Report on the National Senior Certificate Examination Results 2010.

REPORT ON THE NATIONAL SENIOR CERTIFICATE EXAMINATION RESULTS • 2010
1. INTRODUCTION
The National Senior Certificate examination has established its status as the most important indicator of
performance of the cohort of learners that have gone through twelve years of schooling and hence of the
system as a whole. The DBE has therefore guarded the integrity and credibility of this examination process and
the announcement of these results by the minister of basic Education, on an annual basis, signify an important
culminating point .
The Minister of Basic Education, Mrs Angelina Matsie Motshekga, MP, in 2010, launched the Action Plan
to 2014: Towards the Realisation of Schooling 2025. This is the first long term plan for the education sector
which will contribute in concrete ways to the realization of a better schooling system . this long term education
planning (of which Schooling 2025 is the first of its kind in South Africa) is necessary, in order to avoid ad hoc
and fragmented interventions . the Action Plan to 2014 marks a fundamental shift in education planning from
an inputs focused approach to one that is focussed on outcomes . the Action Plan sets out clear outcomes that
are designed to improve schooling and, in particular, learner achievement within a specified number of years
in terms of specific targets. The draft Plan sets out around 38 specific indicators, with national and provincial
targets, as well as milestone events in each year . this report provides data on the achievement of some of
these outcomes and is therefore a crucial tool for all education managers .
The National Senior Certificate examination commenced in 2008 in the further education and training band
and since then every effort has been made to ensure that the examination which is allied to a curriculum that
embodies high knowledge, high skills, does justice to these fundamental principles. The 2010 academic year
is significant, since it is the third year of the implementation of the National Senior Certificate examination. As
indicated in the foreword above, the experiences since our first preparation in 2006 with a national Grade 10
examination in selected pilot schools, the national Grade 11 examination in 2007, the first NSC examination in
Grade 12 in 2008 and the second in 2009 have been used to improve teaching, learning and assessment in
2010. The examination system has taken cognizance of the comments relating to the standard and quality of the
previous examinations and sought to incorporate these inputs in the 2010 examination. There has also been a
sense of improved teacher confidence in the implementation of the new curriculum as teacher’s knowledge of
the curriculum has improved and they have begun to gain a better grasp of the demands of the new curriculum .
The question papers in 2010 have enjoyed a high degree of acceptance amongst all stakeholders in education.
This is certainly the sign of a maturing national examination and assessment system. The Department of Basic
Education will continue to build on these experiences and gains in the system, as every effort is being made to
see improved learner performance across all grades and subjects .
This report will focus on the administration of the examinations and on the presentation of the examination
data as it reflects performance at a national, provincial, district and school level. The purpose of the first part is
to highlight the measures adopted by the DBE to ensure an examination of the highest credibility and integrity
and in the second part; the data will be presented in a purely technical format, with minimum analysis . a more
detailed analysis of the data will follow in subsequent reports of the dbE .
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