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Question 107
Mr M J R de Villiers (DA-WC) to ask the Minister of Basic Education:
(1) Whether her department has ordered any learner support materials such as foundation for learning toolkits to be used in 2010; if not, why not; if so, (a) for which schools were these ordered, (b) when will these schools receive the materials, (c) what quantity of materials will each school receive and (d) what are the cost involved in each case?
(2) Whether there will be any training offered to teachers on how to use these learning toolkits; if not, why not; if so, (a) who will be conducting the training and (b) when will the training take place?
(3) Whether any monitoring mechanisms are in place to evaluate the (a) implementation process, (b) success rate and (c) outcome of these materials in classrooms; if not, (i) why not and (ii) when will the mechanisms be developed and implemented; if so, what are the relevant details?
Reply:
(1)
Different sets of learner support materials have been ordered or are being developed for 2010: i) a Grade R resource pack to support effective teaching in Grade R and b) workbooks for learners in Grades 1 to 6, to be used in conjunction with the Lesson Plans developed as part of the foundations for learning programme.
(a) The Grade R resource packs will be delivered to Grade R teachers in all public schools that offer Grade R, and all community sites offering Grade R, and whose addresses are available to Department of Basic Education (DoBE): The learners workbooks for Grades 1 to 6 on the other hand are intended for the poorest 80 percent of the schools in the country: quintiles 1 to 4.
(b) The Grade R packs will be distributed to schools in the first week of January 2010 whilst all schools should have the foundations for learning workbooks by the end of January.
(c) i) Each school will receive a Grade R resource pack that includes the following:
* A 48-page resource book
* Five A1-sized posters
* Forty reproducible worksheets (eight) printed on the back of each poster;
* A 24-page "big book" storybook containing five 4-paged stories along with teacher notes
* A 32 page Teacher's Guide of daily lesson plans and weekly assessment tasks
ii) Workbooks for Grades 1 to 6 will be for all the learners in the targeted schools.
(d) The total cost for the 15 000 Grade R resource packs inclusive of development, packaging and distribution is R3,92 million, an average cost of R260 per pack. For learner workbooks the total cost is estimated at R524 million.
(2)
The print material will be supported by 13 x 20-minute training DVDs to be sent to district offices and to be used by district officials to guide teachers on how to use the resources.
It will be further supported by a broadcast of a 20 episode television series by SABC 2 aimed at educators, parents and caregivers, to provide them with fundamental understanding of how their children learn and how to use the resources.
3)
The programme will be monitored on two levels:
* Monitoring of reach and utilization of materials in the various schools by national, provincial and district curriculum advisors; a plan of action for the year has already been developed jointly with officials in the different levels of the system
* The impact and effectiveness will be monitored and measured through focusing on a sample of schools. The findings will inform further refinements and/or the development of future materials.