Inspecting the Foundations - Umalusi

1. Background1.1 UMALUSI’S RESPONSIBILITIES REGARDING STANDARDS INEDUCATIONUmalusi has a statutory obligation to monitor the standards of qualifi cations, curricula, andexaminations in General and Further Education and Training (GENFET). Traditionally, and in responseto general concern about ‘standards’ in our education system (particularly in terms of the MatricCertifi cate – both the Senior Certifi cate, and, as of 2008, the new National Senior Certifi cate(NSC)), Umalusi has conducted much research into this area (Umalusi 2004; Umalusi 2006; Umalusi2007a; Umalusi 2008). Umalusi’s research programme has developed alongside its more visibleand extensive quality assurance activities such as the quality assurance of assessment and theevaluation and accreditation of independent schools. It has nevertheless played a critical role inproviding an informed, theoretical basis for how Umalusi should undertake its mandate to monitor,and now, more recently, to develop standards in education.So, for example, Umalusi’s research relating to the Matric Certifi cate, stretching over a fi ve-yearperiod, has included comparisons of the level of cognitive demand in exams over a ten-yearperiod starting just after the fi rst democratic elections; a comparison of the two South Africanmatrics – the (old) technical NSC (now replaced by the National Certifi cate (NC)(Vocational)) andthe Senior Certifi cate (now replaced by the new NSC); a comparison of the fi nal exit qualifi cations,systems, curricula, and exams in four Anglophone countries – Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, andZambia; and, most recently, a rigorous comparison between the old NATED 550 syllabuses (Higherand Standard Grade) and the National Curriculum Statements for six of the most widely takengateway subjects. This research, which also analysed and compared the levels of cognitivediffi culty of the fi nal exams associated with these respective curricula, supported critical decisionsthat needed to be taken during the evaluation and standardization of the 2008 NSC results.Umalusi is now committed to focusing a similar degree of attention on other areas of the educationsystem: this includes moving lower down the system to examine the GET level at NQF Level 1, a levelwhich has historically been an exit level only in ABET, and the point which marked – informally – thetransition in schooling, from primary to high school education. In 2008, the Minister of Educationannounced that the end of Grade 7 would become a recognized qualifi cation by 2009, althoughthis position has not been fi nalized at the time of writing. The General Education Certifi cate hasbeen present as a placeholder, but not as a formal presence in the education system. Its rolein the system, it has been argued, would be more a critical reporting stage rather than an exitqualifi cation.The GET stage thus commands interest in two ways: the fi rst is its role as a general preparation forthe second half of schooling, and the second is the role it plays in the system’s commitment toproviding an alternative education for adults who, for whatever reason, did not receive a basiceducation during childhood and adolescence. For these reasons, Umalusi has embarked on anevaluation of the different phases of the schooling GET. This particular research report into the ABETcurricula for NQF Level 1 relates to and builds on the fi ndings of the 2007 Umalusi report, The f-word(2007b).1.2 THE STATE OF ADULT EDUCATION IN SOUTH AFRICAAdult education in South Africa, despite many policy intentions and interventions, remains whollyinadequate to the needs of its adults: provision of adult education within the state system isgenerally allocated less than one percent of the education budget, and various commentatorshave expressed despondency about the levels of provision. Baatjes and Mathe (2004, p. 407)8