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The SONA has highlighted several issues with regard to Basic Education which elicit the following responses:

1. The emphasis placed on reading with understanding supports the often recorded position of the SAOU, namely, that if good reading skills are not learned during the Foundation Phase, it does not only negatively influence language teaching, but also all other subjects including Mathematics and Science. The TIMSS results of 2015 and the PIRLS results of 2016 pointed out that SA learners are performing far below acceptable international standards.

2. However, the training of Foundation and Intermediate Phase educators to teach reading skills is in practice a formidable challenge: The number involved is as many as 120,000 educators. Putting that number of educators through a well-thought-out program will place particular demands on educators, as well as affected schools, as the training must develop certain behavioural patterns and teach new ones. It is therefore not a program that can be completed in 2 or 3 afternoon sessions. Behavioural changes require a purposeful process, not an event or two.

3. For reading programs to be successful in the long term, it also means that learners should be able to write coherent sentences and paragraphs. The proven lack of practice of those skills is precisely one of the greatest problems identified by researchers.

Full Statement Attached

Issued by The SAOU