Johannesburg -
The Gauteng Department of Education says it has strict measures to ensure that the national senior certificate markers are properly qualified to do the job.
Gauteng education spokeswoman Phumla Sekhonyane said that to ensure that only the best markers were appointed, preference was given to competent teachers in grades 10 to 12 in the relevant subject.
On top of that, Sekhonyane said one deputy chief marker was appointed for every five senior markers allocated to a question paper. A senior marker was also appointed for every five markers appointed to a question paper.
“The chief marker, in collaboration with the internal moderator, trains the deputy chief markers, senior markers and markers on his or her marking panel, using either dummy scripts or samples of answers to questions drawn from scripts. Markers are evaluated on their competence as markers by senior markers,” Sekhonyane said.
There has been controversy around markers writing competency tests. It is not national policy, and provincial departments decide whether the teachers are given the tests or not.
“The department is aware that the Department of Basic Education is in the process of developing guidelines for this process, and the department will be directed by these guidelines,” Sekhonyane said.
Last week, the Department of Basic Education presented the portfolio committee on education with proposals regarding teacher competency tests.
The measures proposed are about the use of a “tolerance range” for matric markers.
Before marking commences, every marker will be given a selection of 10 scripts to mark. The scripts will have been pre-marked by moderators. If a marker’s assessment differs by 3 percent or more from the moderator’s mark, the exercise will be repeated.
If there is still a discrepancy between the marks, the future involvement of the aspirant marker will be discussed, and they might be removed from the process.
Teachers in the Western Cape write competency tests before being allowed in marking centres.
The South African Democratic Teachers Union in the province continues to oppose the tests, which were introduced in 2011.
The DA this year demanded that all markers be given competency tests after a study revealed that a sample group of 253 matric maths teachers in KwaZulu-Natal achieved an average mark of just 57 percent when given a past maths paper to complete.
The study by University of KwaZulu-Natal and Durban University of Technology academics, published in the Perspectives in Education Journal in March, was conducted to assess teachers’ knowledge of the maths they taught.
Apart from the average of 57 percent, the study also showed that half the group sampled achieved a mark below 61 percent, with a quarter getting below 39 percent.
- The Star