When Sandberg NGK Primêr registered a disappointing zero percent numeracy rate for a fourth consecutive year in the Western Cape education department’s evaluation of literacy and numeracy levels, principal William Swartbooi knew he had to take action.
That was four years ago. By 2007 the hard work started to pay off when an evaluation of the literacy and numeracy levels of grade six learners in the province showed that the farm school, just outside Clanwilliam on the West Coast, had a meteoric improvement in its numeracy rate. It scored a 50,9% improvement in numeracy, an achievement that earned it the top award in its category from the department (based on quintiles) for improvement in numeracy.
What makes the school’s progress even more remarkable is that it is categorised as a quintile one (no-fee school), meaning it is affected by high levels of poverty. It is also a multigrade school with only two educators teaching 38 learners spread across grades one to six.
Swartbooi attributes the school’s success to “commitment from the learners and making sure they understand the basics of mathematics”. “We try to make sure that learners understand the principles of mathematics by drilling the basics like multiplication and addition into them,” he says.
“So each day we take a few minutes to recite our timetables and do some sums before class starts properly. We also found that setting targets for each grade led to a massive improvement.” For example, the target for grade three is that each learner is required to know how to add and subtract up to 20.
Language is another challenge faced by the educators at the school, which services a group of children that move around a lot because many of their parents are farm workers who have piece jobs.
“It’s no use standing in front of the class speaking about the subject if the learners are not comfortable with the words being used,” Swartbooi says.
“We had to find ways of getting our message across in a way in which the learners could relate. For instance, when it came to demonstrating volume and capacity, I got them to transfer water between different size bottles and in this way they were able to understand the concept.”
The school also approached the department for help. It was partnered with other local schools that had improved their results, allowing them to swap notes and ideas.
Says Swartbooi: “We made contact with two schools in similar positions and learned so much from one another. This was really helpful.”
The schools formed a multigrade cluster and were able to exchange learning programmes and lesson material, as well as the work shadow records of learners. To ensure continuity the records monitor the progress each learner makes in his or her grade and is passed with the learner if he or she moves to another school.
The school also made use of the useful Edupeg system, which is made up of a specially designed board that has interchangeable faceplates and a series of workbooks.
The faceplates are changed for each set of multiple-choice questions and the learner has to insert a peg into the space designated for the answer. Once the learner is satisfied with the answers, a button on the board is pressed and if he or she has selected the correct answer, the peg will fall; if not, it will stay on the board.
Says Swartbooi: “This educational toy has been a great success with the learners as it is a break from the routine of answering sums in their books. It’s lots of fun for them and they really enjoy it.”
Swartbooi emphasised the need for the learners to be proactive in their approach and to the subject by dedicating a few minutes of each maths lesson to mental maths, which encourages learners to work out the sums in a limited time without writing down their calculations on paper.
The school will not be resting on its laurels in 2009 and has been selected as a Khanya school for the coming year. The successful Khanya project in the Western Cape aims to address, among other things, the shortage of teachers in schools by introducing computer technology to assist educators.
The results at other schools that use computer technology indicate that it improves learners’ performance. Swartbooi is confident it will do the same for his school.