The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) has presented awards to 47 primary schools for achievement in Grade 3 literacy and numeracy tests.

The ceremony for the 2009 awards took place on Tuesday, 12 May, at Jan van Riebeeck High School, Cape Town. The WCED presented for the second time - the department presented the first awards last year.

The WCED has tested performance in literacy and numeracy in primary schools every year since 2002, alternating between Grades 3 and 6. The department based last year's awards on the Grade 6 tests in late 2007.

The WCED based the 2009 awards on the Grade 3 tests in October and November 2008. A total of 74 119 Grade 3 learners took part in the tests last year at 1 066 primary schools.

Ron Swartz, Head of Education in the Western Cape, said the department had collected "a vast database over the past seven years, which gives extremely valuable insights into the challenges we are facing as we strive to improve literacy and numeracy results".

"We try and far as possible to cover every learner in these grades in the province. The data makes it possible to drill down from the provincial level, to districts, circuits, schools, classes and even to individual learners."

The WCED has used this data to develop a comprehensive literacy and numeracy strategy, launched in 2006. "The results have made it possible to design well-informed interventions where they are needed the most. We also use this data to track progress," Mr Swartz said.

"The main challenge has been to mobilise an army of teachers and education specialists to tackle the issues involved in a unified, systematic way. This is no mean task, but Brian Schreuder and his team have done excellent work over the years to make this possible."

"We have learned many lessons in the process. These include the fact that there is no quick fix. We are looking here at the long term. It may take 15 or 20 years before we are achieving results that we can feel satisfied with."

"We cannot underestimate the impact of poverty on the abilities of our learners, schools and communities to improve literacy and numeracy results," Mr Swartz said.

"The issues we are dealing with go well beyond the classroom and the school, to our communities, to society as a whole, as we grapple with the debilitating effects of poverty on our capacity to learn and to reach for dreams that seem unassailable."

"And yet, in this sea of poverty and despair, we find islands of hope and achievement. Tonight we will celebrate 47 examples of schools that give us hope, often in very difficult circumstances. There are many more, but we cannot give all of them awards tonight."

Mr Swartz said the success of all of these schools had demonstrated the power of teachers, principals and officials who are committed to making a difference.

"Every story of success is a story of people getting stuck in, applying best practice, developing best practice and sharing these ideas with others. Every single school represented here tonight is an example of best practice. Our challenge will be how to create opportunities for you to share these ideas with others."

Mr Swartz said that the results so far had shown that interventions do work. Grade 3 literacy results have improved by 17.8% since 2002, from 35.7% to 53.5% in 2008.

"This is a remarkable achievement, which compares with the best in the world for exercises of this kind. However, we still have a long way to go to improve this performance further," Mr Swartz said.

"Unfortunately, our learners still struggle with maths. Numeracy results have in fact decreased slightly from 37.1% in 2002 to 35% in 2008, a decline of 2.1%."

"The figures suggest that we have focused too much on literacy and not enough on numeracy. We are now paying much more attention to maths."

"While we are well aware of our challenges, we also have many reasons to celebrate," Mr Swartz said. He provided additional statistics to illustrate this point.

"For example, no less than 628 primary schools improved their literacy results, representing 58.9% of the 1 066 primary schools that wrote the tests. Of these, 337 schools saw substantial improvement, representing 31.6% of the total number of primary schools in the Western Cape."

"Meanwhile, the maths story is not all gloom and doom." Mr Swartz said. "No less than 595 primary schools improved their numeracy results in 2008 - representing 55.8% of the total number of primary schools."

Of these, no less than 262 schools saw substantial improvement, representing 24.6% of the primary schools in the province.

"These figures reflect the extent to which teachers, principals and officials are engaging with this issue and are helping to ensure than literacy and numeracy moves into a new era."

"Many of these schools are in poor communities and are demonstrating that poverty in itself does not have to be a barrier to learning."

"Of course, we cannot look at our literacy and numeracy strategy and the successes of individual schools in isolation. Ultimately, success will depend on addressing a wide range of issues to ensure that our schools provide access to quality education for all."

Mr Swartz congratulated all the award winner and thanked every school that is making a difference to literacy and numeracy results in the province.

Award categories

Awards were allocated in terms of identified criteria based on excellent and progressively consistent performance over the period 2004 to 2008. Recognition was also given to schools in terms of the social and economic context in which they function. The WCED specifically identified schools that have shown progress and improvement according to national quintiles.

In terms of the 2008 Grade 3 Literacy and Numeracy results, awards to Primary schools were allocated in the following categories:

Category 1: Performance excellence in outcomes

Category 1(a): Performance excellence in outcomes

In this category, awards were made to a maximum of eight schools (one school per district) where the performance in Numeracy and Literacy combined over the period 2004 to 2008 illustrates consistently meritorious outcomes. Excellence of outcomes was measured in terms of both the best pass rates and mean scores per district.

All awardees received a certificate as well as a monetary incentive of R12 000 for the purchase of teaching and learning support material.

Category 1(b): Excellence of outcomes in literacy

In this category, awards were made to eight schools (one per district) where the performance in Literacy over the period 2004 to 2008 illustrated consistently meritorious outcomes. Excellence of outcomes was measured in terms of both the best pass rates and mean scores, providing that the results of the school in Numeracy were also comparable. The winners in this category excluded the winners in category 1(a). All awardees received a certificate as well as a monetary incentive of R12 000 for the purchase of teaching and learning support material.

Category 1(c): Excellence of outcomes in numeracy

In this category, awards were made to eight schools (one per district) where the performance in Numeracy over the period 2004 to 2008 illustrated consistently meritorious outcomes, providing that the results of the school were comparable to the results achieved for Literacy. Excellence of outcomes is measured in terms of both the best pass rates and mean scores. The winners in this category excluded the winners in category 1(a) and 1(b). All awardees received a certificate as well as a monetary incentive of R12 000 for the purchase of teaching and learning support material.

Category 2: Overall Improvement in performance in the context within which a school operates

Improvement in overall performance

In this category, awards were made to schools (at least one per district in terms of the categories (a) to (c) below where applicable, that had shown the greatest improvement in Numeracy and Literacy over the period 2004 to 2008 relative to the context within which the school operates. The 'context within which a school operates' is based on the national quintiles (1-3) in which schools are currently categorized. Improvement was measured in terms of both pass rates and mean scores.

Awards were allocated in terms of:

a. Farm and Multigrade Schools

b. Schools with an enrolment of 600 learners or more

c. Schools with an enrolment of less than 600 learners

All awardees received a certificate as well as a monetary incentive of R15 000,00 for the purchase of teaching and learning support material.