The national pass rate for last year’s matrics was 67,8%, a dramatic improvement on the 2009 pass rate of just 60,7%. However pupils only need to pass three subjects with a mark of at least 40% and another three subjects with at least 30%, and questions have been raised about the quality of the certificate that pupils have earned.
Dr Vijay Reddy, head of the research programme on education and skills development at the Human Sciences Research Council, said it would be difficult to analyse the results until the education department and the standards evaluation body Umalusi released the technical report on the exam.
“We know the pass rates have increased but we have no idea of the quality of the passes,” she said. “If learners are passing with 30% or 40% [averages] then it’s not a very high-quality pass.”
“People that achieve a national senior certificate with the minimum level … are not necessarily employable because they don’t have the necessary skills to take their place in the work environment,” she said.
Assessing quality
Reddy said the 7,2% increase in the national pass rate was unexpected, given the disruptions of the Soccer World Cup and the public-service strike. “It would seem the teachers have settled into the new curriculum and new system of teaching and learning. There are far more example papers. In 2008 and 2009, there were very few examples of what the exam would be like for learners,” she said.
According to Reddy, one way to judge the impact of the Soccer World Cup and the strike would be to look at the mathematics results. “Maths is a subject that requires specialist knowledge and skills. In other subjects students can form peer groups and teach each other. But in a subject like maths, you’d require specialist knowledge,” she said.
Lynn Bowie, a lecturer in mathematics education at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) said: “Overall the national pass rate has increased but the reality is that the number of learners who have enrolled [for maths] has dropped and that’s worrying.”
Maths takes a hit
There was a marginal improvement in the number of pupils who passed mathematics with at least 30% from 45% in 2009 to 47% last year. At the same time, the number of pupils who wrote maths dropped 13% from 301Â 654 to 263Â 034. In Gauteng, the number of pupils writing maths has dropped over 20% in the past two years.
According to Bowie, one of the reasons for the drop in the number of pupils writing maths last year may have been fear. In comparison to the easy 2008 paper the 2009 maths paper, which was set at a more correct standard, was considered by pupils to have been very difficult and this may have scared many pupils off the subject, she said.
Bowie said evaluating maths skills was not something that could be done at the end of grade 12, adding that testing done at grades three, six and nine have showed that only 30% to 40% of pupils were performing at an adequate level.
“The pattern is set way back at [foundation] level so we can’t expect to pull a rabbit out of the hat in grade 12,” she said. Improving pupils’ math skills would require better resources, improved teacher development and support from parents and peers from an early age.
Stagnating science pupils
There has also been a drop in the number of students writing physical science, down 8% from 225Â 102 in 2009 to 205Â 364 last year. Professor Marissa Rollnick, a Wits science education specialist, said the drop in the number of students writing physics this year meant teachers are being more selective in the candidates they put forward.
“That’s a good thing because they don’t set kids up to fail. Teachers also understand better what is required of learners and can prepare them better for the exams,” she said.
Rollnick said that being more selective about which pupils could study physics meant smaller classes, fewer pupils who struggled to cope, and more pupils who stood a chance of passing.
About 47% of pupils who wrote physical science last year passed with at least 30%. In 2009, 38% of pupils passed the subject.