WCED Home page | Media Releases Index page


Media Release

21 January, 2009

WCED launches Foundations for Learning Campaign

The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) will implement the national Foundations for Learning Campaign this year to improve the literacy and numeracy skills of primary school learners.

The WCED launched the campaign in the Western Cape in November last year. The campaign will lay a solid foundation in languages and mathematics in the Foundation and Intermediate Phases in primary schools, which cover Grades R to 6.

The WCED has participated in developing the national campaign, which now represents the latest phase of the department's strategy to improve literacy and numeracy in primary schools.

"We want to be sure that every teacher, every principal, every manager in the education system knows exactly what must be done to provide and track quality education," said Education Minister Naledi Pandor, when she launched the national campaign last year.

"We want to be sure that every learner accepts the challenges of learning and that every parent and guardian accepts the responsibility of having a learner in the house. The campaign aims to increase the average learner performance in languages and mathematics to no less than 50% by 2011.

The national department will conduct a national evaluation in 2011, which will assess the languages and mathematics abilities of learners in South Africa. The WCED has tested the literacy and numeracy skills of primary school learners every year since 2002, alternating between Grades 3 and 6. The results informed special interventions by the WCED, culminating in the launch of a comprehensive literacy and numeracy strategy in 2006.

The tests have shown that interventions do work. Grade 3 literacy results, for example, improved by 12.2% over the three testing periods from 2002 to 2006, from 35.5% to 47.7%.

Grade 6 literacy results improved by 9.8% from 35% in 2003 to 44.8% in 2007. While literacy has improved, learners still struggle with maths. Grade 3 maths results in 2006 saw a decline of 6.5% from 37.3% to 31%. Numeracy results in Grade 6 saw an increase from 15.6% in 2003 to 17.2% in 2005, and then a decline to 14% in 2007.

"We have a long way to go before we achieve the 50% mark in maths," said Yousuf Gabru, MEC for Education in the Western Cape. "While literacy continues to be a challenge, our biggest challenge is to improve results in maths."

Meanwhile, the WCED will continue various interventions that have assisted in improving results to date. These include 120 full-time specialists who are engaging with every school needing special support, with a special focus on teacher development and school management. Special focus areas will continue to include best teaching practice and teachers' knowledge of assessment standards.

The Quality Improvement, Development, Support and Upliftment Programme (Qids-UP) will continue to provide resources, including libraries in poor schools.

The WCED allocated 364 additional teaching posts to the Foundation Phase in poor schools in 2008 to reduce class sizes and will allocate a further 150 new posts for this purpose in 2009. The department has established 510 teaching assistant posts to support Foundation Phase teachers in poor schools.

The WCED's Curriculum Directorate has developed work schedules and pace setters, including daily routines for numeracy specifically for the Foundations for Learning campaign.

This includes a 37-week numeracy learning programme, which will guide teachers on a weekly basis in the classroom. The department is encouraging learner support teachers to collaborate with teachers in mainstream schools, so that teachers in mainstream schools can learn from strategies used to teach learners with special education needs (LSEN).

The WCED has launched a campaign to encourage parents to practice literacy and maths with their children at home. This largely involves tips on what parents can do at home to build skills required by the Foundation Phase curriculum.

The WCED is establishing 49 circuit teams to provide in-depth support to schools, where this is needed the most. This support will include teacher development and support for school leadership and management, especially at primary schools.

Literacy and numeracy is the WCED's number one priority and forms part of the department's strategy to build the Foundation and Intermediate Phases as the bedrock for all future learning.



Issued by:
Paddy Attwell
Director: Communication
Western Cape Education Department
Tel: 021 467 2531
Fax: 021 461 3694
Email: pattwell@pgwc.gov.za

 return to: WCED Home page | Media Releases Index page
© 2009 WCED