Inspecting the Foundations - Umalusi

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literacy campaigns. They attribute the failures of these government initiatives to what they describeas the state’s neoliberal orientation which has predominantly seen adult education as an expense,and not as an investment in social development.The DoE is currently committed to the mass literacy campaign, Kha ri gude, intended to reach the4.7 million people who have never been to school, and the further 4.9 million adults who droppedout before reaching the seventh year of school, and who are considered functionally illiterate (DoE2007a). The campaign is intended to reach 4.7 million people by the end of 2012, thus meetingSouth Africa’s 2000 Dakar commitment to reduce illiteracy by 50%. The plan is described by theDoE as based on similar campaigns in Cuba, Brazil, and India, and is designed to involve severalgovernment departments (Ibid., pp. 13, 15). Outcomes to be achieved include (Ibid., p. 14):• Reading, writing, and calculating in a sustainable and functional way;• Alphabetization, functional literacy concentrating on mother-tongue literacy, basic numberconcepts, and arithmetic operations in everyday contexts;• Contribution to capacity to function in society in an empowered way that helps individuals toknow their rights and responsibilities as members of that society; and• Retention of literacy after the campaign has ended.Since it is intended that there should be no false dichotomy between initial literacy and post-basicliteracy/adult basic education (DoE 2007a, p. 5), and since there is an attempt with the campaignto ‘strenuously try to link with the various congruent programmes’ (Ibid., p. 13), it is worth lookingbriefl y at the initiative here.The current mass literacy campaign has been designed using specifi c organizational principles.First, it is governed by an inter-ministerial committee and is autonomous from existing line functions,but is designed to span and include representatives from several government departments, tradeunions, the business sector, various civil society organizations, and educational institutions. The nineprovincial committees are chaired by the nine Members of the Executive Councils for Education.The campaign’s organizational structure thus has fi ve levels of operation: national, provincial,district, local, and site.Second, it is intended that the campaign receives extensive support through both digitization andresearch. A computer network has been set up to support the ‘… gear-up, development, delivery,and monitoring of the literacy content and campaign…’ (Ibid., p. 17). The campaign committeeincludes representatives from SAQA, South African Higher Education institutions and the HSRC,amongst others, to help ensure accurate collection, analysis, and interpretation of data (Ibid.,p. 20).Third, there are clearly defi ned models for the curriculum, delivery, and materials development. Thecurriculum would be designed on the basis of a single research-validated methodology, accordingto set principles. Assessment is against specifi c unit standards. Instruction is face-to-face, supportedby media. Instructors will be supported by training and special needs committees at national andprovincial levels; district literacy advisors and coordinators; and coordinators at local level, each ofwhom will support groups of tutors who do the actual instruction. Learning and teaching materialswill be developed according to specifi cation, ‘… using the best expertise available in SouthAfrica, and where necessary, Cuban consultants …’ (Ibid., p. 19). The South African BroadcastingCorporation (SABC) was supposed to have played a critical role, by producing video materialwhich could be broadcast nationally, but has, in the event, only done some advocacy work.Since a literacy campaign is most likely to be sustained if there are a variety of post-literacyeducational programmes, there is an urgent need to revamp the provision of adult education(Ibid., p. 14). There is also a need to consider the specifi c challenges faced by the current ABETsystem, in its own right.11
The need for an invigorated approach to adult education and trainingThe critical need for varied forms of responsive adult education, both formal and non-formal, istaken up as a strong position in the Green Paper on Adult Education (undated), which it proposesshould be re-named ‘Adult Learning’. The strategy proposed is one which, while including formalprovision of adult education, allows for a wide variety of recognized formal, informal, and nonformalinitiatives. While this strategy intends to revivify the multiplicity of provision which was onceavailable, it will run directly counter to SAQA’s NQF-branding initiative unless clever work is donein this area. How formal and non-formal education relate to each other, and the challenge ofaccreditation for organizations providing non-formal education, are important issues which areinsuffi ciently critically explored in the Green Paper, but which are also beyond the scope of thisresearch.1.3 UMALUSI’S MANDATEUmalusi’s mandate is predominantly focused on the formal delivery of adult education and thecontribution such education can make to the lives of adults and the national economy. Thisresearch focuses, therefore, on the formal adult education system, but considers aspects of nonformalprovision where relevant.1.4 HOW THIS RESEARCH REPORT FITS INTO THE EXISTINGRESEARCH UNDERTAKEN BY UMALUSIThe f-word (Umalusi, 2007) research attempted to determine the standard of teaching andlearning associated with the ‘fundamentals’ – Communication in English and Mathematics – innon-Umalusi assured, unit standards-based qualifi cations used for adults by Setas. The reportconcluded that there appears to be great variation in the standards of Mathematics and Englishcourses that are offered by different providers and certifi ed by different quality assurance bodies,as part of requirements for compulsory ‘fundamentals’ in all qualifi cations from Levels 1 to 4 ofthe NQF. The research found that unit standards do not seem to be an appropriate vehicle toensure a commensurate standard, and that they have caused a series of identifi able diffi cultiesand complications for both providers and quality assurance bodies. Many providers offer coursesin formats which make it very diffi cult for a quality assurer to evaluate them, even though theymay well be of good quality. Many providers feel that the different and sometimes confl ictingrequirements of the various quality assurance bodies have caused them extreme diffi culty. Asa solution to these various problems, the research report recommended that a limited set ofcompulsory mathematics and language courses should be available, from which qualifi cationdesigners can choose. Such courses should have a prescribed curriculum and should have anexternal assessment which counts for at least 50% of the learners’ fi nal grades. However, furtherconsideration needs to be given to the question of how many and what kind of mathematics andlanguage courses should be compulsory at what levels.So, while The f-word concentrated on the standards of language and mathematics in qualifi cationsother than those quality assured by Umalusi, this present research aimed to examine the standardsof the General Education adult curricula offered and examined by the DoE and the IEB, for whichUmalusi quality assures the examinations and verifi es the moderation of the portfolios of evidence.This research, and the insights it has provided, is intended to highlight the fact that it is not possibleto fully determine a standard for the GETC for adults. As such, this particular report indicates someof the shortcomings in the policy situation in the national and provincial systems and suggests waysof strengthening and streamlining the system. Constructive innovation was found in pockets of thenational education system for adults, evidence of this is included in the report.Standards traditionally have to do with levels of diffi culty in education systems – the breadthand depth of curricula in different knowledge fi elds as well as the forms of assessment used to12
Page 2 and 3: INSPECTING THE FOUNDATIONSTowards a
Page 4: AcknowledgementsThis report is the
Page 8 and 9: AcronymsABEABETAETAHCDoEECDETDPETQA
Page 10 and 11: describe Public Adult Learning Cent
Page 14 and 15: determine learner competence. But w
Page 16 and 17: 3. Methodology usedThis research co
Page 18 and 19: some offer FET subjects only. Numbe
Page 20 and 21: 4. Findings4.1 NQF LEVEL 1 QUALIFIC
Page 22 and 23: This history of a qualifi cation th
Page 24 and 25: the weighting used for Learning Are
Page 26 and 27: Table 3: GETC: ABET Learning Outcom
Page 28 and 29: (if this is seen to be in the inter
Page 30 and 31: was circulated at a national ABET m
Page 32 and 33: 4.2.1.5 Private ABET provider docum
Page 34 and 35: electives. Some of the examples of
Page 36 and 37: to maintain and improve the norms a
Page 38 and 39: the following:• The completion of
Page 40 and 41: The problem of English being the la
Page 42 and 43: This pattern of Setas’ being able
Page 44 and 45: learnership has been completed, it
Page 46 and 47: While the occupational qualifi cati
Page 48 and 49: • The associated curricula should
Page 50 and 51: Singizi (2007). Employment Pormotio
Page 52 and 53: PURPOSE AND RATIONALE OF THE QUALIF
Page 54 and 55: UNIT STANDARDS:Core 7511ID UNIT STA
Page 56 and 57: Appendix BGeneral Education and Tra
Page 58 and 59: This Recognition of Prior Learning
Page 60 and 61: Elective Component:The Elective Com
Page 62 and 63:
ID Number; Unit Standard Title; Cre
Page 64 and 65:
• ID 14569; Demonstrate an unders
Page 66 and 67:
2.3 Algebraic techniques are select
Page 68 and 69:
learning components and should use
Page 70 and 71:
A choice of three Reading Core Skil
Page 72 and 73:
Numeracy and Mathematics:• VBQU26
Page 74 and 75:
Currently, there are over one hundr
Page 76 and 77:
wider selection of vocational subje
Page 78 and 79:
UNIT STANDARDS (continued):Fundamen
Page 80 and 81:
PROVIDERS CURRENTLY ACCREDITED TO O
Page 82 and 83:
ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS FOR CURRICULUM D
Page 84:
Where possible and necessary, the c
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