20% 'maths pass' deserves an A for effort

Published Dec 14, 2016

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From where I stand, condoning those senior phase pupils who pass all their other subjects, but get between 20% and 40% in maths, makes short-term sense for longer-term gain, writes Wayne Hugo.

Durban - By the end of this article I hope to convince you the decision to drop the "pass mark" for maths in Grades 7, 8, and 9 from 40percent to 20percent makes sense in the world of South African education. I think it’s a good short-term decision for a poorly functioning but slowly improving system.

Two years ago, in 2014, the department raised the pass rate of maths from 30 percent to 40 percent for the senior phase.

They also made a maths pass compulsory to get promoted to the next level. All of a sudden, pupils had to pass maths at a higher level in order to pass their grade. This is a good long-term ambition, but it was too early for South Africa.

Many of our senior phase pupils simply could not reach this level in maths, and so, they were going to fail this year, even if they passed their other subjects.

They fail the year if they fail maths, even if they don’t want to carry on with it in Grade 10.

As a result of the 2014 change in promotion requirements, thousands of our pupils, who would have historically passed, and who are passing all other subjects, suddenly find themselves trapped in the system.

What are the consequences of increasing the number of pupils forced to repeat a grade?

Don’t imagine a nice, rich, suburban school when answering the question, think about the majority of our schools.

Don’t imagine an individual pupil going back into the welcoming arms of a teacher who takes special care to ensure all the issues, gaps and misunderstandings are sorted out.

Rather, work with what research shows happens, that pupils who fail lose interest, drop out, become problematic, and act out. Grade repetition enormously increases inefficiencies in the system as a whole.

Now imagine sending all these pupils back a year and disrupting the dynamics of the younger class coming up, all because of an ill-thought-out 2014 change in promotion requirements. Also, bear in mind that our education system is slowly improving. We know this from the just-released international test (TIMSS) that show our Grade 9 pupils have improved dramatically in comparison to 15 years ago.

In the near future you will also find out that we have dramatically improved in comparison to our neighbouring countries in southern and eastern Africa (Sacmeq). We are an improving education system.

But educational improvement is slow and takes many years, so the 2014 decision to hike the maths pass from 30percent to 40percent and to make it compulsory to pass was premature.

It traps those pupils who have not yet benefited from a slowly improving system with the higher pass rate requirements that will increasingly make sense in the near future.

What do you do in a situation like this?

First, you make it clear that the decision to drop the pass rate from 40percent to 20percent will deal only with pupils currently caught in the trap. It’s not a long-term policy decision but a short-term solution.

You do this by not changing the pass rate but by allowing for "condoned passes" of those specific pupils affected.

A condoned pass is where, even though the pupil has failed, a decision is made to promote the pupil.

Who are the specific pupils? Those pupils in Grades 7, 8, and 9 who pass all their other subjects and get more than 20percent but less than 40percent for maths.

Second, you make sure this decision does not cause stress in the higher grades.

Pupils doing really badly in maths cannot be allowed to carry on with maths in Grade 10.

If a pupil gets a condoned pass, but has under 30percent for maths in Grade 9, then she will have to do maths literacy.

You get those pupils stuck in a failure loop due to a 2014 decision flowing through the system and exiting maths, rather than jamming up the whole system with the impossible hope they will somehow pass by repeating the grade.

Third, you commit to slowly increasing standards in the long term, but make sure this is done with reasonable time frames that understand the slow nature of educational improvement.

Our National Development Plan wants 50percent as the pass rate for maths. This is achievable by 2030, but if it is pushed for in the near future, it will destroy progress in the name of higher standards.

Don’t destroy real improvements in quality in the name of increased quality.

From where I stand, the condoning of those senior phase pupils who pass all their other subjects but get between 20percent and 40percent in maths, makes short-term sense for longer term gain.

It’s not about dropping standards, but about making sure current pupils in current time do not have their long-term futures destroyed in the name of maintaining standards.

It’s not about dumbing down our education system, but making sure it continues to function smoothly as it slowly but surely shows signs of increasing improvement.

This does not mean we should not still be critical of the Department of Basic Education.

To shift from increasing the pass mark from 30 percent to 40 percent in 2014 to now dropping the pass mark to 20 percent for specific pupils is a terrible indictment of long-term planning.

It speaks of over-ambitious performance goals set by politicians, and the National Development Plan being caught in the reality that change is slow and difficult.

But in this mess, at least a decision was made that the current conditions actually makes sense for a system that is actually improving.

As the department review their promotion requirements in 2017, they will have to ensure the voices of overly-ambitious politicians and overly-irate citizens are backgrounded in favour of our children currently trying to learn the maths most of us cannot even do any more.

* Hugo is an associate professor at the UKZN School of Education

** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.

The Mercury

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