1. Enclosed is the analysis of the results obtained by the Western Cape Education Department in the 2008 National Senior Certificate examinations.
2. During the marking in December 2008, the marks scored by each candidate were captured per question for each question paper to enable the WCED to provide this analysis to schools.
3. Curriculum managers and advisers are provided with data for the province and per district so that intervention strategies can be devised to assist teachers to deal with difficult aspects of the syllabus.
4. This data will also enable each school to identify where their candidates performed well and where they struggled with questions.
5. The data should also assist principals in their task of assuring the standard and quality of the work at their schools.
6. The data includes the following for each school:
  • The percentage difference above or below the provincial average that its candidates achieved in each question (A positive percentage difference indicates that the average percentage was above the provincial average, while a negative percentage difference indicates an average percentage below the provincial average).
  • The number of candidates who attempted each question.
  • The deviation in the average percentage between what the candidates scored in the paper as a whole and the average for the province (This appears in the last column).
7. The teachers involved in each subject should discuss the data, identify strong and weak areas, and use the information in their subject planning for this year.
8. Where serious challenges are identified in a subject, subject heads must contact curriculum advisers for assistance. The teachers, whose candidates have achieved notable success in specific questions may be requested by curriculum advisers to provide advice to schools that have performed poorly.
9. The WCED is confident that schools will derive benefit from this information and that it will contribute to an improvement in the quality of education in the Western Cape.


SIGNED: BK SCHREUDER
HEAD: EDUCATION
DATE: 2009:01:22


The documents, referred to in this Minute will be sent to schools.