CHAPTER 1 ORIENTATION
“The glory of life is not in never failing; the true glory consists in rising each time we fall.”
F Scott Fitzgerald (cited in De Villiers, 2003:17)
INTRODUCTION
The National Curriculum Statement (NCS) Grades 10 to 12 (Schools) was implemented for the first time in Grade 10 in South Africa in 2006. The implementation continued in Grade 11 in 2007 and in Grade 12 in 2008. Since “….progression by grade is central to the NCS” (Department of Education, 2002a:11), the results of the Grade 10 learners in the examinations in 2006, the Grade 11 learners in 2007, and of the Grade 12 learners in 2008, were key indicators to measure the success of the implementation of Outcomes-Based Education (OBE) in the Further Education and Training (FET) Band. These learners were the first to write the Grade 12 National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations after implementation of the NCS.
At first glance the results of the Grade 10 learners in 2006 portrayed a gloomy picture. Nationally, one in every three learners did not comply with the criteria for promotion (Rademeyer, 2007:5). According to a report by the Free State Department of Education (2007), 6 543 of the 10 713 Grade 10 learners in the Northern Free State (Fezile Dabi Education District) in 2006 were promoted to Grade 11; 4 170 were held back in Grade 10. This represented a 61.1% pass rate. The average pass rate for the Grade 10 learners in the entire Free State was even worse, namely 57.6% (Free State Department of Education, 2007), and decreased even further to 56.5% in 2007 (Free State Department of Education, 2008). In 2007 the Grade 11 pass rate improved to 67.2% (Free State Department of Education, 2008), and the Grade 12 pass rate in 2008 was 71.8% compared to a national pass rate for Grade 12 of 62.5%
(Rademeyer, 2008:1). Thus, as a measure of success, the pass rate for the first learners under the FET Band should be a major concern to policy makers and educators.
BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
The first democratic elections held in South Africa in 1994 paved the way for the new educational dispensation. The White Paper on Education and Training (1995) provided the policy framework for the development of a new curriculum better suited to post-apartheid South Africa (Republic of South Africa, 1995). The National Education and Training Forum (NETF), established in 1995, compiled Report 550 (Department of Education, 2002a:1). This report was the first step in the implementation of an ‘interim’ syllabus that was followed by Curriculum 2005 in 1999 (Department of Education, 2002a:6-7). A policy document, the NCS Grades 10-12 (Schools), was developed in 2001 (Department of Education, 2002a:8). The implementation started in 2006 to be fully implemented in 2008.
The new curriculum also led to changes in promotion requirements and assessment practices. Of particular interest for the research were the changes in the National Education Policy on assessment and qualifications, on assessment guidelines and on promotion. Differences existed in the National Policy on assessment and promotion in the General Education and Training (GET) Band, compared to the promotion policy applied in the Further Education and Training (FET) Band (RSA, 1996). The policy on the National Senior Certificate (NSC), containing the promotion requirements for the FET Band, was amended in 2007 (Department of Education, 2007).
