UMALUSI'S SITE VISITS TO INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS IN 2007

BROAD AIMS OF THE SITE VISITS (UMALUSI, 2006)There were four broad aims in conducting the site visits to independent schools in 2007.1. For the fi rst time, after several years of participation, schools that were ready needed to bemoved into the fi nal stages of full accreditation.2. More broadly, Umalusi must be seen to exercise its statutory responsibility to quality assureeducation and training in the general and further education bands. This includes a rangeof tasks concerned with monitoring and developing the validity of certifi cation and, moregenerally, promoting the meaningfulness of what happens in South African education provision:(i) The accreditation of independent schools(ii) Guiding the improvement of public schools according to the same criteria(iii) Moderating and certifi cating exit examinations(iv) Quality assuring the work of assessment bodies(v) The Evaluation and Accreditation Unit was committed to carrying forward its work inprogress on the accreditation of independent schools, notably by monitoring the responseto the fi rst two steps in the development of Umalusi’s accreditation role.3. In the interests of its mission, Umalusi needed to continue its more proactive and visible role inthe quality assurance of independent schools4. There was also the ongoing need to develop and sustain Umalusi’s own institutional capacityin terms of a more concrete understanding of the nature of the sector and to give shape toits practices; the present programme will inform the processes in subsequent rounds. (Umalusi,2006, p.14)SPECIFIC GOALS OF THE SITE VISITSThe specifi c goals of the site visits were to:1. Start to develop an endogenous set of benchmarks for good practices in independentschooling2. Verify the accuracy of information provided by provisionally accredited schools as submitted inself-evaluation reports and, in the light of this,3. Assess the initial impact of, and response to the three-year provisional accreditation processlaunched in 2005.QUESTIONS THAT THE SITE VISITS SHOULD CLARIFYHighly concrete and practical questions needed answers or clarifi cation:• Verifi cation of provider information:o Is there a correlation between accreditation and results where available?o Are the claims made by provisionally accredited providers during self-evaluation true?o To what extent are the data consistent with the self evaluation?o Are schools as compliant as they claim to be?• Effective strategies for dealing with the situation:How should Umalusi respond to:o The need to improve its monitoring and verifi cation system?o Promoting good practices in the sector?o Future research?And what should the PDEs or the national Department of Education (DoE) do?o About improving “systems” for private schoolso Implications for the public schools1Consultations in the follow-up to Umalusi’s 2005 evaluation of assessment bodies led to agreement that the standard quality assurance term“best practices” might be useful in an industrial situation, but that the diversity and contextual variation in education meant that the term“good practices” was more suitable.8