These are the new changes made to the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements (Caps) which were introduced and implemented this year.
Learners will be allowed to fail only one subject, without condoning being allowed.
Learners previously needed to pass seven of the nine subjects, receive 40 per cent for home language and 30 per cent for the additional language in order to pass.
“The department embarked on an intensive programme of teacher development and the provision of learning and teaching support material, to prepare the system for Caps implementation across all phases, including the implementation in the senior phase, said Terrance Khala, spokesperson for the Department of Education.
Even with the department monitoring schools’ performances within the new system, a number of schools have reported that some learners are struggling with the new requirements.
“It would be unfair to the 2014 cohort of learners to bear the brunt of systemic change and there is a need for the department to manage the transition and the possible depressed learner performance,” said Khala.
The department will now observe learner performance with each school and, if there is a need, will make changes to the mark allocation.
“The acting director general, Paddy Padayachee, has provided the heads of department in the provincial education department with a guideline to assist managers at the district and circuit level to ensure that the performance of schools in the senior phase does not deviate drastically from the historical school trend,” said Khala.
The district manager will supervise the process with the school principal and analyse the performance of the school in 2014, with reference to its previous performance.
If there are drastic differences then the district manager will adjust the results with the required rules.
“It is anticipated that the overall performance in 2014, in the senior phase, will be lower than previous years as this is the outcome of a high skills, high knowledge curriculum and improved assessments standards,” said Khala.
