Department of Education Gauteng - Annual Performance Plan 2007/08 to 2009/10 - As submitted to the Legislature as at 31 March 2007
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Department of Education
Gauteng
Annual Performance Plan
2007/08 to 2009/10
As submitted to the Legislature as at 31 March 2007
1FOREWORD BY MEC
Over the last ten years, education in this province has seen a tremendous expansion of services to
cover more learners than anytime before and a tremendous improvement in quality and efficiency.
We have reduced dropout and repetition rates resulting in improved retention rates across the
schooling system. Despite these successes, we are still faced with the situation that the quality of
education, especially in the historically disadvantaged sectors of society, remains a major
challenge.
We have put into place services and resourcing strategies that were skewed to advantage those
historically marginalized communities to address their needs in a comprehensive package from
government that covered education, health and social services, including access to grants where
needed.
It is within this context that we have reviewed our education delivery over the last few years and
now position ourselves and our strategies to improve the quality of education through improved
service delivery characterised by service excellence.
The Department is geared to realise the five-year plans of government. This agreement includes
commitments under each of the five strategic thrusts of the provincial five-year plan. The five
strategic thrusts are:
• Enabling faster economic growth and job creation;
• Fighting poverty and building safe, secure and sustainable communities;
• Developing healthy, skilled and productive people;
• Deepening democracy and promoting constitutional rights; and
• Building an effective and caring government.
The plan sets out to address the challenges facing education by deepening education delivery,
developing common mechanisms for the monitoring and implementation of education and
developing a clear programme of action that will ensure that education programmes and
interventions are guided by effective and sustainable policy choices and will realise our 2009
Vision.
The Provincial strategic thrust “developing healthy, skilled and productive people” makes a clear
and direct demand on education. The demand is that education must become relevant to the
people of Gauteng so that they are not only literate and numerate but that they are the best skilled
people who are employable within the economy, who are productive within society; who are
entrepreneurial, who are self-employable and who are committed to lifelong learning.
Education is, therefore, key to realising the strategic goals of the province and is responsive to the
needs of the economy. To ensure education is responsive to the labour market, a provincial human
resources strategy is being formulated that will be aligned to the growth and development strategy
of the province, demands of labour markets, the individual needs of our citizens and the education
sector.
Angie Motshekga
MEC for Education: Gauteng
2FOREWORD BY ACCOUNTING OFFICER
The constitutional right to education is a social right that not only guarantees access but also
demands that it be quality education. We have over the last twelve years travelled far in
transforming the education sector of this country to honour the rights of the Constitution. While
there are still numerous challenges facing education, we have achieved a level of stability in
education across all communities – both disadvantaged and advantaged – that we have not seen
in the twenty years prior to democracy. Not only have we established a single administration of
education in provinces but have also done so under a single national education policy framework
that aims to transform education governance and education provisioning including the curriculum
frameworks. Furthermore, we have achieved an access rate in education that equals many
developed countries and surpasses most developing countries.
We have put into place a social security package that ensures access to learning in the classroom.
In the light of this, we are providing social grants, nutrition programmes, scholar transport,
preferential education funding that is both pro-poor and equitable, and the recently passed
legislation introducing free schooling in the neediest communities. In addition, we are progressively
increasing access to Grade R. We have improved school infrastructure including renovations to
school buildings, facilitating electrification and the provision of telephone lines to schools, and most
notable is the introduction and rollout of GautengOnline to schools in the Province with the aim of
having functioning computer laboratories in all schools.
The increased investment in personnel, and specifically in increasing the number of educators in
the system, have ensured more manageable class sizes across all communities than was seen
prior to 1994. We now deploy educators in an equitable way and in a pro-poor manner. The
curriculum redress policies, including the introduction of outcomes-based education, and the
national curriculum statements have ensured that schools that provided learning opportunities, that
simply resulted in adding to the marginalisation of our youth by creating post-schooling barriers,
have since introduced appropriate subjects and learning areas that will ensure that learners leave
school with more opportunities than ever before. We have invested substantial funds over the last
few years to institutionalise the governance and school management system and most developed
and developing countries are marvelling at these developments as being the most progressive
innovation in educational management and governance.
Despite all these successes, one must reflect and ask the question, "Has the quality of education
improved over the last twelve years?" The answer to this is, however, not so easy. Despite the
improved resourcing levels and the need to continue and intensify the adequate resourcing of
learning we have seen marginal gains in the quality of learning. The general performance of the
system in respect of the Senior Certificate Examinations, testing of learner achievement and the
review of internal school assessment outcomes shows gains in the quality of learning but these
have not been sufficient to ensure a sustainable improvement in the quality of learning across the
system. While the flow-through rates are increasing in all phases across schools, the quality of
education has not opened the doors to a life of enhanced quality for most of our citizens. In support
of the national thrust for quality in education, and also in support of the national and provincial
initiatives, we have put into place a number of provincial programmes to address the quality of
teaching and learning.
Finally, the fast growing economy and rapidly changing social environment threaten to marginalise
more of our youth if we do not act rapidly and ensure that quality education is a permanent feature
of the education terrain in South Africa. It is against this social pressure that we unreservedly
support the Minister's thrust for quality education. We are committed to tackle quality through
intensive and directed initiatives and programmes over the next MTEF period, which are detailed in
this Annual Performance Plan.
Mallele Petje
Head of Department of Education: Gauteng
3Vision and Mission of the Gauteng Department of Education
Our vision is a smart service delivery of quality public education, which promotes a dynamic
citizenship for socio-economic growth and development in Gauteng and South Africa.
We will be at the cutting edge of curriculum delivery and provide access to quality lifelong learning
opportunities.
This will be shaped by the principles of transformation, equity, redress and Ubuntu.
4ABOUT THIS DOCUMENT
The Annual Performance Plan of the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) explains the plans
for education of the Provincial Government for the period 2006/07 to 2009/10, with a special focus
on what will happen during the financial year starting on 1 April 2007 and ending 31 March 2008.
This document also includes much information about the current situation in education: what the
major challenges are and what Government’s responses are in this regard.
There are two main parts to this document.
Part A explains what the national and provincial strategic goals and strategic objectives are,
and how they are supported by the strategies and plans of the Department. Successes and
challenges in the province are also described. Part A also gives an outline of the way forward for
pre-school services, schools, further education and training (FET) colleges and adult education.
Part B provides more details about the services of the Provincial Department of Education, and the
prevailing social and economic challenges. Key elements used to organise the information in Part
B are:
• Provincial budget programmes. There are eight such programmes. These programmes
constitute the sub-sections of Part B.
• Strategic objectives. These were introduced in Part A, but in Part B the strategic objectives
are linked to individual budget programmes. There are a number of strategic objectives, and
they indicate the strategic direction for the various budget programmes.
• Measurable objectives. These objectives are more specific than the strategic objectives, and
are mostly linked to specific programmes.
• Performance measures. These fall under the measurable objectives, and are specific
statistics that Government regards as important, for example percentage of school-age children
and youths enrolled in the education system.
• Performance targets. Each performance measure has three performance targets, one for
each of the next three financial years. These targets, which receive attention in the analyses
and plans provided in this document, indicate how Government intends improving service
delivery in the coming years.
The strategic objectives, measurable objectives and performance measures are standardised for
the country, in other words they are the same in each province. (However, it is possible for
provincial strategic objectives and performance measures to exist alongside the national ones.)
Performance targets will often differ from province to province, depending on the specific
circumstances of the province.
5CONTENTS
GLOSSARY OF TERMS................................................................................................................................................. 7
ACRONYMS..................................................................................................................................................................... 8
PART A: OVERVIEW AND STRATEGIC PLAN UPDATE................................................................................. 9
A.1 STRATEGIC GOALS AND OBJECTIVES .................................................................................................................. 9
A.2 A.2 THE CHALLENGES FACING THE EDUCATION SECTOR .................................................................................. 10
A.2.1 The socio-economic challenges .............................................................................................................. 10
A.2.2 The national and provincial policy challenges....................................................................................... 11
A.2.3 Organisational challenges ..................................................................................................................... 13
A.3 ACHIEVEMENTS TO DATE ................................................................................................................................. 16
A.4 THE WAY FORWARD ......................................................................................................................................... 19
A.4.1 Pre-school services .......................................................................................................................... 19
A.4.3 FET colleges .......................................................................................................................................... 20
A.4.4 Adult education and training .......................................................................................................... 20
PART B: SECTOR, PROGRAMME AND SUB-PROGRAMME PLANS.......................................................... 21
B.0 THE PROVINCIAL EDUCATION SECTOR .............................................................................................................. 21
Key successes over the last five years ...................................................................................................................... 23
B.1 ADMINISTRATION ................................................................................................................................................... 30
B.2 PUBLIC ORDINARY SCHOOL EDUCATION................................................................................................................ 37
B.3 INDEPENDENT SCHOOL SUBSIDIES .................................................................................................................... 53
B.4 PUBLIC SPECIAL SCHOOL EDUCATION .............................................................................................................. 57
B.5 FURTHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING.............................................................................................................. 60
B.6 ADULT BASIC EDUCATION AND TRAINING ...................................................................................................... 66
B.7 EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT ................................................................................................................ 70
B.8 AUXILIARY AND ASSOCIATED SERVICES ............................................................................................................... 73
6GLOSSARY OF TERMS
The definitions attached to particular terms in this document are provided below. These definitions
may differ slightly from definitions employed in other Government planning contexts, for instance
that of the Provincial Governments in general or that of another sector at the national level, e.g.
health.
Measurable objective (MO) Measurable objectives are objectives where attainment
can be relatively easily measured. Their focus is largely on
fairly universal measures of access, adequacy, equity,
efficiency, output and quality. They complement the
strategic objectives. Most measurable objectives are linked
to one provincial budget programme, though some may be
generic to the sector as a whole.
Performance measure (PM) Performance measures are national indicators linked to
specific statistics. They are used to gauge performance in
the education system. Each performance measure is
linked to one measurable objective. Each performance
measure takes the form of one provincial time series
statistic.
Performance target (PT) A performance target is one numerical value for one future
period in time with respect to a performance measure.
Performance targets indicate in a precise manner the
improvements that are envisaged in the education system.
Strategic goal (SG) Strategic goals are goals that determine the overall
medium to long-term direction of the pre-tertiary education
system. They reside at the top of the hierarchy of planning
elements.
Strategic objective (SO) Strategic objectives are one level below the strategic
goals. Their focus is more specific than that of the strategic
goals. Most strategic objectives are linked to one provincial
budget programme, though some may be generic to the
sector as a whole.
7ACRONYMS
APP Annual Performance Plan
AsgiSA Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa
CBO Community-based Organisation
DoE Department of Education
ECDI Early Childhood Development Institute
EFA Education for All
EPWP Extended Public Works Programme
GDE Gauteng Department of Education
GENFETQA General and Further Education and Training Quality Assurance Act
GoL GautengOnline
JIPSA Joint Initiative for Priority Skills Acquisition
LTSM Learning and teaching support material
LSEN Learners with Special Educational Needs
MOU Memorandum of Understanding
MST Mathematics, Science and Technology
MTEF Medium-term expenditure framework
NCS National Curriculum Statement
NGO Non-governmental organisation
PED Provincial Education Department
PFMA Public Finance Management Act
SETA Sector Education and Training Authority
SSIP Senior Secondary Intervention Programme
8PART A: OVERVIEW AND STRATEGIC PLAN UPDATE
Part A of the Annual Performance Plan explains the challenges facing the Gauteng Department of
Education (GDE) in terms of social and demographic pressures, education and other policies, as
well as the strategies laid down in the Five-year Strategic and Performance Plan 2004/05 –
2009/10. This part also explains the successes that have been achieved by the GDE in meeting
these challenges. Strategies for going forward, as they appear in the Five-year Strategic Plan, as
subsequently amended, are also explained.
A.1 Strategic goals and objectives
The priorities for education for the 2007/08 MTEF cycle are expressed formally in the Five-Year
Plan of the Department and the education sector. These include objectives of the national priority
areas and takes into consideration intergovernmental priorities.
On the whole, these priorities strongly emphasise education’s role in transforming society, bringing
about social equity, and contributing to the country’s growth and development.
The Five-Year plan of the Gauteng Provincial Government sets forth key provincial goals
that the MTEF plans addresses. These are:
• Enabling faster economic growth and job creation;
• Fighting poverty and building safe, secure and sustainable communities;
• Developing healthy, skilled and productive people;
• Deepening democracy and promoting constitutional rights; and
• Building an effective and caring government.
While all the goals have a bearing on education, the goal on Developing healthy, skilled and
productive people, set the following five-year targets for education and early childhood
development:
• Consolidation of democratic participation in all forms of governance through strengthening
the participation of our people in forums such as School Governing Bodies
• Building patriotism, national identity and civic pride, including deepening appreciation of the
right and responsibilities of citizenship, particularly through ensuring civic education in
schools
• Ensuring the most poor have access to a package of services including free primary and
secondary education, school feeding, scholar transport
• Contributing to the comprehensive HIV and AIDS programme particularly through life skills
education at schools
• Working in partnerships with communities and police to ensure safe schools
In addition, the education sector identified a number of priority areas that intervenes to
address policy compliance and quality education. The key national and provincial priorities
include:
• Extension of the implementation of the new curriculum statement to Grades 10-12.
• Implementation of the revised norms and standards for school funding
• The expansion of Early Childhood Development, in particular Grade R
• The recapitalisation of FET Colleges
• The expansion of ABET and its alignment to job creation programmes
9• The development of transversal education information systems to support decision-making and
accountability
• Reduce backlogs in school equipment
• Provide for teacher development and human resource management systems
• Strengthen special schools
A.2 The challenges facing the education sector
Education in Gauteng faces various challenges, viz. socio-economic challenges, national/provincial
policy challenges, and organisational challenges.
A.2.1 The socio-economic challenges
Challenges posed by demographic changes
The GDE faces a number of vital challenges resulting from the rapid demographic changes in the
Gauteng Province that impact on its ability to ensure quality service delivery within the context of
the external environment. This is so because there is a relationship between peoples’ educational
attainment levels, their quality of life, and the future well-being of the Province and the national
state.
According to Statistics South Africa, the mid-year population estimate for 2006 for the Gauteng
Province showed an increase of 508 200 compared to that of 2005. An important consequence of
the increase in population in the Gauteng Province is that every form of education and training in
the province has experienced growth in numbers in the past couple of years.
From 2003 to 2007, the number of learners in public education in Gauteng has increased with
240 434, which represents a total increase of 14.4%. The growth in learner numbers is, however,
unpredictable. This phenomenon makes it extremely difficult to plan for service delivery, especially
the provision of classrooms and teachers. A key challenge facing the Department is the shortage
of classroom space in many districts that have witnessed an influx of learners from other areas and
from outside of the province, and the learners of the schools from the North-West Department of
Education and the Mpumalanga Department of Education that were incorporated into the GDE. In
total, the number of learners in public schools of the GDE has increased with 103 276 learners in
the 2007 academic year which represents an increase of 6.42%.
Coupled with the overall increase in the number of learners in the public education sector of the
GDE, is the increase in actual class sizes, which poses a threat since class sizes may not exceed
the ratio of one educator to 40 learners. Most of these pressure points are felt in secondary
schools. During 2006, the average class size for public ordinary schools was 39 for primary
schools and 41 for secondary schools. The GDE has been pressurized to provide educators to
schools where there has been an increase in the number of learners. Also the shortage of
educators and educator skills, especially because of the relatively high attrition rates, especially
amongst the younger educators (with an attrition rate of 7.4% and 6.6% in the two lowest age
cohorts of under 25 years and 25 – 29 years respectively), is a fundamental challenge that faces
the GDE. The attrition rate for educators among the four race groups for the financial year March
2004 to February 2005 amounted to 3.6%.
Challenges posed by the impact of HIV and AIDS
The actual impact of HIV and AIDS on the education system is not certain. A full impact study
needs to be undertaken. There are a number of areas that this epidemic will impact upon. Some of
them are the following: the aging of the workforce due to younger people being infected by HIV and
AIDS; a high infant mortality level may result in reviewing projections of learner enrolment and
other planning strategies; the issue of child-headed households and the increasing number of
orphans; and a high level of absenteeism amongst the workforce as well as the learners.
10The GDE will need to look at new recruitment measures ensuring adequate supply of educators
and it needs to review the training programme for educators. The Department will also review its
plans such as projections for learners and the poverty alleviation programmes, and also put in
place suitable succession planning strategies and learner outreach programmes.
The HIV/AIDS sub-directorate is working towards a response to the Aids epidemic in responding to
one of the five national priorities (dealing effectively with HIV/Aids in our schools). The Life Skills:
HIV/AIDS Sexuality Programme has been implemented mainly in primary and secondary schools
and was further extended to FETIs through peer education. The Life Skills programme focuses
mainly on Sexuality Health Education (i.e. HIV and AIDS), substance abuse, child abuse and peer
education and other skills needed by children and youth to cope with difficult everyday situations.
The increase of orphans and also child-headed families put pressure on resources and this is
managed in collaboration with other relevant sectors of government as well as NGOs.
Challenges posed by social welfare – poverty alleviation initiatives
A major challenge is how education is able to feed into the wider economic strategies of the
province. The GDE can promote aggressive skills development programmes, especially those with
regards to entrepreneurship. Furthermore, some of the GDE’s poverty alleviation projects and
programmes will concentrate on the building of local economies and have school-based projects
such as food gardening, production of school uniforms and motor mechanics. It will also address
the question of free education, especially amongst the poor. Other programmes, to help in the
diversification of the economy, would be to focus upon the hospitality, arts and performing arts
industry, youth development centres, and the management of the impact of unemployment.
In order to meet the challenges of the welfare of our communities, the GDE embarked on a
nutrition programme that will be expanded to secondary schools, and also provides scholar
transport to learners from rural areas and informal settlements.
The Department also faces greater pressure in alleviating poverty through the elimination of school
fees and increased investments in resources to schools. In respect of this, the implementation of
the policy of no-fee schools will go a long way to make schools more accessible for learners from
disadvantaged and poor communities.
The monitoring of access to social grants and the provision of clothing (including uniforms) to
orphans and children from informal settlements will become a priority. The issue of the burial cost
for orphans and the partnerships with other organizations for after-school care centres for rural and
informal settlement areas will become some of the many challenges that face the Department. The
question of having a “one-stop” information and service centre for social and health services will
enable people to gain access to all services provided by the different sectors of government and
other organisations.
A.2.2 The national and provincial policy challenges
The current education policies and legislation promulgated by the Gauteng legislature were
reviewed by the Department for the Office of the Premier. The brief was to establish if provincial
laws are consistent with national laws, such as the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act
No. 108 of 1996, as amended, the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act No. 3 of 2000, etc. The
report identified several policies which are redundant and other policy gaps which need to be
addressed as soon as possible.
To avoid policy conflict, processes to amend the School Education Act, 1995 (Act No. 6 of 1995)
will be initiated, as this Act has been replaced by the South African Schools Act No. 84 of 1996, as
amended.
11The report recommends that the Gauteng Colleges Education and Training Act No. 13 of 1998 be
repealed based on its material inconsistencies with the Further Education and Training Act No. 98
of 1998. However, the Further Education and Training Act No. 98 of 1998 does not provide the
Member of the Executive Council responsible for Education (MEC) with sufficient powers to control
the provision of further education and training in the province, particularly in relation to student
admission, the student code of conduct and disciplinary matters. The Department has already
initiated the process for the drafting of the Gauteng Further Education and Training Act.
The report further found three provisions of the Examination and Assessment Act No. 7 of 1997
redundant, due to the fact that the learner assessment has been subjected to the national process
and procedures determined by the Minister. The amendment replaces the redundant South African
Certification Council Act, of 1986 with the General and Further Education and Training Quality
Assurance Act No. 58 of 2001(GENFETQA).
The Gauteng Department of Education made a comparison between the Examinations and
Assessment Act No. 7 of 1997 and the National Regulations Relating to the Conduct,
Administration and Management of Assessment for the Senior Certificate, Number 1044 of 21
October 2005. The Department found that the Examinations and Assessment Act No. 7 of 1997
and its Regulations are redundant as they are in conflict with the national regulations.
Key policy challenges in the next MTEF cycle
The Gauteng Department of Education has prioritised the following political imperatives and
mandates for the effective provisioning of social services in the province: the New Norms and
Standards for School Funding; Education Laws Amendment Act, 2005 (Act No. 24 of 2005);
Language Policy for Schools; the phasing in of the Revised Curriculum Statement and National
Curriculum Statement; the expansion of Early Childhood Development; and the National
Regulations Relating to the Conduct, Administration and Management of Assessment for the
Senior Certificate, Number 1044 of 21 October 2005.
The National Norms and Standards for School Funding of 1999, as amended, provides for
Provincial Education Departments to declare some schools “no-fee schools,” and further provide
for full, partial and conditional exemptions to learners who cannot afford to pay school fees or
qualify for certain social service grants and payments. Additional resources are being mobilized for
the successful implementation of the National Norms and Standards for School Funding, as
amended.
White Paper 5 recommends that Grade R should be expanded to all public primary schools by
2010. The Early Childhood Development programme strives to enhance the provision of quality
services, to eliminate inequality and to promote the increase of access to educational
opportunities. The absence of legislation to support the provision of services regarding ECD
remains a challenge. Thus, the development of a policy framework and appropriate and enabling
legislation to support Early Childhood Development in the Province has been prioritised.
The Re-determination of Boundaries of Cross-boundary Municipalities Act, the Cross-boundary
Municipality Laws Repeal Act, 2005, and the Constitution Twelfth Amendment Act, 2005, create an
additional challenge to manage areas of policy conflict resulting from different conditions of
employment of ECD practitioners.
The White Paper on e-Education makes provision for every leaner to be capable of functioning in
an ICT environment by 2013. The attainment of targets depends on the extent to which resources
are made available so that learners can have access to education by using ICT confidently and
creatively. In this regard, GautengOnline plays a significant role in the successful rollout of ICT
programmes.
The management of the GautengOnline programme is highly complex and includes the integration
of eight primary service providers and the principal of each school. The establishment,
12maintenance and support of an IT network with 1 250 sites and about 32 000 computers is a
massive undertaking in itself. To improve the efficiency of the delivery and support of the
programme and to ensure that the GautengOnline school programme is properly integrated into
the overall Gauteng Provincial e-governance strategy, the Gauteng Shared Service Centre (GSSC)
will take on the role of implementing the roll out of the programme under the oversight of the
Gauteng Department of Education as from April 2007.
About 25 000 educators have received orientation and training in the use of computer laboratories.
It is currently planned that computer laboratories will be rolled out to an additional 150 schools
each year for the following three financial years. However, this target could be increased as the
model is being modified and optimised with the economics of scale and with new and more
efficient (i.e. lower costing) technologies. In this period another 10 000 educators will receive
orientation and training.
The implementation of the National Curriculum Statements for Grades 10 to 12 in 2006/7 and
beyond, and the ultimate issuing of the Further Education and Training Certificate which will
replace the current Senior Certificate, remains a challenge particularly in the training and
provisioning of ongoing support to both educators and learners. Furthermore, schools must comply
with the rules of combination for subjects that they would offer, and that requires more educators to
be trained and be given ongoing support throughout.
The Language Policy for Schools strives to, inter alia, promote the principle of multilingualism and
the use of home languages as the languages of learning and teaching in schools, particularly in the
Foundation Phase. The implementation of this policy requires additional resources for the
Gauteng Department of Education to comply with the Constitutional requirements and satisfy
curriculum needs for all learners in the province.
Gauteng Province is experiencing rapid urbanisation and more informal settlements are being
created in the province. To cope with this pressure the Department needs more funding in line with
the increased demand for schooling in informal settlements and rural schools where there are no
schools. During the 2006/07 financial year an in-depth analysis was conducted with regard to the
backlog of new schools and it was established that there was a need for 125 secondary schools
and 49 primary schools.
A backlog of 4 698 classrooms (174 schools) existed in the 2004/05 financial year and after all
current projects are completed, a backlog of 3 115 classrooms would remain. In order to address
the growth in learner numbers due to in-migration since 2004/05, an additional 1 000 classrooms
would be needed. This, however, does not take into account the requirements for Grade R learners
and the possible state of overcrowding that may exist in schools coming across from the North
West province in terms of the cross-border migration of institutions.
The South African Constitution states that everyone has the right to have access to sufficient food
(Section 27(1) (b), and that children have a right to basic nutrition (Section 28(1) (c). Both
obligations require that the state should take reasonable measures, within its available resources,
to realize this right. In the light of this demand, the national Department of Education introduced the
National School Nutrition Programme, which is implemented by the provincial education
departments. The increasing learner enrolment in the province and learner migration require more
funding to enable the Department to respond appropriately to the School Nutrition Programme.
A.2.3 Organisational challenges
Education in the province is managed through a two-tier structure with a provincial Head Office and
15 District Offices aligned to the local government boundaries. The Head Office is responsible for
operational policy, monitoring and evaluation, and the 15 districts are responsible for all direct
services to learners, educators, schools and local communities. These services of the District
Offices include curriculum support, support to school management and school governing bodies,
13support to learners in respect of psychological and therapeutic services, and managing conditions
of service and workforce development.
The Department embarked upon a process of revising its organisational structure in January 2005
to address the key policy changes in respect of public education. In operating with the new
organogram for approximately twenty months, a number of changes were effected to improve
capacity and enhance service delivery in terms of Education Support Services, the provision of
Learner and Educator Support Material to institutions, Adult Basic Education and Training, and
Early Childhood Development. The Corporate Services branch has also been redefined in terms of
the functions of the CFO in line with National regulations.
The Department has an agreement to use the Gauteng Shared Service Centre to support delivery
of goods and services and administration to all levels within its ambit. The relationship with the
Gauteng Shared Service Centre is underpinned by a service level agreement with clear
benchmarks for each service area so as to improve the level of service delivery through dedicated
and professional services.
In assessing the state of the Department, the following axes were used:
• Skills and Resources – The Department is adequately resourced and has the required
facilities, technology and funds. The competence of the personnel requires great development
and is the major challenge of the Department. A skills development plan has been developed
and adopted in line with the HRD strategic framework of the Gauteng Province. The Human
Resource Planning and Development Agency has been established in the Department in
order to address the specific challenges relating to the imperative of shared economic growth
in the province and to ensure the effective implementation of nationally-driven Human
Resource Development and Skills Development Strategies.
Training needs from within the Department were collated and factored into the Workplace
Skills Plan. In addition, Circular 61/2006 introduced a fast-tracked process of implementing the
PMDS, and the Department is in the process of setting in place systems that will respond to
the directives given through the said circular.
• Structure – The Department revised its organizational structure in November 2006 to address
key policy changes in respect of public education. This included the increasing of capacity to
support poorly performing schools in respect of improving both institutional and learner
performance. Capacity was also created to support the implementation of the e-Education
White Paper and the Inclusion Policy in respect of Learners with Special Educational Needs.
The Department also aligned the functions related to district and institutional support by
locating them in the same branch. The Department also created a directorate for Early
Childhood Development to coordinate the provincial thrust for pre-Grade R programmes.
• Systems and processes – The revised organisational structure has served to reinforce the
systems and processes of the Department. Management structures at all levels, including
governance at schools, are functional. The IT capacity of the Department has improved
tremendously and effectively supports the systems and processes of the Department. The roll-
out of the GautengOnline Project has made huge strides towards the utilisation of ICT in
education, and the adoption of the e-Learning Strategy promises to revolutionize teaching and
learning as well as the business processes and communication within the Department.
• Shared values – Over a period of time the Department has developed a dynamic drive to
redress the imbalances of the past and to ensure equity in the provision of education in
Gauteng with particular attention being given to gender equity. A charter of values has also
been developed to enhance corporate synergy and cohesion, and the Department has signed
and is fully implementing the Service Charter.
14• Staff – The Department has a very good level of representivity in offices. Lagging behind,
however, are the institutions. A high level of natural attrition, especially at middle management
level, has a negative impact on the level of staff’s experience. The Department has put in
place a development plan to address the issues related to succession planning. Some more
effort and greater focus will be necessary to ensure effective Workplace HIV/AIDS support. As
part of employee wellness, a Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) programme has been
introduced. A weekly electronic newsletter has been developed which is circulated via e-mail
to all staff.
• Strategy – The core business of the Department is the facilitation of the curriculum. In order to
facilitate the implementation of the National Curriculum Statements, the Department has
developed a curriculum strategy.
The Department has a detailed strategy and policy for the allocation of resources based on
poverty and need. Both schools and districts are funded through redress mechanisms. The
Department is the forerunner in managing an integrated Human Resource Development
(HRD) Strategy for the Gauteng Province. The purpose of the strategy is to assist the
Province to strategically prioritise its focus and interventions in an already complex provincial
human resource supply, demand and development environment. The strategy was completed
and launched after a broad-based consultation process. The strategy is underpinned by the
Provincial Growth and Development Strategy, the Global City Region Strategy (in its
developmental form) and the envisaged Social Development and Sustainable Development
Strategies.
The School Effectiveness Improvement Strategy for curriculum delivery provides a platform
from which all change initiatives directed at schools will be launched.
• Style or Symbolic Behaviour – The Department values integrity, loyalty, honesty and
performance. These values are being built into a proposed performance recognition scheme
for all personnel and institutions. Individuals, groups and institutions will be recognised for
their performance and the promotion of the values of the Department.
15A.3 Achievements to date
In the 2006 academic year, the Department achieved a number of successes in terms of realising
its vision and mission. In order to improve access to education a total of forty seven (47)
independent schools and three (3) new public ordinary schools as well as three hundred and one
(301) home learners were registered. The admission processes of the Department have also
improved and there were fewer queries and all learners were placed successfully.
All schools in the province have democratically elected and functional School Governing Bodies
(SGBs). Approximately 27 000 parents are involved in school governance and training for SGBs is
currently being conducted through the Matthew Goniwe School for Leadership and Governance,
and thus far 50,5% of SGBs have been trained on programme 3 of the training called whilst 51,7%
completed programme 1.
The Department provides access to Grade R programmes, which have been designed to prepare
children to meet the cognitive and motor skills demands of formal schooling. This is a new
programme and we aim to universalise Grade R by 2010. At the Department has selected and
registered one thousand three hundred and sixty (1360) Grade R sites and is appointing
practitioners in these sites. A total number of 150 of these sites are community based sites whilst
the other 1210 sites are located in public primary schools. The subsidisation of all 1360 sites and
practitioners was accompanied by the provision of Learner Teacher Support Material (LTSM). A
total of three hundred and eighty four (i.e. 32 sites per district) school-based sites were established
in the 2006/2007 financial year. The establishment of new sites inspired the need to workshop
newly appointed practitioners in those sites on the National Curriculum Statement. Grade R district
officials were orientated on the NCS manual, to prepare them for the development of the
practitioners and all the practitioners were taken through the manual by district officials.
Continuous support by the Grade R district facilitators is being provided to all the practitioners,
including those who were workshopped in previous years. A total number of five hundred and thirty
three (533) practitioners are attending training on the development of individual portfolios. These
practitioners are currently attending accredited Level 5 NQF Early Childhood Development training.
This training will conclude in the new financial year.
The Department also houses an interdepartmental agency, aimed at ensuring coordinated service
delivery of early childhood health, social and education services focusing on children from birth to
9-years old through provincial and local government. A Strategic Framework for the Early
Childhood Development Institute (ECDI) is in place and will be finalized once all the implicated
Departments’ strategies have been included. The ECDI will be launched once the strategy
document is complete.
In terms of the General Education and Training band all the grades are currently for the first time
implementing the National Curriculum Statements (NCS) (Grades R – 9). The key thrust for the
period under review was to support the implementation of National Curriculum Statements and
towards the delivery of quality curriculum maintenance programmes to ensure quality teaching and
learning in all the schools in the province. In terms of improving literacy, district participation in the
Literacy Week improved dramatically; eight out of twelve districts participated. This is evidence that
district are beginning to grasp the rationale behind this celebration and its significance to the
improvement of learner attainment in Literacy. With regard to Numeracy many educators
expressed the need for development on mental mathematics as a dominant tool in developing
mathematical fluency. The Department, therefore, offered a limited number of educators from
Previously Disadvantaged Schools introductory workshops on how to develop mental maths skills
in foundation phase learners. A total of 3640 educators from Grades R-3 attended the workshop.
With regard to lifeskills a workshop aimed at supporting Special Schools with curriculum adaptation
and the alignment of the Physical Development and Movement activities with the needs of learners
16with disabilities was successfully conducted. A total of 191 educators from across all districts in
the Foundation and Intermediate phases in Special Schools attended the workshop.
Preparations and orientation of Grade 8 and 9 educators for the implementation of the National
Curriculum Statements (NCS) in 2007 was embarked upon in the 2006 academic year. Training
focussed on materials development, planning orientation of the Provincial Core Training Team and
the twelve District Core Training Teams. A total of 460 trainers went through the orientation
programme in the eight different Learning Areas and a total of 16 000 educators were successfully
trained.
With regard to the Further Education and Training band, all Grade 11 and 12 educators were
trained in terms of the preparation for the implementation of the National Curriculum Statements in
Grade 11 and 12. A core team of identified district facilitators were trained to develop material. In
terms of the Mathematics and Science programme, a total of 15 130 physical science facilitators
received training in the usage of science kits and to improve mathematical literacy. All Grade 10
learners in the province received a financial literacy manual from Trans Union. A total of 2000
mathematics literacy catch-up learner manuals were secured for Grade 11 repeaters in February
2007.
The provincial target was achieved in terms of the overall percentage pass rate and the percentage
of learners achieving a minimum C-symbol has gone beyond the target for 2006, except for
Physical Science Standard Grade The number of full-time Senior Certificate entries for 2006 have
decreased from 78 860 in 2005 to 73 187 in 2006. On average, the decrease amounts to 5, 68% of
the total number of candidates. The number of part-time candidates has, however, increased
substantively to 60 608. The Department has had an increase in the overall Senior Certificate pass
rate to 78,35%. In the same vein, the number of learners that passed with endorsement also
increased to 23%. It is noteworthy that 10 857 learners in the province produced a total of
approximately 21 607 distinctions in 2006 with the number of girl learners who obtained distinctions
increasing considerably.
The number of the Dinaledi schools in the province has increased from seventy in 2006 to 105 in
2007. Greenside High and Raucall where awarded a R100 000 prize each for achieving more HG
passes in Mathematics in the 2006 Senior Certificate Examination.
With regard to Further Education and Training Institutions (FETIs), colleges have submitted their
enrolment numbers for NCV programmes and Gauteng is one of the three Provinces that have
managed to attract more than the set learner target. The Department has a total of 6 674 learners
enrolled for NCV. The National Department of Education has given FETIs more money to
accommodate learners if there are resources and facilities that could assist with the process.
The Department has a mandate to deliver on the ABET programmes that will address the socio-
economic challenges of the people. As per the key strategic thrust of the province and through
ABET programmes the department has to alleviate poverty and improve the employment rate. To
this end the curriculum framework has been established that is embedded in the 10-year
curriculum strategy of the Department. This framework has identified soft skills (Home-based care,
Agriculture, Travel and Tourism) that are aligned to the Expanded Public Works Programmes as a
redressing mechanism to achieve the provincial outcomes. The Department has established and
formalized the levels 1, 2 and 3 programmes to spearhead the acceleration of obtaining General
Education and Training Certificate qualification.
In terms of the National School Nutrition Programme, a total of 378 903 learners, at 1 107 schools,
are benefiting from the feeding programme. With a projected target of 420 000 learners reached,
the programme is being monitored carefully to ensure that the target is achieved.
The Department is continuing to provide scholar transport in its endeavour to ensure that all
learners have access to schools. Scholar transport is being provided to 47 000 primary and
secondary school learners in the province.
17In 2007, the Department implemented the national No-Fee School policy. Approximately 425
schools serving 21% of poor learners were declared no-fee schools, which removed the power of
the school to charge compulsory school fees. In return, the Department has increased the subsidy
to schools to an adequate amount to ensure free schooling to these learners in poor areas.
In terms of CAPEX the Department delivered thirteen new schools in 2006. Three schools were
part of the special contract construction at Cosmo City, eight alternative material schools were
completed as well as two schools started prior to 2006. In terms of expenditure payments, a total of
eight final accounts for schools completed were settled and nineteen projects are ongoing. There
were additions build to thirty-six schools and mobile classrooms delivered to forty-five schools.
Steel palisade fences were erected at twenty-nine schools and roof and ceiling repairs were
completed at eighty eight schools.
18A.4 The way forward
The Department is confident that the strategic thrust for the next three years will allow the
education sector to realise the policy targets and contribute significantly to the vision of the
province and goals set out in our five-year plan. Our service delivery practice will ensure good
governance by our continued response to the principles of transformation, equity, redress, Ubuntu
and Batho Pele. The Department will continue to avail itself by being accessible to the public, being
timely in the rendering of services, ensure client satisfaction and support to our staff for
effectiveness and efficiency.
A.4.1 Pre-school services
The Department will undertake initiatives to promote increased enrolment in pre-service education
programmes in line with the Department’s teacher supply, utilisation and development projections.
A.4.2 Schools
1. No-fee schools
One of the most important policy imperatives that will have an impact on schools, is the
introduction of no-fee schools targeting over 21% of the learners across the province in the poorest
communities. The application of no-fee schools will remove the power of the SGB to collect
compulsory schools fee in favour of a minimum adequacy per capita amount for these schools.
2. Grade R
The Department will increase access to Grade R as funds become more accessible for the
universalisation of the Grade R programme. The Department is undertaking a review of the
progress made so far with a view to increasing the quality of the programmes and the competence
of the ECD practitioners. Currently over 25% of the 5-6 year old cohort is in public, community and
private Grade R programmes.
2. Teacher development
The Department will also intensify its programme to enhance competence by ensuring that
effective needs-driven accredited and non-accredited programmes are implemented to support the
implementation of the Preset and Inset programmes to support the growth needs of teachers. The
Department will also be increasing activities in the Department’s educator development centres
and teachers’ centres. Furthermore, the Department will intensify its programme to boost teacher
morale and ensure that teaching becomes an enjoyable profession.
3. Curriculum
Continued improvement of classroom practice will be ensured through Curriculum practices and
standard setting and monitoring. The promotion of an integrated provincial childhood development
strategy for ECD, GET and FET bands will also become a major thrust for delivery. The
Department will also put in place a more concentrated numeracy and literacy strategy given the
outcomes of the Grade 3 and Grade 6 Systemic Evaluation reports and will continue to empower
learners scientifically through the Mathematics, Science and Technology strategy.
In 2007, the Department will increase its efforts of ensuring a fair distribution of curriculum offerings
by promoting learning areas that are aligned to the demands of the labour market. This will include
the review of subject choices in schools in line with the proposed National Senior Certificate to be
introduced in 2008, the recommendation of new subjects to schools, and a support of learners’
choice of subjects.
The Department will undertake a programme to identify and promote talented learners into key
economic sectors to support the thrust outlined in AsgiSA and JIPSA. This programme will also be
supported by the curriculum redress activities and curriculum innovation.
19The e-learning strategy will help implement the e-Education White Paper. It will also support the
GautengOnline Programme by infusing e-learning into the technology solution.
4. Special schools
The Department will strive to ensure that all learners with special educational needs are suitably
accommodated in institutions that are appropriately resourced. The number of learners in the
special schooling sector continues to grow annually; however, the Department will continue to
ensure that adequate schooling is available for all learners with special needs. During 2007/08, the
Department will have to implement White Paper 6 which as a consequence will require that the
Department will have to begin the process of redesigning the LSEN programme in order to
increase access to LSEN services, and to ensure that learners are correctly placed and that the
policy of inclusion is implemented.
5. Independent schools
The independent schools sector continues to grow significantly in Gauteng province and, as a
result, the Department is beginning to feel some strain with regard to its financial obligations with
respect to this sector. This, however, will not prevent the Department from fulfilling its obligation to
subsidise those independent schools that qualify as dictated by the National Norms and Standards
for School Funding.
A.4.3 FET colleges
Further Education and Training (FET) in the Gauteng Province will see urgent redress. Programme
offerings will have to be aligned directly to economic challenges, and accredited skills training on
the NQF levels must become a reality. The idea that all citizens should become lifelong learners
will begin to encourage the development of learning communities that support and empower urban
and township regeneration imperatives.
The intensification of the FET sector recapitalisation will continue into the second year of the
conditional grant. This grant will see over 151 workshops upgraded in the eight colleges with all the
required modern and relevant learning equipment being acquired. Sixty-six college sites will be
refurbished with 32 campuses establishing student support and resource centres.
A.4.4 Adult education and training
During 2007 the Department will continue its efforts to improve the performance and efficiency of
the ABET programme. The Department will introduce more vocationally-based programmes than
before and ensure increased access to meaningful programmes by increasing programmes at FET
colleges and existing ABET centres. The Department will also undertake a quality improvement
programme to ensure reduced dropout rates, increased follow-through and improved performance
at the ABET Level 4 examinations.
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