Third Quarter Performance Report for the period 1 April to 31 ...

In the period 9 – 10 December 2009 the Department held a 2-day Learner Attainment Improvement Strategy (LAIS) Summit at the
Education Leadership Institute in East London, with the view of improving learner performance in the 2010 academic year. This
Summit had to identify the cause of under-performance of the education system and emerge with a Plan of Action (PoA) to lead the
way to acceptable performance. The outcomes of the Summit would inform the MEC’s speech at the release of the Grade 12 results
on 7 January 2010. Attendees broke into 4 commissions (listed below as the 4 key pillars) where they discussed and debated
interventions and aligned these with appropriate deadlines. At the end of the Summit all the recommendations from the 4
commissions were adopted as Summit Resolutions.
The PoA that emerged from the LAIS Summit focused on the following key pillars:
• Strengthening management and governance in schools: There is recognition that there is a direct relationship between effective
leadership and governance and excellent academic performance by learners.
• Professional development and support to teachers: This would be done through the improvement of the capacity of teachers in
the teaching of the current curriculum, especially in critical learning areas such as Mathematics and Science.
• Optimal utilization of available resources: This would result in the reallocation/ reprioritization of resources with the emphasis on
the key areas requiring attention.
• Integrated human resource development strategy: The key focus in this regard would be on the supply of highly competent
teachers with adequate motivation and positive influence.
In the period 5 to 10 October 2009 a delegation from the ECDoE visited Baden-Wurttemberg in Germany. This delegation consisted
of:
• Hon. MEC Mahlubandile Qwase – ECDoE
• Dr. Raymond Patel – CEO: MERSETA
• Mr. Gregory McMaster – Chief Director: Strategic Management; Monitoring and Evaluation (ECDoE)
• Mr. Khayalethu Ngaso – Chief Director: VES (ECDoE)
• Mr. Monde Sangqu – Director: ELI (ECDoE)
• Mr. Heinrich Luiters – Acting General Manager: TODCOS (OTP)
• Dr. Claudia Beck-Reinhardt – Programme Manager: JIPSA (ECSECC)
• Ms. L. Bantwini – JIPSA (ECSECC)
The purpose of the visit was to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Education
and the Eastern Cape Department of Education, and to explore and discuss possible projects to be met. Various areas of
cooperation were identified and needed to be conceptualised further. The current low pass rate of the National Certificate Vocational
(NCV) and NSC underscored the need to rapidly upgrade the qualifications of educators in the education sector, and the following
recommendations would be part of a strategy to address this challenge.
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