The literacy levels of primary schools teachers under the spotlight

The competency of primary school teachers recently came under the spotlight, just before the first national assessments of numeracy and literacy levels of primary school pupils.

2008 figures have shown that the majority of grades 3 and 6 pupils in South Africa’s Gauteng province could not read or write at the appropriate level, representing a national figure. Some believe that teachers are to blame, but we need to understand the literacy levels of South African teachers, according to education analyst Sarah Gravett. “A few years ago there was some tests done where teachers wrote grade 6 tests on literacy and many failed or struggled with those tests”

To read more go to the original article on the SABC News site by Clicking Here!

A boom in the number of black graduates in South Africa

The number of blacks who received university degrees in South Africa in 2008 increased by 334 % since 1991, compared with a 14 % increase in white graduates for the same period, according to research released by the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR). Most of these degrees, however were being conferred by formerly white institutions.

It was found that most of the degrees awarded in 2008 were done by the University of South Africa (UNISA), making up 12.8 % of the degrees conferred by 23 public universities and universities of technology. The study showed that University of Pretoria awards the most masters and doctorate degrees with 15.8% awarded in 2008. University of Stellenbosch awarded 13% of masters and doctorates in 2008 and University of Cape Town awarded 11.4%.

Marius Roodt, one of the researchers commented that “other universities, especially historically-advantaged institutions, be supported to become centres of excellence in their own right, but not at the cost of already succcesful universities”

To read more go to the Sapa article on Times Live by Clicking Here!

Pupils from Model C schools doing better

The latest South Africa Survey recently released by the South African Institute for Race Relations have found amongst others that Model C schools (former whites-only schools) were still setting the pace for quality education. Race was found to be less important as a factor of scholastic achievement than the type of school a child attends. The matric rate for blacks in Model C schools in 2009 was 88%, compared to only 55% overall in all government schools. Coloured pupils in Model C schools achieved an 88 % pass rate compared to 76% overall while Indian pupils achieved 98 % compared to 92 % overall.

To read more go to Deon de Lange’s Mercury article on IOL by Clicking Here!