The process of adjusting matric exam marks has robbed pupils of A’s in their final history exams, say teachers at some top Cape schools. Low marks in business studies are also being questioned. But quality assurance body Umalusi has defended the adjustment process.
Wynberg Girls High senior history teacher Mario Fernandez said he had done a spot survey of the history results of seven excellent Cape Town schools, and had found that each of them had achieved “a mere handful of A symbols, far fewer than they believe, in their professional opinion, their candidates deserved”.
He queried Umalusi’s adjustment process and asked why Umalusi refused to release the lists of standardised subjects.
Westerford history teacher James Bissett agreed with Fernandez that there had been “artificial manipulation of the top end of the history results”.
He said the number of pupils with an A in history had dramatically dropped from more than 55 percent in 2009 to 13 percent in 2010.
After speaking to a number of history teachers at different schools, Bissett said a bell curve appeared to have been applied to the raw marks, with the number of pupils at the high and low end reduced.
“It is really the bright and talented students who are being affected.”
Sacs teacher Simon Perkins, with 40 years experience, said only six history pupils at the school had achieved more than 80 percent. He had expected between 20 and 30 pupils to achieve those results.
Basic education minister Angie Motshekga last week announced a 2010 matric pass rate of 67.8 percent, up from 2009’s 60.7 percent.
Critics have queried the dramatic improvement in the matric pass rate, raising concerns that the department might have doctored the results. The department has denied this.
Umalusi has refused to reveal details of which exam subjects’ raw exam marks were adjusted up or down.
The raw marks for the majority of subjects, 39 out of 58 National Senior Certificate subjects, were accepted. Umalusi made downward adjustments to raw marks in 10 subjects and upward adjustments in nine.
Every year, raw exam marks are adjusted up or down to smooth out the effect of factors other than pupils’ knowledge and aptitude, such as changes in levels of difficulty in question papers, errors in exam papers and inconsistency in marking across the provinces.
Umalusi chief executive Mafu Rakometsi said as a “matter of principle and practice”, Umalusi would not disclose the individual subject standardisation decision.
This was in the best interest of the individual pupils and the entire education system.
“Standardisation decisions are made behind closed doors because the work is highly complex, technical and qualitative, and because the welfare of many hundreds of thousands of candidates depends on that work.”
Sizwe Mabizela, chairman of the Umalusi council, said the standardisation process had been conducted in the most systematic and objective manner possible.
Jan van Riebeeck High School principal Hammies van Niekerk said results in business studies at the school had been about 20 percent lower than expected.
He said this was a concern for the school and its pupils, as most planned to study commerce subjects at university and would rely on their business studies results for acceptance.
“The performance is really high in all the subjects and traditionally has been.
“The marks we got are not the marks we expected.”
Van Niekerk said the school would query whether there was an error in calculations made.
Education expert Graeme Bloch said there was no reason to doubt the integrity of Umalusi’s standardisation process.
“There are all sorts of controls in place.”
He understood and respected the argument being made by Umalusi for not releasing the list of standardised subjects, Bloch said.
He said while he had not thought the results would increase as much as they had, he was not surprised pupils had managed to do well.
“We saw study groups we have not seen in previous years. There has been a shift in young people. Why couldn’t we have turned the corner, since that is what we were hoping for?”
Basic education spokesman Granville Whittle said there had been “no interference” with the marks obtained by pupils.
“The department has no intention, authority or mechanism to adjust the marks of the National Senior Certificate examinations.
“Umalusi has the sole statutory mandate to ensure that the examination results that are released are credible and that all processes have met its own exacting standards.
“South African NSC results are not only quality assured to meet South African standards, but are also judged against international benchmarks.
“We are satisfied that the 2010 results are credible, and have been declared as such by Umalusi,” Whittle said. - Cape Times