{"id":13109,"date":"2022-02-24T11:56:15","date_gmt":"2022-02-24T11:56:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/blame-game-over-grade-11-results"},"modified":"2022-02-24T12:22:26","modified_gmt":"2022-02-24T12:22:26","slug":"blame-game-over-grade-11-results","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/blame-game-over-grade-11-results","title":{"rendered":"Blame game over Grade 11 results"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. <\/strong><\/span>THE psychological impact of leaked examination papers, early January rewrites, 112 Covid deaths of educators and the inadequate performance management of teachers are some of the reasons given by the education ministry to explain the widely criticised Grade 11 exam results.<\/b><\/p>\n

The results released last Friday showed that only 18,8% of last year’s candidates qualified to progress to Advanced Subsidiary level subjects.<\/p>\n

This means that only 8 817 full-time candidates qualified with a C symbol or better in three subjects out of 46 977 who sat for the Namibia Senior Secondary Certificate (NSSCO) exams.<\/p>\n

Executive director in the education ministry Sanet Steenkamp, speaking to Desert Radio earlier this week, said unions and teachers should hold themselves accountable by making use of performance agreements, as the Teachers Union of Namibia (TUN) blames the ministry and the new curriculum for the latest Grade 11 results.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur teachers should have performance agreements. They have the teachers’ self evaluation form that should serve as a performance agreement. Why are the unions not overseeing and having workshops with their teachers in terms of performance targets?\u201d<\/p>\n

Steenkamp was responding to TUN describing the latest Grade 11 results as pathetic.<\/p>\n

She added that performance agreements should not only be used by unions and teachers but by parents to monitor and assess progress during the academic year.<\/p>\n

She also expressed concern about parents who only take an interest in their children’s education at the beginning of the year instead of throughout their school careers.<\/p>\n

CIRCUMSTANCES<\/p>\n

Steenkamp said the results must also be looked at in the context of the circumstances the ministry faced over the past two years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must internalise that we just had the two most difficult years. Equally in the education system, there were many disruptions. Schools closed unannounced, 112 teachers passed on, children lost loved ones, children were psychologically affected, adults and children were mentally affected. There were a lot of fears and anxieties,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Steenkamp also made reference to the exam paper leaks last year, which also disrupted the school year.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd when we thought we had a breather, we learnt that 10 papers of NSSCO were affected and five for legacy, all due to the greed and unethical conduct of one person. Some used that to their advantage and some could just not handle it. Regrettably, there was no other way to handle the situation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Steenkamp defended the results and urged Namibians to look at them holistically.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody is zooming in on only 18% that are going to Advance Subsidiary (AS) […] Have you seen that despite the fact that this is the second year we had NSSCO and we broke barriers, we had good results. Of the 46 000, at least 53% met a D grade or better in their field of study. Secondly, English second language was standing at 28%, now we have 61% of students getting a D or better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Further praising the results, Steenkamp turned the focus to technical vocational subjects, telling Desert Radio that 60% of pupils who had those subjects, achieved a D symbol or better, while 83% of first language pupils scored a D or better.<\/p>\n

Addressing doubts that the system is beneficial for the populace of the country, Steenkamp said some pupils are disciplined and committed alongside teachers to achieve their goals, while others are not.<\/p>\n

\u201cAS LEVEL A STEPPING STONE\u201d<\/p>\n

Steenkamp noted that most people don’t understand the new curriculum, which may take some time to get used to.<\/p>\n

Despite this, Steenkamp is proud of the new curriculum, which she said is benchmarked against international grades and standards.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not at A level. The syllabus of the Advanced Subsidiary is half of the content of what the A level is. Advanced Subsidiary is a one year course. We designed a Namibian-based system (AS) that is still internationally standardised and benchmarked and that has the grades system that allows the child to go and study anywhere, provided the child meets the specific requirements,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She added that the new curriculum requires teachers and pupils to self-study and use resources to empower themselves.<\/p>\n

In addition, Steenkamp said unions lack in-depth understanding of the new curriculum.<\/p>\n

She told Desert Radio that she found it odd that TUN was calling for the removal of the new curriculum.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow can a union who played an integral part in designing the curriculum, that represents teachers who were part of designing the curriculum, ask for the curriculum to be revised? […] For me, it’s a lack of in-depth understanding. It’s a lack of commitment of somebody to sit and internalise everything,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Secretary general of TUN Mahongora Kavihuha, who called for the removal of the new system, says the curriculum comes with contradictions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe curriculum should be clear that no teacher should be placed where they are not qualified. But if you go to the policy of staffing norms, teachers are being forced to do what the curriculum has prohibited,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Kavihuha added that currently the union and the ministry do not enjoy a friendly relationship due to minimal engagements.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ministry is not taking the union’s position seriously. They have a selective social dialogue. They only push their agenda and not the teachers’ agenda,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Namibia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. THE psychological impact of leaked examination papers, early January rewrites, 112 Covid deaths of educators and the inadequate performance management of teachers are some of the reasons given by the education ministry to explain the widely criticised Grade 11 exam results. The results released last Friday showed that only 18,8% of last […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":13108,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4,8,16],"tags":[234,236,233],"class_list":["post-13109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-culture-and-art","category-homepage-english","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-namibia","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"\nBlame game over Grade 11 results - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"THE psychological impact of leaked examination papers, early January rewrites, 112 Covid deaths of educators and the ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/blame-game-over-grade-11-results\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Blame game over Grade 11 results\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"THE psychological impact of leaked examination papers, early January rewrites, 112 Covid deaths of educators and the ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/blame-game-over-grade-11-results\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Namibia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-02-24T11:56:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-02-24T12:22:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/02\/img-6217786b9076e.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"479\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/blame-game-over-grade-11-results#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/blame-game-over-grade-11-results\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Blame game over Grade 11 results\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-02-24T11:56:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-24T12:22:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/blame-game-over-grade-11-results\"},\"wordCount\":876,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/blame-game-over-grade-11-results#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2022\/02\/img-6217786b9076e.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"africa press\",\"Africa Press-Namibia\",\"namibia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"culture and art\",\"homepage-english\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/blame-game-over-grade-11-results#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/blame-game-over-grade-11-results\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/blame-game-over-grade-11-results\",\"name\":\"Blame game over Grade 11 results - 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