GDE urges focus on positive interventions in literacy and numeracy
The Gauteng Education Department calls on educators, parents and learners to remain focused on positive interventions to improve literacy and numeracy results in the province and not allow February's ANA (Annual National Assessment) results to demoralise them.
The GDE fully understood that the results of February's ANA tests would confirm that many provincial primary schools fail to effectively establish learners reading, writing and arithmetic skills in their early years. The consequence of this failure is extremely serious for learner performance in later school years and is, in our view, directly responsible for school dropouts and poor matric results.
It was for this reason that in January this year we embarked on an ambitious programme to improve the language, literacy and maths results in 791 under performing primary schools.
These schools were chosen because they had historically underperformed in tests conducted for grade 3 and 6 learners in 2008.
We are happy to announce that this programme is proceeding well and has to date involved 6453 foundation phase teachers in in-service training on language literacy and numeracy skills. A further 3648 teachers from grades 4-6 have been trained in in-service maths teaching. Training has been taking place during school holidays and on weekends and it will continue during the June/July break.
In addition to the formal training, six non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have assigned 120 full time foundation phase literacy coaches to schools. On average, one coach is assigned to 6/7 schools and will visit teachers in their classrooms at least twice a month to provide support and act as a critical friend to ensure educators put the training they receive into practice.
For literacy, learner resource packages based on the 'Triple Cocktail' approach were provided to every school in the province. These included sets of graded readers, phonics programmes and workbooks in both the language of learning and teaching and English First Additional Language (FAL), forming systematic literacy programmes in both languages i.e. the language of learning and teaching and English First Additional Language. Most schools have received all of the ordered materials with a small number of schools indicating that that they need further materials in particular languages due to changed enrolments.
In addition to ensure that learners have other books to read in schools that do not have libraries, library trolleys, have been delivered to the 792 participating primary schools. Each grade is being supplied with two trolleys containing a total of 120 books per trolley.
All maths classes in underperforming primary schools have also received maths kits, mental maths games and maths curriculum guidelines for teachers for grades 1-6.
To ensure effective implementation MEC Barbara Creecy has held road shows in all 15 districts with all educators and principals from all participating schools. Although the programme is only five months old, teachers and coaches reported that learners are already showing improvements in their reading abilities.
We are convinced that improvements in learner performance will be evidenced in the next cycle of the ANA to be conducted in 2012 as a result of the interventions introduced this year.
Statement issued by Gauteng Department of Education's Head of Communication, Charles Phahlane, June 28 2011
Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter
