The department of basic education has established a new unit to evaluate teachers — the National Education Evaluation and Development Unit (Needu). It is an integration of past assessment tools that individually had limited success in evaluating teacher performance and development.
How important is Needu to our education system?
It will build a structure and culture of accountability among teachers, principals, districts and provinces. What we mean by accountability is that all the players in the system need to own their commitments. Needu is there to verify that each party plays its role.
When is it going to start operating formally?
The structure could be said to be operational because we no longer have an acting chief executive officer — I have been formally appointed Needu’s CEO since July this year.
It took almost two years to set up the unit. What were the reasons for the delay?
We did not have this kind of structure before. We needed to ensure that we come up with one that will operate differently and not as an inspectorate, as was the case before. While Needu is also focused on evaluation, it is not going to police teachers but will focus on improving quality of teaching by emphasising self-evaluation, accountability and development.
Is it true that it took Needu a while to get moving because you were not given staff and did not have a budget?
I can only say that I have been in this position since July 1 2010. During the past four months, I worked quite quickly to get a team in place. The department has provided a budget of about R11-million and this was adequate for the purposes I required.
Can you share with us Needu’s organogram, explaining its functions and scope and how it relates to other role-players?
It is unlikely that Needu will grow into a big bureaucracy. Currently, our team comprises me as CEO, two chief directors, two deputy directors, a personal assistant and two interns. But we will bring in expertise as and when we proceed. For instance, we would commission studies and research on various areas that relate to our mandate.
How does Needu relate to the department of basic education?
Needu is not in its final form yet because it is still physically part of the department, although the plan is to operate independently from its own location and it will also have its own board.
How is Needu going to appraise or assess teachers?
Through external audits where we will visit a school or a cluster of them to establish whether what they are responsible for is done. For instance, we would look at “dashboard indicators” to see if the school starts on time, if teachers teach or whether the school is functioning well. If that is not done, conditions and time frames will be set to ensure there is compliance. If compliance does not materialise, sanctions will be recommended and it will be for the department to deal with the situation. We will not only recommend sanctions but also teacher development and, if the fault is with the district, we will recommend the strengthening of that district.
How will Needu differ from other evaluation instruments that have been adopted in the past?
In the past, we had a whole range of evaluation instruments such as a whole school evaluation, development and appraisal system. However, it was felt that these should be synthesised into an integrated quality management system (IQMS). But IQMS also failed because it put emphasis on remuneration and neglected development. As a result, people managing the system were always under pressure and gave artificial scores or assessments. It was felt we needed to disaggregate these elements and also re-brand the new evaluation system — Needu.
What is your take on under-performing teachers or principals who come to school late or work less than the prescribed five days a week?
Under-performance could mean a lot of things. It could relate to lack of discipline and I think you don’t have to be taught or be trained on discipline. I believe we are operating in a democratic environment where teachers do things because they are inherently worthwhile to do — not based on fear or reward. Under-performance could also relate to lack of support by the principal. But we cannot make assumptions until we have been to schools and, if a school needs to be capacitated, we would recommend more resources. As indicated earlier, our focus is on quality education and we will owe no apology to anyone — teachers, principals, districts and provinces.
Some say the department, through Needu, should crack the whip and deal appropriately with teachers who shirk their responsibilities and hide behind their unions when challenged. What is your take?
It is very difficult to drive sustainable change from outside. The only way to do this is on the inside. In other words there needs to be self-motivation and self-appraisal on the part of teachers. But this needs a serious mindset change and this cannot be achieved overnight. It is important to stress that Needu is not the police but auditors who will report on irregularities to the department.
Are you confident you have teacher unions’ buy-in?
We had informal discussions with all teacher unions and, in principle, they all appreciate the role that Needu is set up to perform. But they say this is on condition that Needu is independent from the department and also has sufficient resource capacity. We hope to have formal discussions with them soon.
Teacher unions feel strongly that development should be at the core of any appraisal mechanism. Do you think this has been taken on board?
We will work closely with the department’s teacher development unit to ensure this happens. We will also ensure we feed our research findings to the department so that they can provide targeted teacher development support.
Your predecessor, Ron Schwartz, believes a solid basis has been laid and what is required is for teachers and officials to knuckle down and do what is expected of them without hiding behind the past. Do you share this sentiment?
I think it is important for everyone in the system to knuckle down. Needu is there to make sure that all stakeholders perform their functions. But I don’t think we have laid a solid basis yet. Needu still has to do this. We are a high-cost and low-performing education system. Our role is to change that — that is what the issue is about.