1.

Introduction

The Grade 11 examination is a once-off exercise to prepare learners and the examination system for the first sitting of the National Senior Certificate in Grade 12 in 2008.

Circular 0042/2007 provided the final timetable for Grade 11 and the new pass requirements for the NSC were announced in Circular 0031/2007. Other circulars that have dealt with Grade 11 matters are 0025/2007, 0039/2007 and 0041/2007. Schools were also provided with exemplars and memoranda for all subjects in Grade 11 earlier in the year.

2.

Conducting the Grade 11 examination
2.1

Examination Minute DEA/0042/2007 provided the dates for when question papers will be delivered to schools. Principals will be responsible for the opening of the boxes of Grade 11 question papers. After checking that all the necessary question papers have been received, principals must ensure that the question papers are stored in the strongroom of the school, separate from the Grade 12 papers. The Grade 11 papers must, however, also be packed according to the sessions that will be written.
2.2 Schools must provide learners with writing paper, as the WCED will not supply writing books as in the case of the Grade 12 examination.
2.3 The packing of the question papers in the strongroom, as well as the opening of the papers on the day of the examination must follow the same procedure as the Senior Certificate examination. This will prevent any papers from being opened on the wrong date or time.
2.4 Invigilation must be managed by the school and must ensure that subject teachers do not invigilate their own subject.
2.5 Registers must be kept to record all the learners that have written a particular subject.
2.6 Head Office and EMDC officials will monitor the conduct of the Grade 11 examination.

3. Marking of the Grade 11 examination
3.1 The WCED will endeavour to provide schools with the memorandum of a subject as soon as possible after the paper has been written.
3.2 The intention is to provide these memoranda electronically via e-mail to schools and districts. Those schools that do not have e-mail access must obtain the memoranda from their district office. If schools do not receive the memorandum within a day, they must please contact Mr G Plaatjies of the Examination Directorate at (021) 467-2949.
3.3 Schools must download the memorandum for each paper from their e-mail after the paper has been written.
3.4 The memorandum must be printed and copies made for all teachers who will be marking the papers of a particular subject.
3.5 Heads of Department (HoDs) or subject leaders must discuss the memorandum with all the subject teachers who will be marking the papers. EMDCs may arrange memorandum discussions to ensure compliance with the final memorandum, but this must not be done in a way that will delay the marking process for teachers.
3.6 The memorandum is a final document and should be followed as closely as possible, noting however that there may be space for additional answers, synonyms etc. Teachers must exercise professional judgement for the benefit of the learner, but also maintain the integrity of the assessment.
3.7 Teachers should complete the marking of the scripts and the grand total must be written on the front cover of each script.
3.8 The totals for each question must be written on the front cover of the script in the case of the Languages (English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa), Mathematics and Mathematical Literacy.

4. Moderation of the Grade 11 examination
4.1 The principal must ensure that at least 5% of the scripts per Grade 11 subject are moderated by an HoD, subject leader or senior teacher. The moderation done at school must ensure that the marking process was conducted in a fair manner.
4.2 Internal moderation, which should include the examination and the school-based assessment, is an important quality assurance mechanism and has important developmental value.
4.3 Moderators must check
4.3.1 that the memorandum has been applied correctly and fairly,
4.3.2 that all relevant work has been marked,
4.3.3 that marks have been correctly allocated to answers,
4.3.4 that marks have been correctly added up,
4.3.5 that the mark sheets reflect the correct marks from the script,
4.3.6 that the calculation for the examination has been correctly captured and
4.3.7 that the final percentage for the subject has been correctly determined.
4.4 Specific feedback must be given to the teachers as soon as possible in order to ensure that the administration of the examination is not delayed in any way.

5. Mark sheets and schedules
5.1 Teachers must complete mark sheets for each subject, which must include the grand totals for each paper of the subject as well as the overall examination mark for the subject.
5.2 The school-based assessment mark may also be included in this mark sheet, so that a final mark for the subject may be obtained. This final mark must be converted to a percentage.
5.3 The mark sheets for the Languages, Mathematics and Mathematical Literacy will be provided by the WCED using the national Department of Education (DoE) programme. These subjects must be captured per question for each paper.
5.4 Schools must compile the final schedules from the final percentage of each subject.
5.5 The WCED schedule for 2008 was provided in Circular 0049/2007 and may be used to compile the schedule for Grade 11 in 2007.
5.6 A complete schedule for Grade 11 must be presented to the circuit manager or other EMDC official delegated by the Director of the EMDC for promotion purposes.

6. National Department of Education requirements
6.1 The national DoE has requested that the provinces supply them with the schedules of all schools for Grade 11.
6.2 The WCED will obtain these schedules directly from the EMDC after promotions have been effected.
6.3 The DoE has also requested provinces to conduct moderation of the Languages, Mathematics and Mathematical Literacy, and to supply the mark sheets for these subjects.
6.4 Heads of Department or Subject leaders must draw 9 internally moderated scripts for each of the following subjects:
  • English Home Language Papers 1 and 3
  • English First Additional Language Papers 1 and 3
  • Afrikaans Home Language Papers 1 and 3
  • Afrikaans First Additional Language Papers 1 and 3
  • Afrikaans Second Additional Language Papers 1 and 2
  • isiXhosa Home Language Papers 1 and 3
  • isiXhosa First Additional Language Papers 1 and 3
  • isiXhosa Second Additional Language Papers 1 and 3
  • Mathematics Papers 1 and 2.
  • Mathematical Literacy Papers 1 and 2.
6.5 The scripts from each paper may be selected according to the following criteria:

Percentage rangeNumber of scripts
80 - 1001
70 - 791
60 - 691
50 - 591
40 - 492
30 - 392
Below 301

This allows them to satisfy the following requirement:
3 scripts from substantial achievement and above (above 60%)
3 scripts from the moderate to adequate achievement (40% - 59%)
3 scripts from the elementary achievement and not achieved (below 40%)

6.6 The scripts must be sorted in ascending achievement (i.e. lowest mark on the top) for each paper of a subject and then batched per subject. Each subject batch must contain a cover page containing the subject name.

Example of a complete batch from a school:

English Home Language18 scripts (9 for Paper 1 and 9 for Paper 3)
Afrikaans Second Additional Language18 scripts (9 for Paper 1 and 9 for Paper 2)
isiXhosa Home Language18 scripts (9 for Paper 1 and 9 for Paper 3)
Mathematics18 scripts (9 for Paper 1 and 9 for Paper 2)
Mathematical Literacy18 scripts (9 for Paper 1 and 9 for Paper 2)
6.7 The batches of scripts should be bound with departmental brown wrappers so that each script is secure.
6.8 All the batches of scripts must be placed in a departmental courier bag, marked clearly as Grade 11 Examination and handed over to the courier company of the Examination Directorate. No other administration documents must be sent with the departmental courier company.
6.9 The WCED team of moderators consisting of Senior Curriculum Planners and Curriculum Advisers will moderate the scripts and provide a report to the national DoE.
6.10 Mark sheets for the above subjects must be completed per question and a copy must be returned to the WCED together with the sample of moderated scripts for these subjects.

7. Promotion process
7.1 It is important that learners that write national Grade 11 examinations in 2007 are not disadvantaged in comparison to learners in previous years.
7.2 The national Department of Education, in consultation with the provinces, has released the accompanying 'Guideline document for school principals and District Managers (EMDC Directors) on Managing the Grade 11 Promotion process' to assist schools during this first year of implementation of the new curriculum in Grade 11.
7.3 Schools should prepare for the promotion process in consultation with their EMDC office.

8. Reporting
8.1 Schools must continue with their normal reporting process immediately after the EMDC has approved their promotion schedules.
8.2 Reports must be done as per Government Gazette 29467 of December 2006, regarding the National Protocol for Recording and Reporting.
8.3 Reports must be supplied to parents by the last day of school (4 December 2007).

9. Appeals
9.1 Appeals from parents must be lodged within two weeks of the new term beginning in 2008 (i.e. by 31 January 2008).
9.2 The decision of the EMDC in terms of appeals is final.

10. Grade 11 Pilot Project
10.1 Ten schools have been selected in the Western Cape to participate in a Grade 11 pilot project for the DoE. Data gathered from these schools and their EMDCs will assist in strengthening the examinations for 2008.
10.2 These schools will need to complete DoE mark sheets for subjects that have been specifically identified for their school as part of the national project.

11. The WCED wishes all schools well in implementing the Grade 11 examination.


SIGNED: B.K. SCHREUDER
HEAD: EDUCATION
DATE: 2007:10:11

Managing the Grade 11 promotion processes  (size: 21 KB)
Government Gazette 29467: ... Regarding the National Protocol for Recording and Reporting  (size: 1 078 KB)