SECTION THREE

3.1 Synthesis and Major Observations

The Committee was acutely aware, throughout the investigation, of the tensions between focusing on the difficulties being experienced in schooling versus improving the Senior Certificate examination system. It is undoubtedly true that the main cause of poor performance in the examinations is poor learning opportunities. Nevertheless, the examination itself, as a highly visible end-point of schooling has played a role in exacerbating the poor performance of an unacceptably large number of candidates. These tensions are evident in the wide range of recommendations made. While the Committee has attempted to restrict itself to areas where remedial action is both feasible and implementable in the near future, it is inevitable that the need for costly, longer-term measures such as INSET need to be stated.

In general, and despite severe and often debilitating problems, the provincial education departments have coped amazingly well in managing the 1996 and 1997 Senior Certificate examinations. In large measure, this is due to committed staff working under difficult conditions. Understandably, however, this crisis management approach has meant that technical aspects of the examination process have been foregrounded, sometimes at the expense of the more formative educational role that is inherent in a good assessment system. The Committee has made a number of recommendations in this regard.

In many ways, the challenge facing the Senior Certificate is to achieve credibility as a meaningful and reliable high-stakes examination while at the same time transforming itself into a more relevant and flexible instrument in line with SAGA led reforms. In this process, the role of Quality Assurance is vital, and the Committee has made several suggestions about how this could be improved, including recommending a far greater and more proactive involvement of Curriculum sections.

A few points stood out in all the interactions that the Committee had with stakeholders. First, there was unanimity, often strongly expressed, that present structures and bodies should not be dismantled until replacements are in place and are able to function. Second, urgent consideration should be given to the levying of a fee for writing the Senior Certificate examination: the high failure rate, it was argued, stems partly from the participation of candidates who should never have been entered, but since there is no cost, do SQ almost as a gamble. Alongside this recommendation, the Committee has proposed the rapid introduction of a credible, free, public examination at Grade 9 level, which it is believed will help to reduce the numbers of failures by providing a realistic measure earlier in the system, and provide learners with a meaningful exit qualification at this level. Third, there was strong support for the maintenance and promotion of standards: while there is concern about poor performance, any suggestion that would result in erosion of these would be resisted.

In conclusion, the Committee found much to be impressed with in the course of its investigation. Equally, however, there are many serious problems and areas of dysfunctionality. In this Report, we have attempted to identify these, and to make (wherever possible), feasible and implementable recommendations that it is believed would greatly strengthen the whole Senior Certificate examination process.

3.2 Framework for Action
-
Action Time frame Responsible
A Task Team should be set up during 1998 to make recommendations regarding the standardisation of language assessment at Senior Certificate level. This team should concern itself with:
  • Standardising the weightings given to different components of the assessment in first language examinations, particularly in relation to
  • the 11 official South African languages;
  • Setting a time-frame for a shift in the emphasis of the examinations towards the communicative and higher cognitive skills embodied in the critical outcomes;
  • Setting a time frame for the training of panels of language examiners and moderators to implement these new assessment guidelines in practice.
 Starting Date:
End 1998

Ending Date:
End 2000

 DoE
The question of the examination fee to be charged overall needs investigation. Starting Date:
End 1999

Ending Date:
Begin 2000

 DoE
SAFCERT
The national Department of Education [DoE] should draw up a plan for the establishment of an ETQA for the Further Education and Training band, [FETQA] in line with the SAQA Act and regulations already gazetted by the Minister. This body has been posited in the FET green and white papers and the FET Act. The Department of Education should submit this plan to SAQA for approval as a matter of urgency, certainly before the end of 1998, and set up a governing body meeting the criteria for an ETQA to oversee the establishment of the new FETQA Starting Date:
End 1998

Ending Date:
End 1999

 DoE
SAQA
The newly appointed SAFCERT Council should be instructed by the Minister to work closely with the governing body of the new FETQA to Improve current quality assurance systems and establish new ones, with the understanding that SAFCERT will, during the next five years, be absorbed into the new FETQA; the new FETQA governing body should include some of the stakeholders already represented on the SAFCERT Council. Starting Date:
End 1998

Ending Date:
End 2002

 Minister Of
Education
SAFCERT
The SAFCERT Council should take immediate action on the following recommendations:
  • A high level post be created to oversee the appointment and training of SAFCERT moderators, to monitor the process of moderation of the examination papers, to monitor and co-ordinate input from marking into the process of statistical adjustment, and to ensure quality feedback is given to educators throughout the country.
  • A second person be appointed to work with the current CEO of SAFCERT to ensure that the adjustment of raw scores continues to be carried out in an educationally sound, sensitive and flexible manner after the current incumbent's retirement.
  • Attendance of the meetings of moderators and examiners must be made compulsory for the examiners and internal moderators of all examining bodies, and a way must be found to cover the costs. A concerted effort must be made to ensure that each of these meetings constitutes a serious opportunity for training and development.
  • A panel of moderators should be appointed for each subject. These posts should be advertised. The date of the meeting of the panel of moderators (or some specified time before that) should be announced in advance as the deadline for the submission of papers by the examining bodies, so as to ensure that comparison can be made across papers.
  • All correspondence between the moderators and the internal examiners and moderators of the examining bodies must be conducted through the SAFCERT office. All papers must be sent directly to SAFCERT.
  • A concerted effort must be made to reach consensus about common questions or a common paper on an experimental basis, even if only for a limited number of [or one] subjects. One possibility is an additional cross-curricular paper based on the critical outcomes. This should be introduced initially for a limited number of years. This could help to establish consistency of standards across different examining bodies/assessment agencies.
  • The SAFCERT annual report should play an educational role in addition to its present role. It should be made available to the  examining bodies, and could entail some analyses of the results and inferences which may be drawn from these. In addition, SAFCERT should interact more closely with the Department of Education throughout the year.
 Starting Date:
End 1998

Ending Date:
End 1999

 SAFCERT
Council
The new FETQA will gradually incorporate the SAFCERT functions as well as expanded quality assurance moderation functions that it should develop in consultation with the Department of Education Quality Assurance section. This will provide a basis for the accreditation of providers offering credits and qualifications in the FET band, using the resources and expertise of the proposed national and provincially based Learning Site Effectiveness Units [LSEUs]. It will also provide part of the basis for the accreditation of learner achievements, including those assessed internally, or assessed in part internally. This FETQA would cover only those providers (private and state) delivering qualifications which fall outside the sphere of SETAs. Starting Date:
End 1998

Ending Date:
End 2000

 DoE
An additional Quality Assurance body should be established as the co-ordinating and moderating agency for all of the ETQA's [including SETAs and professional bodies] deemed to fall within the world of work. This body will facilitate contact and co-ordination between providers and ETQAs as well as the moderating quality management across ETQAs.  Providers who are accredited by this workplace Quality Assurance body need not register with the Registrar of private further education providers as contemplated in the PET Act. Such registration will apply to all providers falling under the jurisdiction of the FETQA. Starting Date
End 1999

Ending Date:
End 2001

 DoE
The number of examination bodies/assessment agencies should be regulated by the imposition of stringent requirements derived from existing education and training policy. The existing 13 examination bodies currently recognised by SAFCERT should immediately be reduced to 11 based on a suggested minimum number of candidates of 500. The Department of Education, in consultation with the existing examining bodies, should investigate the possibility of pooling some of the resources in running the Senior Certificate examinations. Starting Date:
Begin 1999

Ending Date:
End 1999

 DoE
The Department of Education should set up a Task Team, including representatives from SAQA, the Department of Labour and the HE sector, to re-formulate the requirements for a Senior Certificate, and re-examine the requirements for endorsement for university entrance: This team should concern itself with:
  • Reaching agreement so that by the year 2002 all Senior Certificates meet the requirements set by SAQA for FETC level 4 qualifications;
  • Reaching agreement on whether, within this new context, there will be any need for additional requirements for endorsement for university entrance, or whether this should be left to individual faculties; during the redesign of Senior Certificate / FETC existing admission tests that promote equity and inclusiveness should be monitored to prevent them from becoming parallel admission systems to the current Senior Certificate examination;
  • Reaching agreement upon any other selection criteria or processes which might help to identify candidates for Higher Education who have had poor educational opportunities but achieved comparatively well; in this context the use of existing exams to show rank order of candidates per examination central for use in university admissions procedures could be investigated further,
  • Planning an advocacy campaign aimed at the HE sector to ensure that the interim Senior Certificate qualifications agreed upon are understood and accepted as credible by the key stakeholders.
 Starting Date:
End 1999

Ending Date:
End 2001

 DoE
Certain functions of the Matriculation Board of SAUVCA will be taken over by the FETQA in liaison with the Higher Education Quality Council. SAUVCA would continue to act as a spokesperson for the unified position of universities but the function of determining criteria for endorsement for university entrance would be negotiated through SAUVCA's membership of the relevant committees of SAGA - which establish rules of combination for FET Certificates. Starting Date:
End 1999

Ending Date:
End 2000

 SAQA SAUVCA
HEQC
The Committee recommends that the SACAT proposal (the inclusion of two skills-based tests in the SC examination set) be piloted in one province during the 1999 examination cycle, and that SAUVCA be asked to raise the necessary funds for this. It is further recommended that the Matriculation Board take primary responsibility for the project, in close liaison with the Department of Education. The contribution that these tests in academic literacy and numeracy could make to quality assurance at the Grade 12 level should be monitored. Starting Date:
End 1998		 DoE
Matric Board
A national INSET campaign should be launched to begin in 1999, and continue for a period of six years, targeting the teaching and learning of the critical outcomes throughout all grades, with special emphasis given to the context of language teaching. This will entail:
  • INSET training on classroom-based management and assessment of OBET, focusing on the critical outcomes;
  • INSET training targeting the use of existing materials for the teaching of language with an OBET approach, focusing particularly on the critical outcomes;
  • reinforcement by targeting critical outcomes in the examinations
 Starting Date:
Mid 1999

Ending Date:
End 2005

 DoE
Provinces
A national INSET campaign should be launched to begin in 1999, continuing for a period of six years, targeting the management of quality assurance systems and the introduction of reliable and valid internal assessment practices; this should focus on the establishment of competent Learning Site Effectiveness Units at national and provincial levels. This will entail:
  • · INSET training around quality assurance management systems for assessment at school quality co-ordinator level each school will have a designated quality co-ordinator whose job will include the organising and running of moderation and standardisation meetings, the convening of meetings for the setting and marking of assessments in learning area or year-group teams; the on-going development and implementation of internal whole-school assessment policy; and the internal co-ordination of INSET relating to assessment and quality assurance; practices;
  • INSET training around quality assurance management systems for departmental officials at middle management level; this will focus on preparing the current school development officers, subject advisors, etc., to perform the main quality management functions within the Learning Site Effectiveness Units in relation to the moderation of internal continuous assessment, including practicals, portfolios and orals; and in co-ordinating standardisation meetings at cluster and district level to ensure standards are interpreted consistently;
  • INSET training around quality assurance management systems for assessment at senior management level; this will prepare participants to monitor and ensure accountability in the LSEUs and take regular action on reports from middle management quality assurance functions, as well as co-ordinating moderation at provincial level and reporting to the Department of Education LSEU and the FETQA on relevant matters.
 Starting Date:
Mid 1999

Ending Date:
End 2005

 DoE
Provinces
A single, cost effective Further Education and Training Certificate should be developed to meet the requirements of a school leaving certificate, a work readiness certificate as well as an access to higher education certificate. This design would include the categorisation of subjects into fundamental, core and elective as well as subject packaging to ensure coherence. The process of rationalisation of school subjects and technical college subjects which is currently underway in the Department of Education should be broadened to include representatives of Department of Labour and SAGA and should extend its scope. It should take the form of a small Standing Committee which should bring in relevant stakeholders and research and development expertise as needed over a minimum period of five years to co-ordinate the following activities:
  • the rationalisation and revision of existing school and technical college subjects
  • the integration of Higher and Standard Grade subjects;
  • the research and design, in collaboration with appropriate SETAs, of alternative vocationally-oriented subjects/learning areas and qualifications;
  • the development, in collaboration with selected SETAs and ETQAs of a number of new sectorally-oriented qualifications at NQF levels 2-4, involving key combinations of subjects and including learnerships;
  • the development of learning programmes for the above qualifications;
  • the development of valid and reliable assessments for the above qualifications;
  • the generation of transformative standards for the above qualifications at levels 2-4 on the NQF in the context of a genuine standards-setting process [which takes time];
  • the piloting of the above new qualifications within selected schools and colleges, to begin by the year 2000 at the latest;
  • · the piloting of the above new qualifications involving learnerships in the context of partnerships between education and industry to begin by the year 2000 at the latest;
  • the initiation of tracer studies to acquire sufficient data evaluate the success of the programmes and qualifications in terms of access to employment and to HE;
  • the gradual phasing in of the above new qualifications, with the outdated versions only being discontinued when the replacement subjects/learning areas have been proved successful, relevant and appropriate.
 Starting Date:
Mid 1999

Ending Date:
End 2004

 DoE
DoL
SAQA
The committee recommends that a date be clearly set during 1999 by the Minister of Education for the implementation of the age of 15 as the end of compulsory and free education. This should not take place until a credible GETC examination has been established. Starting Date:
End 1998		 Minister of Education
The Department of Education should ensure that a GETC be designed at a national level and piloted in selected representative schools in all Provinces, beginning in the year 2000 at the latest. Starting Date:
Mid 1999

Ending Date:
End 2005

 DoE
Provinces
The Examinations Boards of the various examining authorities should provide detailed feedback on performance in examinations to all the role players including subject advisors and schools. There should be clear mechanism for monitoring the performance and effectiveness of this function. The Examinations and Curriculum Sections should accept joint responsibility for the distribution of information and, through careful tracking of the dissemination process, be able to account for, and be held responsible for, this essential function. This should take place with immediate effect. Starting Date:
Immediate		 Examination Boards of Examining Authorities
Close and effective working relationships between Curriculum and Examination sections need to be established as a matter of urgency. The DoE needs to assume a more proactive role in this regard. Starting Date:
Immediate		 DoE
Capacity needs to be built in terms of understanding and analysis of the standardisation and normalisation procedures. SAFCERT should take an active role in the training of personnel who are involved in the statistical processes in Provinces. This requires immediate attention. Starting Date:
Immediate		 SAFCERT
The DoE should institute an appraisal system that is agreed to all by teacher organisations. The urgency of such an instrument cannot be over-emphasised, particularly in view of the commitment to introduce continuous assessment in all provinces as a major step towards re-establishing a culture of teaching and learning. In addition, without a functioning appraisal system, it is unlikely that the present system of moderation used for practicals and orals can be relied on. Starting Date:
Immediate		 DoE
In the short term, it will be essential to introduce a statistical mechanism for ensuring the validity and reliability of continuous assessment. This matter should be investigated, immediately, by SAFCERT, in conjunction with IPEC. Starting Date:
Immediate

Ending Date:
April 1999

 IPEC
SAFCERT
The Curriculum Section of the DoE should ensure that as from the 1999 Senior Certificate examination, there is uniformity in the mark allocations given to orals and practicals across cognate subjects (e.g. all First Languages (HG) should have the same mark allocations). In addition, consideration should be given to the matter of the marks of part-time candidates being constituted in the same way as full-timers - that is, including an oral or practical component. Starting Date:
Immediate

Ending Date:
End 1999

 DoE
The Examination Boards of the various examining authorities should ensure that the posts of examiners and internal moderators are widely advertised, and that the criteria for the selection of examiners should be broadened to include demonstrated proficiency in the languages in which the subject is to be written, as well as assessment expertise. Starting Date:
Immediate		  
The job descriptions of subject advisors need to be reviewed with a view to including greater responsibility in the examination process. Starting Date:
Immediate

Ending Date:
April 1999

 DoE
Examiners' reports need to be carefully designed with a view to their influence on teaching and learning. Examiners should receive specific training in this regard, based on past reports as well as new formats. Examiners should be included in designing the reports with subject advisors, who should in addition be trained and included in the marking teams. The Curriculum section should manage this. Starting Date:
Immediate

Ending Date:
End 1998

 Examination Units
The Curriculum section should be tasked, with immediate effect, with an overall qualitative analysis of the examiners' reports in their province, and with making recommendations for their improvement as well as for their use. It is this section's responsibility to ensure that they are maximally used, and that their use is reported on. In cases where there is no subject advisor, contingency plans should be developed and implemented. Starting Date:
Immediate		 Provincial Curriculum Units
As Smatter of urgency, the examining of all first languages should be brought into line insofar, as is possible with current syllabi. This recommendation is covered in some detail under 2.1.10. From the perspective of assessment, however, all moderators and examiners of first languages should be trained as a group, and the examiners' reports ought to be circulated and discussed as a group, using the media to maximise feedback. The Curriculum section should undertake, as a matter of urgency, the steps needed to fulfil this function. Starting Date:
Immediate		 National Curriculum Unit
Further investigation of the variations in post structure in the Examinations Section needs to be undertaken by the DoE. Clearly, the wide variations in structure militate against good administration, and this requires immediate attention. Starting Date:
Immediate

Ending Date:
April 1999

 DoE
The Communications sections of the DoE as well as the provinces should develop strategies for using the media to maximise feedback on examination issues and their related curricular implications. Starting Date:
Immediate		 Provincial and National Communication Units
A set of operations manuals that outline the flow and functions of the whole computer examination system should be developed. This should be structured along the lines of a year plan, and should include typical target   dates, actions to perform, function codes and statistics. Built into this should be a provision for progress reporting, within the province and into the Departmental Head Office. A number of provinces have already started to develop this type of documentation. These efforts should be co ordinated, by IPEC and the ITC, to produce standardised quality documentation. Provinces that have started to develop such documentation should make it available at the next ITC meeting. Following an appraisal of the work done to date there should be input from all provinces which will assist in producing a detailed, comprehensive, user friendly documentation which everyone can use. A project team, with a person from each province, who could stay in touch either by email, fax or even telephone can then decide the level of detail that should be included in this documentation. There should be a provision for provinces to be able to then personalise this documentation in order to suit their individual needs. Starting Date:
Oct 1998

Ending Date:
End 1998

 Systems administrator IPEC/ITC
Q Data
Provincial EMIS units should be used to facilitate the creation of queries from the flat file download where the examination unit does not have the capacity. Q Data could advise Provincial EMIS personnel at one of the EMIS workshops on how to create and download the flat files. EMIS personnel will then provide training and support locally on how to manage the flat files after download and how to link to other databases, as well as create macros on request. Starting Date:
Oct 1998

Ending Date:
Nov 1998

 EMIS
Q Data should urgently proceed with their investigation, as approved by IPEC, looking into alternative options. Starting Date:
In Progress

Ending Date:
Nov 1998

 Q Data
All requests should initially be referred to the Help Desk. If the function or a similar programme exists, the local consultant should be informed of  this. It is important that all provinces must be advised of all requests in order to avoid duplication and to facilitate buy-in for any requests that have national benefits. New, and proposed, functions can be discussed at the ITC meeting. It is essential that Systems Administrators and IT representatives should attend the ITC meetings. Starting Date:
Immediate		 Systems administrator Q Data
Although one can not be prescriptive it is recommended that all provinces use the same source code. The level of uniqueness in provinces is so small,that only a few specialised functions or peripheral programmes are needed. The benefits of centralised source codes are overwhelming. Provinces share the cost for programme updates, history files are common to all provinces, and standardised statistics are available to the national department to name a few.
It is strongly recommended that Gauteng and Northern Province migrate back to the central source code. The amount of customisation needed is very small and could be accommodated on the centrally. KwaZulu-Natal is unique in having their own programmers to customise the central source code for their peculiar needs. There is no reason why Gauteng and Northern Province could not do the same if required.		 Starting Date:
Sep 1998

Ending Date:
June 1999

 Gauteng Northern Province
Q Data has continued to play an important role in the success of Senior Certificate examinations in the past. In the view of the committee they have gone that "extra mile" in order to assist both the provinces and Departmental Head Office processes. There is a general consensus of opinion that says that without the commitment of Q Data personnel, at all levels; a number of provincial examinations could have been in jeopardy. We could find no pressing reasons to either terminate Q Data's contract or not to recommend that the existing contract be extended. It is important to remember that when the new Tender for maintenance of the existing contract is written, it should highlight the need for a significant period of up to twelve months of parallel support where any new successful contractor and Q Data will need to work side-by-side. Starting Date:
Oct 1998

Ending Date:
Begin 1999

 Tender Board
The impact on, and close relationship of, the maintenance and support of both the Help Desk and History Files sub-systems that we examined, and the sub-system for "Formal Technical Colleges" and "Teachers Examinations" is important. These are all covered by the existing agreement with Q Data. Because of the time constraints these two later sectors were not investigated by the IT sub-committee. It is our recommendation that further investigation should be carried out in order to ensure that there is a more complete, and rounded report covering all aspects of Q Data's role in supporting the total examinations system and its users. This point was also highlighted in the "Limitations" section of this report.
It is therefore recommended that approval be given for the provision of further resources to allow an examination of these other two sections. Such an investigation would cover the whole spectrum of the services being offered by Q Data, as well as their potential to operate as standalone sub-systems, if this is seen as being applicable in the future. This may be necessary should future contracts be awarded to other suppliers when a phased implementation is advisable. This recommendation has the support of Mr André Reyneke, Directorate: National Examinations and Assessment.		 Starting Date:
Oct 1998

Ending Date:
Nov 1998

 IPEC
IT Subcommittee
The committee does not recommend that there should be a Tender for a brand new examination system until Curriculum 2005 is firmly established and actual dates of implementation are finalised.
There was a feeling from some of the people interviewed that the development and maintenance of any examination system must be separated and that different companies should perform these functions.One advantage of such an approach is that this will ensure a fresh and innovative approach from the maintenance team. The disadvantage on the other hand is that an examination computer system is a very technical and complicated programme. It will take a long time before any new company can change and maintain the more technical parts such as the resulting programme. In any system the people who developed that system know the system the best and will deliver the best maintenance service. Also, when there are different companies handling different parts or functions of the system, where does the ultimate responsibility lie? When the Department of Education of Education goes out to tender for the maintenance of the existing system, as and from September 1999, there are a number of factors to consider before writing the Tender Document:
  • The Tender must be open to all interested companies, but cannot exclude the company that developed the system.
  • All companies must indicate how they will ensure a smooth transition. They must indicate how and when they will obtain the necessary expert knowledge of the examination computer system. This training process must be completed before the start of the maintenance contract and the cost must be included in the Tender.
  • It will be impossible for another company to employ some of the current Q Data consultants due to a clause in their contracts with Q Data.
  • If a new contract is awarded to another company that specifies the instant withdrawal of Q Data consultants, this could lead to the collapse of the whole examination process. Each province's capacity to perform all the Systems Administrator duties must be carefully analysed before removing any Q Data consultants.
  • Without a centralised knowledgeable Help Desk, as currently provided by Q Data, support will have to be localised. Current budget constraints mean that most provinces cannot afford this facility. Therefore any Tender must include the provision of a central Help Desk.
  • If the Tender is awarded from September t October 1999 there will not be enough time to train new consultants before the start of the November 1999 examinations. The whole transition process has to be planned very carefully and we are not certain that any of the provinces has both the manpower and facilities to ensure a smooth handover.
 Starting Date:
Oct 1998

Ending Date:
Begin 1999

 Tender Board
According to tender RTS 1021 the department must supply the necessary infrastructure in order for the Help Desk to function effectively. This include computers, printers, network access, software packages etc.The computers and printers which the Q Data Help Desk inherited are old and prone to breakdowns. Most of it is equipment that was used by the ex-departments. If one expects quality service from the Help Desk, it should be given quality equipment and support. Q Data has had to buy software packages out of their own resources in order to be able to continue to offer the level of service expected.
The Help Desk should fall under the Department of Education and they should budget for it. No single province should be asked to take responsibility for the Help Desk, and it is impossible for all provinces to take joint responsibility.
The committee strongly recommends that the Help Desk has a designated person in the national Department of Education to whom they can report. Presently they are accountable only to IPEC and this creates problems when there are ongoing and urgent issues that need to be discussed, and decisions made. There is a precedent, as the Technical College system has a contact person at Head Office as well as an IT contact at the national Department of Education.		 Starting Date:
Oct 1998

Ending Date:
Nov 1998

 IPEC
DoE
All revenue collected by the examination unit will go directly to the central treasury. The examination unit acts as an agent between the applicant for a new certificate and SAFCERT. They collect the fees from the candidates and submit the request for a new certificate together with the payment to SAFCERT. Whilst the provincial department is involved in the work and incurs costs the money collected goes directly to the treasury. Mechanisms to correct this need to be examined. Starting Date:
Oct 1998

Ending Date:
Feb 1999

 Department of Finance
IPEC
There is a general feeling that all candidates should pay examination fees, in line with the Constitution, which guarantees Free education up to Grade On. The strongest feeling was that all of the "private" candidates, supplementary and re-sits" should pay at registration. This is because although the same cost is incurred in preparing for each of these candidates as for each year's new senior certificate examination candidates, the number of attendees that fit into this category that actually sit the examination is less than 50%, and in some provinces the figures quoted were less than 20%. As an example one of the provinces has two private candidates who enrolled for ten subjects (the maximum) each. It is inconceivable that they would write even 5 or 6 of these.
This year there is currently a total of 825 689 candidates who have registered. Of these 223 663 are Privates. This means that costs will be incurred for between 100 000 and 150 000 candidates who have no intention of sitting their examinations. Up-front costs will minimise this problem and bring additional revenue to the system.		 Starting Date:
Oct 1998

Ending Date:
Middle 1999

 DoE
IPEC
SAFCERT does not receive any funds from Treasury. Provinces pay an amount of R7 for each certificate issued by SAFCERT and this revenue finances the whole operation of SAFCERT. According to internal policies, payment by the Provinces should be made with their submission of requests for Certificates. This often does not happen and provinces delay payment until as late as possible, usually because this is the end of the financial year and most Provinces do not have any funds left. If SAFCERT so decided, this could cause a legitimate delay in the processing of the requests.
Certificates could be printed as early as February/March but is normally only printed in May/June or even later.

The ideal would be that provinces deposit an amount of money to a suspense account once the numbers of candidates for the current year's examinations are finalised. The amount could, for example, be based on the number of certificates issued the previous years examinations. The provinces can earn interest on the money in the suspense account until the certificates are processed. If this approach is used there will be no delays in SAFCERT receiving their payment. It will also ensure that each province uses its current budget to pay for costs incurred during that year. Obviously Treasury must be consulted to find the best way of handling this proposal.

 Starting Date:
Oct 1998

Ending Date:
End 1998

 Department of Finance
The certification process should start as quickly as possible. Unfortunately most provinces delay the submission of their data to even as late as June. The reasons for this are twofold:
  • Provinces wait for the finalisation of re-marks and the supplementary
  • Provinces wait for the new financial year before submitting their first data.

Provinces should be encouraged to submit a first round of data just after the closing dates for the application for re-marks and/or the supplementary examination. The current examinations computer system has the option to submit data on candidates who have no pending re-marks or supplementary examinations. Thus provinces can certify 80% of their candidates early in February and the rest after the finalisation of the supplementary examination and queries. This will mean that candidates will receive their certificates much earlier than at present which will assist them in interviews etc. It will also show that the Department does care about meeting their needs.

 Starting Date:
Oct 1998

Ending Date:
End 1998

 Provincial Heads of Examinations
The major reason for the perception that the services of Q Data consultants are expensive is because they are often performing many of the duties that the provincial personnel should. This includes systems administrator duties, planning, network maintenance, attending of meetings etc. Normally this happens because the province does not have the internal resources or capacity to perform these responsibilities. It is therefore necessary to look into strategies to develop provincial capacity in these areas as soon as possible. In doing so major savings can be implemented. Starting Date:
Oct 1998

Ending Date:
End 1999

 Provincial Heads of Examinations
All provinces must embark on a process to identify and train their own Systems Administrator, as well as their backup. A fully qualified Systems Administrator should be appointed at least at the level of Assistant Director bearing in mind that they play a major role in the project planning and management of the examinations. Starting Date:
Oct 1998

Ending Date:
Begin 1998

 Provincial Heads of Examinations
Q Data, as a company, has a policy whereby they train affirmative action candidates at their Q Data Academy, and then place them with their clients for practical experience. These ~trainees. then function as consultants for a period of approximately up to a year. The tariffs charged for these trainee consultants are such that they are only meant to cover the cost of the training that is being provided on an ongoing basis. The cost is approximately a third of a normal Q Data consultant. After the one-year period the client is given the option of employing this person permanently. If the client decides otherwise, Q Data will take the trainee back and utilise his/her services elsewhere.
The Gauteng Department of Education has used three trainee consultants to manage the IT side of the regional offices. After a period of about eight months the regional offices were self-sufficient and two of the trainees went back to Q Data whilst the third one was transferred to the Provincial Head Office.
Trainee consultants can play a mayor role in the transition from a situation where Q Data consultants play a dominant role to where the province can be virtually self-supporting. The trainee consultant can be absorbed by the province either as a Systems Administrator or as an IT professional.		 Starting Date:
Oct 1998		 IPEC
Most of the computerized history is currently on a centralized database. Gauteng Province pays the cost for the maintenance of the history Oct 1998 database and then bills the other Provinces proportionately. The paper based records are scattered throughout South Africa. Based on the Ending Date: policies of the previous examination bodies paper based records are End 1999 housed in Pretoria, Cape Town, Bloemfontein, Ulundi and Umtata. The history files are a national asset and their need will increase in importance once SAQA and the NQF becomes fully functional. The Department of Education must take responsibility for the maintenance and cost of the history database. The national Department of Education must have a unit that takes responsibility for all historical records.
The paper-based records vary greatly in format and specialised personnel are necessary to process them. Although it would be better if all paper based records can be centralized; the personnel working with these records must receive training for each different format. Even in one examining body there might be quite a few different formats over the years. It is therefore recommended that the paper-based records remain in the provinces where they are presently kept.
The cost of computerising the paper-based files would be very high and the frequency of usage does not justify such costs. Part of this unit should be a Help Desk where requests for copies of paper-based records are co-ordinated. All requests irrespective of province should be directed to this Help Desk. This Help Desk will then contact the applicable province to obtain the record.		 Starting Date:
Oct 1998

Ending Date:
End 1999

 IPEC
DoE
Some provinces have started to look at strategies to retain IT professionals in the province. All provinces should embark on a unified strategy to pay IT personnel market-related salaries. Starting Date:
Oct 1998

Ending Date:
Middle 1999

 IPEC
Provincial IT units
This system was also developed by Q Data. No uniform decision has been taken on the future of this system. Presently three provinces are still using this system. The Colleges of Education history files from the other provinces are scattered in different formats and in several locations. In some cases only a spreadsheet on a single microcomputer constitutes the historical record for some provinces. IPEC should find a suitable solution for the processing of examinations and history files of Colleges of Education. Starting Date:
Oct 1998

Ending Date:
Middle 1999

 IPEC
Although the present computer system is year 2000 compliant, it is recommended that the results be issued before 31 December 1999 so as to prevent any unforeseen problems with networks, telephone connections, electricity supply etc.   IPEC

Contents   Section 2    Appendicies