the most important development is a recognition that the knowledge, skills and abilities nurtured in a traditional educational pathway and at traditional mass education institutions are not the only route to success. As Einstein explained: ‘If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid’,” says Anne Oberholzer, CEO of the IEB.

 The age of the IT professional has turned the traditional notions of success upside down – Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs all dropped out of university but have contributed enormously to the world we live in today. South Africa’s Mark Shuttleworth founded his digital certificate company, Thawte, while still a student. The key to their success was a keen interest in a field that demanded a change in attitude from the traditional ways of acquiring knowledge to an exploratory, entrepreneurial spirit of discovery.

 The world of the performing arts and entertainment has many, many examples of people who found that the traditional academic educational pathway was not for them – Oprah Winfrey, Tom Hanks, Brad Pitt, Charlize Theron. Many great sportsmen and women have opted out of traditional routes of schooling to pursue their passion. The very gifted in these areas are already showing their talent and drive as early as 5 or 6 years old but certainly by the time they are in their mid-teens – Mozart, Picasso, Leonardo DiCaprio,  Messi, Ronaldo, Neymar. There are many who work in fashion and who knew at an early age that the traditional educational path was not for them – Coco Chanel, Karl Lagerfeld, Laura Ashley, Jean Paul Gaultier, Ralph Lauren and Bonolo Mataboge, SA founder of the fashion label Afriblossom.   

 “It is essential that the young democracy we have in South Africa opens up opportunities to develop the range of talents of our youth – a range of institution-types that cater for the diversity in our society and provide an outlet for the potential that is in our people. The current system directs everyone along the path of an academic school-leaving certificate; then, because of the absence of a range of institution-types to choose from after schooling, and even within the Further Education and Training sector, we lose many young people along the way. It is not useful for everyone to be focussed solely on a university education, possibly neglecting their real strengths in the false belief that a degree is the only vehicle to a secure and successful life. This is no longer the case and more and more, it is those who defy this myth that find the path that releases their talent and their enthusiasm to be the very best they can in a field that has captivated their interest,” explains Anne.

 By the time learners have completed their compulsory schooling at the end of Grade 9, there are many who are clear that their specific skills and interests do not lie in the pursuit of academic studies.  

 “However we have very limited opportunities for learners whose talents and interests lie outside a traditional classroom and a traditional academic curriculum. Access to a range of specialisation options – sports academies, schools of music and the performing arts, dedicated functional colleges for technical study, construction and mechanics, institutions dedicated to ICT, schools that specialise in Maths, Science and Engineering, hotel and hospitality schools, language schools – are almost unheard of in South Africa and yet specialised schools, comprehensive high schools that accommodate a breadth of opportunities and functional TVET colleges are fairly commonplace in many countries. It is this lack of opportunity to accommodate the diversity of talents among South African learners that contributes to the excessively high number of learners who leave the education system without any qualification at all,” says Anne.

The challenge for schools is no longer the development of only academic skills and the identification of content for success in a specific discipline. In addition to the social and emotional skills required from our young people, they must develop proven characteristics of success, namely perseverance and persistence; problem identification and solution; the tried and tested approaches alongside thinking outside the box, possibly even without the box! 

 “Our world is so complex and filled with intractable problems that we need creative, integrated solutions and resilience, so our workforce of the future cannot afford to limit their thinking by defined discipline-specific boundaries. The challenges of our daily lives require more than intelligence and hard work – we need people with humanity, who are mindful and aware, empathetic enough to tackle the ills we face ethically with the resilience and motivation to deal with the challenges, for the greater good of all.

 Background for media

The IEB has 11 464 full-time and 666 part-time candidates in Grade 12 in 2017, registered at 212 IEB affiliated schools across the country, Mozambique, Namibia and Swaziland as follows:

* includes centres that deal only with part-time candidates and centres that host more than one examination venue

 The Gauteng numbers include learners registered with three distance-learning institutions which have their head offices in Gauteng. These institutions have both full-time and part-time learners who live in areas across the country. They are registered with the distance-learning institution which manages their lesson delivery as well as the assessment requirements, and in Grade 12 these adhere strictly to the NSC requirements and are moderated and verified by the IEB. 

About the IEB

The IEB is an independent assessment agency, separate from State and Provincial examination boards, operating within the constraints of national legislation and provisions of the national quality assurance body, Umalusi. Umalusi has granted the IEB accreditation for the assessment of the National Senior Certificate and adult examinations at NQF Level 1. The IEB offers examinations for client schools at the Grade 12 level, in line with national policy, based on the National Curriculum Statements and using various forms of assessment, including final summative examination and continuous assessment – i.e. orals, practicals and portfolios. The School Section acts in accordance with Umalusi prescriptions and the provisions of Higher Education, using professional educationalists who are practising teachers in the various subject disciplines. These teachers are active members of IEB Subject User Groups which engage with the curriculum and make recommendations on assessment practice based on real school experience. The IEB offers assessments including international benchmarking tests at other levels to participating schools.

Statement issued by Anne Oberholzer, IEB, 3 January 2017