PLEASE BE AWARE THAT THE WEBMASTER NO LONGER WORKS AT THE DISTRICT OFFICE THIS MAY RESULT IN THIS WEBSITE BEING UPDATED IRREGULARLY
Teaching posts and Teachers looking for posts are updated daily. (Latest 23 August 2011) Two new Assessment Instructions are available at http://www.ecexams.co.za/2011AssInstructions.htm:
· 36/2011: Final Grade 12 Trial Examination Timetable 2011
· 37/2011: Final Grade 11 Examination Timetable 2011
Assessment Instruction 35/2011 (Advertisement of Posts of Examination Assistants (EAs) for the
2011 Nov/Dec National Senior Certificate (NSC) and ABET L4, 2012 May/June
Senior Certificate (NATED 550) and ABET L4 Examinations at Marking Centres,
Capturing Centres and Provincial Depot) is available at http://www.ecexams.co.za/2011AssInstructions.htm.
- Kindly take note that the all the Question Papers (including Gr 6 Afr and Eng) are now available on the web. Just click http://www.ecexams.co.za/ and follow the link.
Dear Colleague
Assessment
Instruction 32/2011 (Common Tests for Grades 3, 6 and 9: Help Guide for
Schools and Districts and Guidelines for Marking, Moderation, Recording
and Reporting & Annexures 1 – 8) is available at http://www.ecexams.co.za/2011AssInstructions.htm.
(If Assessment Instruction 32/2011 does not show on your screen, just Refresh your page.)
The
tests will available on the website approximately an hour after the
starting time and the memo approximately an hour after the finishing
time.
Regards
Drik Greeff
- For Excellent video support for Mathematics, Life Sciences etc visit: www.khanacademy.org
The February/March 2011
Supplementary Exam Papers are available. Just click http://www.ecexams.co.za/ExaminationPapers.htm and follow
the link.
- Laptop Special:
 - Grade 12 Mathematics Educators Workshop: DATE: Friday, 8 April 2011
TIME: 9:00 - 15:00
VENUE: Education Leadership Institute, 25 Epsom Road, Stirling, East London Helping you to help your matrics
Self-study guides are available on the internet: (1) www.education.gov.za – Go to “Learner” and then “Learner Support” as well as “Educators” and then "Documents for “Educators” (2) Visit http://www.thutong.doe.gov.za/supportformatrics/SupportforMatrics/tabid/1741/Default.aspx GET
PACESETTERS
According to
Assessment Instruction 16/2011 (Common Tests for Grades 3, 6 and 9) the
Pacesetters for 2011 are the same as for 2010.
The
Pacesetters for 2010 are part of Assessment Instruction 12/2010 and are
available at www.ecexams.co.za.
There might
be slight changes for the Intermediate and Senior Phases, but you will be
informed about such changes in due course. There will be no changes to the
Foundation Phase Pacesetters.
Regards
Drik Greeff
Dear
Colleague: The
following new Assessment Instructions are available at www.ecexams.co.za:-
· 23/2011: Implementation Plan for the National Curriculum and
Assessment Policy Statement (Caps) Grades R - 12 during the Period 2012 –
2014
· 24/2011: 2011 October ABET L4: Application for Appointment as a
Marker
· 25/2011: 2011 National Senior Certificate (NSC) Supplementary
Examinations: Re-Marking, Re-Checking and Viewing of Examination Scripts
· 26/2011: 2011 National Senior Certificate (NSC) Final Time Table
If you do
not see these Assessment Instructions on the web page, just click the Refresh/Reload button at the top of your screen.
Have a
great week!
Drik Greeff - ALL Nab'Ubomi 2011 Entry Documents
The following two Assessment Instructions are now available at www.ecexams.co.za:
· 19/2011: 2011 Draft Time Tables for Gr. 9 Formal Assessment, Gr. 11 Final Examination and Gr. 12 Trial Examination
· 20/2011: Grade 12 Common Tasks for School Based Assessment (SBA): Term 2 of 2011
 - East London, 3 May 2011, Clarendon High school for girls.
- Port Elizabeth, 17 August 2011, Pearson High school
 - For more information on the Rape Wise workshop, click HERE
Dear Colleague
1. The following new Assessment Instructions are available at www.ecexams.co.za:
a. 11/2011: The Annexures to the original Assessment Instruction
b. 14/2011: 2011 National Senior Certificate (NSC): Application for Appointment as a Marker (The previous scanned version was of poor quality.)
c. 15/2011: 2011 Senior Certificate Examination NATED550: Application for Appointment as a Marker (The previous scanned version was of poor quality.)
d. 16/2011: Registration: Common Tests for Grades 3, 6 and 9
e. 17/2011: 2011 ABET L4 June And October Time Tables
f. 18/2011: 2011 Senior Certificate (NATED 550) Timetable
2. If you do not see the menu when you visit www.ecexams.co.za or www.eccurriculum.co.za, please download and install Adobe Flash Player.
Regards
Drik Greeff
- SchoolNet SA is organizing a Microsoft Innovation Workshop in East London.
The details are as follows:
Venue: Stirling Primary
Date: Saturday 5 March 2011
Times: 8:30am - 4:30pm
Facilitator: Claire Dean
There is no cost for teachers to attend the workshop and tea and lunch will
be served. Please note though that teachers will be responsible for making
their own travel and accommodation arrangements at their own expense.
The aim of this workshop is to help teachers who are competent and confident
in using ICT to develop a project or lesson that can be entered into the
Microsoft Innovative Teachers Forum. The workshop will include looking at
projects from previous years, brainstorming ideas for projects and
critically assessing project ideas to work out how they can be turned into
innovative lessons.
It is not essential to attend an Innovation workshop to enter the Microsoft
Innovative Teachers competition, but in past years many of the finalists and
winners
have been through the workshop process. They found that the opportunity to
work with a facilitator on developing their project and seeing previous
examples helped them to produce great projects of their own.
The closing date for the Innovative Teachers competition will be in early
June 2011. 20 Finalists will be selected to attend the Microsoft Innovative
Teachers Forum on 2-5 July which will be followed by the Intel/ SchoolNet
ICT in the Classroom Conference. Prizes will include Dell laptops and a
Smartboard as well as an opportunity to attend the Pan African Innovative
Teachers Forum later in the year. Winners at the Pan African Forum will then
be selected to attend the Worldwide Innovative Teachers Forum in Washington
DC, USA in November 2011. These are fantastic prizes and opportunities for
teachers - so we look forward to seeing what our creative South African
teachers can produce.
Please pass this Workshop invitation on to teachers who you know to be using
technology in their classroom and please let them know about the
competition.
If you or any of your colleagues would like to attend the Microsoft
Innovation Workshop, please contact Almah at SchoolNet to book your place on
011 403 5777 or email almah@schoolnet.org.za When booking your place, please
provide your name, the name of your school, your email address and cell
phone number.
If you have any questions regarding the Microsoft Innovative Teachers Forum
please contact megan@schoolnet.org.za
Regards
Megan
Megan Rademeyer
SchoolNet South Africa
Programmes Manager
www.schoolnet.org.za
011-403-5777 (work) 011-849-6891 (home)
082-450-6294 (cell) 086-610-0810 (fax)
- NEWS FLASH: Court orders EC Education department to re-instate teachers
The Department of Education has been given five days to
reinstate more than 6000 temporary teachers laid off in a financial
turnaround strategy at the end of last year.
- Dear Colleague
1. The SAOU would like to invite you and your
staff to a training/motivation session by Dr. Braam Hanekom. He is an
excellent speaker and this is an event not to be missed.
2.
Initially it was aimed at teachers younger than 35 (as the accompanying
documents still reflect) but later it was decided to invite all
teachers, irrespective of age.
3. The topics that will be covered, are the following:
· Leadership as a life skill/Leierskap as lewensvaardigheid
· Development of leadership in children/Die ontwikkeling van leierskap in kinders
4. The arrangements are as follows:
· Port Elizabeth area, Framesby High School, 23 February 2011: 14:00 – 16:00
· Queenstown area, Hangklip Primary School, 24 February 2011: 14:00 – 16:00
· East London area, Grens Primary School, 25 February 2011: 14:00 – 16:00
5. The Registration Forms have been sent to schools.
6. Enquiries: 041-364 0500
Thank you
Drik Greeff
- Good News! The Mark Schedules for the Annual National Assessments (ANA) are available. They are available at the same website where the Question Papers and Memoranda are. Just visit www.ecexams.co.za and click on the relevant link.
My name is Darryll Boyce, I am in need of a Dutch
tutor to help me with the inburgens exam for the Netherlands.
My cell # is 0767327232,and I live in the border
district of East London , South Africa.
regards D.Boyce
- The link to the ANA Question Papers & Memoranda is now at http://www.ecexams.co.za/
- Still no word on Temporary Educators. The unions have a 2nd
consultation on staff establishments on Monday, 8th February. It
would seem that until the steps of re-deployment are taken, temporary educators
will remain on the back burner.
Dear Sir/Madam
This e-mail serves as a reminder regarding the workshops which will
take place in East London on 5 & 6 March 2011 and 12 & 13 March
2011.
The closing date is Friday, 18 February 2011. As we requested in our
previous e-mail, we would like as many Mathematics Educators to be made
aware of
the workshops.
We need your support.
We want The Maths Portal, which is in the
developmental stages, to be a rich source of information for Grade 12
Mathematics
Educators in South Africa. In so doing, we would like you to share with
us or make us aware of any of the items below which we are looking for.
The
portal will be extended to Grade 10 and 11, funding permitted. Those
who contribute will be acknowledged. Send materials to: info@cecs.org.zaThis e-mail address is being protected from
spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Please provide us with details on any of the following for Mathematics Educators
which you may be aware of:
- Events, workshops, seminars, colloquiums, summits, conferences
- Newspaper supplements or articles
- Blogs, wikis, tweets, Facebook pages/groups
- Academic research such as papers, journal articles, dissertations, theses
- Exam question papers. If you have exam question papers, then you can e-mail it to us
- Mailing lists, groups, newsfeeds, websites
- Organisations, funders, academia, individuals
We will also require volunteers to:
- Provide feedback on the initial stages of The Maths Portal
- Quality control the questions and answers on the portal
Please let us know how you can assist.
Regards
ARNOLD PIETERSEN
Community Education Computer Society
Telephone: 011-333-0187
Fax: 0865-377-172
E-mail: info@cecs.org.zaThis e-mail address is being protected from
spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Website: http://www.cecs.org.za - CAT and IT Practical Assessment Tasks are available here
- 1. Welcome back! I trust that 2011 will be a great year for you! And
may you have many dreams for this year. (See the attached Thought for the Week.)
2.
Matric Results: I
would like to congratulate our schools with the 2010 Matric Results!
3.
Assessment Instructions: The following new and important Assessment Instructions
are available at www.ecexams.co.za:
a.
1/2011: Provincial
Assessment Instructions
b.
2/2011: Implementation
of Annual National Assessments (ANA) Grades 1 - 6 & 9
c.
3/2011: 2011
Management Plan and Implementation of School Based Assessment (SBA) Grades 10
– 12
d.
4/2011: 2011 ABET
L4: Examinations and Assessment Guidelines & Completion Dates for SBA
Programmes
e.
5/2011: ABET L4:
Marking Reports for October 2010
f.
6/2011: 2010 Grade
12 National Senior Certificate: Chief Markers' Reports
g.
7/2011: 2011
National Senior Certificate (NSC): Mathematics & Physical Science
Question by Question Analysis
h.
8/2011: 2011
National Senior Certificate Supplementary Time Table
i.
9/2011: National
Senior Certificate (NSC): Change of Subjects (Grades 10 - 12) &
Concession Applications
j.
10/2011: 2010
National Senior Certificate Examinations (NSC): Re-marking, Re-checking and
Viewing of Examination Scripts
4. 250free.com
Website:
a.
I regret to inform
you that the (American) host of our 250free.com web pages is bankrupt and
more than 300 000 websites disappeared from the surface of the virtual world.
b.
However, we have good news! We have registered a new
website and I’ll inform you when all information is uploaded and operational.
I trust that it will be available by the end of January.
c.
More good news is
that we should not have bandwidth problems in future.
d.
Kindly take note
that the Exams Website is not affected by this hiccup. A new site was
registered in 2010 and the address is www.ecexams.co.za.
- So what do you know about "Cloud Computing" ?
And in other news...........
Fixing a class-based calamity
Jonathan Jansen | 09 July, 2011 22:50
There are few more frustrating puzzles in Africa than the South
African education system. The pre-tertiary system consists of about 13
million learners, 390000 teachers and more than 27000 schools. For some
time, education expenditure has taken the largest slice of government
spending, hovering around 20%, and growing steadily from R140-billion in
2008/9 to a planned R165-billion in 2010/11.
No other African country spends as much as 5.4% of gross
domestic product on education. No-fee schools constitute 64% of all
South African schools in which, theoretically, learners do not pay.
Despite this substantial investment, the evidence is consistent over a
number of years that our education system is one of the least
productive in the region. The most common indicators show a repeat
pattern of low productivity: enrolments drop sharply from near-universal
attendance up to age 15 to only 78% for 18-year-olds; grade repetition
remains high, starting in the first grade and with 51.5% of pupils
repeating one or more years in grades 10 to 12; more than 4% of students
across grades miss a year or more of school; close to 20% of learners
in the senior years of high school are above the age-grade norms for
their grade; and drop-out rates are very high as learners move into high
school, with 20% of 18-year-olds not in school and not completing grade
12.
The picture looks much bleaker when performance outcomes are taken
into account. It must be emphasised that senior certificate (formerly
matric) results are almost irrelevant as a measure of the effectiveness
of the school system. Take the 2010 results: 173030 candidates who wrote
the grade 12 exam failed; less than a quarter of the candidates (23.5%)
qualify, on paper, to do a first degree at university; fewer pupils (by
a margin of 8756) passed mathematics than in the previous year; and
fewer than half the pupils who start grade 1 reach grade 12.
What the aggregated results also conceal are the racialised
inequalities in the system. To put it bluntly, if the whites (and middle
classes) were taken out of the system, the real inequalities and
underperformance for the majority of the population would become
evident.
The government boasts of a rise in performance from a 60.6% pass rate
in 2009 to 67.8% in 2010, and that the pupils who qualify to do a
university degree jumped from 19.9% to 23.5%. In other words, measured
against itself, there is progress.
But is this a reliable account of school system performance over
time, given the up-and-down character of the grade 12 pass rates, the
concealed processes of upward (and some downward) moderation of raw
subject scores and the general scepticism about the quality of
education?
Every national and regional test on basic competencies in reading,
literacy and numeracy consistently places South Africa at the bottom end
of the scales. As far back as 2001, the Southern and Eastern Africa
Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality study showed South
Africans in grade 6 had the biggest gap in reading scores between rich
and poor.
In mathematics, as demonstrated in the Trends in International
Mathematics and Science Study in 2003, South Africa was at the bottom of
a comparative table of scores, performing below countries such as the
Philippines, Botswana and Ghana.
What this all means is that when South African learners are assessed
in relation to international standards in those competencies regarded as
the foundations of learning, the volatility and credibility of grade 12
results can be read in perspective.
We are in serious trouble, and it shows up in the primary education
years, which explains why so few learners even make it to the final year
of schooling.
The main reasons for low productivity in the school system include
the fact that the majority of schools do not enjoy the systematic
routines and rituals that account for productive schools anywhere in the
world.
There is a small percentage of schools, middle-class white or
middle-class integrated, where those routines and rituals have been long
established under the old regime of governance in politics and
education.
Schools start on time and end on time; teachers and principals are in
school every day; class attendance is monitored and reported; homework
is issued regularly; regular tests are scheduled and parents informed in
advance; feedback on tests and assignments is swift, carrying high
value for individual learners over the course of the school year; sports
and sporting events are held regularly; disciplinary codes are enforced
and disciplinary cultures are not questioned; teachers carry multiple
tasks of which teaching is only one; regular reports go to parents; and
governing bodies receive regular results of school- and
learner-performance.
Absence from school is a serious matter, and dutifully recorded and
explained by the absentee. Individual care is balanced with individual
discipline. Schedules are set long in advance. Errant teachers and
learners are promptly confronted about their behaviour, and corrective
measures put in place. School grounds are clean and broken facilities
are quickly repaired. Security is tight.
The majority of public schools have a knowledge problem. That is,
teachers and principals lack the various kinds of knowledge required to
impact on learning and to influence change. Note that this is not cast
here as a training problem; that is something else. Indeed, many
observers make the point that South Africa probably spends more money on
teacher and principal training than any other country in Africa.
While support for teachers is reasonably strong, and much is invested
in teacher development, there is a very low level of accountability for
performance. This is a tricky subject that can only be understood in
historical context. The school uprisings of the 1970s accelerated the
end of apartheid but left in their wake a system in which resistance and
contempt for township schooling remains endemic.
This is a very important and often misdiagnosed problem in township
schools, best understood through a simple and common sense observation:
why would a black teacher in a township school take his or her own
children and place them in a former white school miles away in the
middle-class suburbs?
Why would that same teacher disrupt - such as during a public
servants' strike - the township school filled with children from poor
communities, knowing that his or her own children are safely ensconced
in a school where the timetable remains uninterrupted? It does not make
sense outside of a theory of contempt for township schools and township
children among teachers themselves.
School inspections are frowned upon as political interference in
teachers' work. So many principals are unable to take action against
errant teachers, such as latecomers or early leavers, for fear of being
targeted by a militant teachers' union.
What is to be done?
In the final analysis, the resolution of the crisis of two school
systems in South Africa can only be found in a political solution. The
large, black, underperforming school system requires the restoration of
political authority over schools where it belongs, in the hands of
government, and not the teacher unions. It requires political authority
that can effectively hold teachers and principals accountable for
re-establishing the rhythms and routines that have been disrupted for
decades.
Without this culture of teaching and learning firmly established in
every province, all policies and innovations will find little traction
in the chaos and unpredictability of black urban and rural township
schooling after apartheid. It is as simple and complex as that.
This would require a government and a presidency that is prepared to
take political risks, with especially the SA Democratic Teachers' Union,
the largest and some would argue most powerful component of Cosatu, to
require the non-interruption of teaching and learning under any
circumstances.
In the meantime, the smaller, middle-class and largely white school
sub-system will continue to provide the camouflage of an apparently
functional education system as it shores up disastrous academic
performance with pass rates above 50% and the bulk of the high school
graduates who make it into university.
In this small group of privilege you find the majority of maths and
physical science passes, a group of pupils who annually reproduce the
class inequalities of South Africa where a small privileged minority are
again destined to rule, economically at least, over the failing (or
poorly passing) masses.
Until the systemic nature of the schooling crisis is recognised and
political intervention directed to re-establishing government authority
over schools, all other small-scale, reactive and well-intentioned
reforms will change nothing.
Jansen is the rector of the University of the Free State. 'Advocates
for Change: How to Overcome Africa's Challenges' is edited by Moeletsi
Mbeki |
