The South African Certification Council (Safcert) is on its way out: there’s a new engine ready to drive the yearly Senior Certificate (SC) system, and its name is Umalusi.
Peliwe Lolwana, chief executive oficer for Safcert, describes the new organisation as the ”guardian” of standards for the general and further education sectors, which includes schools, colleges and Adult Basic Education and Training programmes.
In essence, Safcert is to be transformed from a certifier of these examinations into a fully-fledged education and training quality assurance body for general and further education.
A mountain of work lies before them, but Lolwana and her team of 26 seem to have the path all mapped out, and, says Lolwana, are ”ready and raring to go”.
In the short term at least, Umalusi has received the funds it needs to build a new identity, with USAID donating R14,1-million over three years, and the Department of Education’s (DoE) allocation of R1,5-million.
Three key areas define Umalusi’s priorities, and they are:
l to build the capacity of the examination providers to deliver quality assessments;
– to assure the quality of the assessments; and
– to assure the quality of the qualifications.
While all of these are vital to Umalusi doing its job well, the underlying issue is ”the quality assurance of learner achievements,” says Lolwana. ”Despite all the change and turmoil it is important to ensure that the learners are not short-changed.”
In Safcert’s final report as a council to Minister of Education Kader Asmal in March, the recommendations made about the SC clearly have the interests and contexts of the learners at heart, as well as the imperative to secure public confidence by maintaining standards.
The report puts forward a strong argument against the ”undue emotional and psychological pressure” SC candidates are put under because of the pass/fail principle, which ”could be both educationally and psychologically damaging” to these learners. The results of these high-stake exams, argues the report, do not even necessarily reflect the knowledge and skills of the candidate accurately.
Instead, the report recommends that ”all learners should be entitled to certificates reflecting their achievement … however modest these may be”, the worth of which the potential future employer or institution of further learning should be left to assess.
Aspects of the matric exams – like the number of papers per subject and the length and content of each exam – are also raised as concerns in the report.
Weaknesses in new practices of assessing learners in Grade 12 will be among the issues Umalusi will be expected to address. Continuous Assessment (Cass) is one important appraisal tool needing attention to make sure that it’s fair to all.
Similar to this are the challenges facing Umalusi over the five common exams written by all SC candidates nationwide, introduced for the first time in 2001. Disparities not only between schooling districts, but also between provincial education systems, have to be factored in, while ensuring that highest possible standards are maintained.
Lolwana says the new Further Education and Training Certificate (FETC) needs to be devised soon, and the matric class of 2006 is likely to be the first to sit for the FETC.
The first General Education and Training Certificate is due to be held in 2004 for Grade 9 learners. This marks the exit point of the compulsory stage of the education system.
But an even more pressing concern for Lolwana is that the new Umalusi council, which must take over from Safcert, is yet to be appointed. Says Lolwana, ”There are technical and legal points that the executive council of the DoE must oversee so that the new council can be put in place.”
Until this happens – and it is at the mercy of bureaucracy’s snail’s pace – plans for further change are going to have to patiently wait on paper.