BASIC Education minister Angie Motshekga says her department is moving forward with plans to incorporate mother-tongue languages at the country’s schools.

Answering a recent parliamentary Q&A, Motshekga said her department values mother tongue education and thus encourages learners to learn through their Home Languages wherever it is feasible and practicable.

“This position is in alignment with the provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. Section 6 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa lists the official languages as IsiZulu, IsiXhosa, IsiNdebele, Siswati, Sesotho, Setswana, Sepedi, Tshivenda, Xitsonga, English and Afrikaans.

“All these languages can be used as languages of learning and teaching or as subjects. Section 29(2) of the Bill of Rights provides that everyone has the right to receive education in the official language or languages of their choice in public educational institutions where that education is reasonably practicable.”

An increased focus on marginalised languages

In its attempts to elevate the status of the previously marginalised languages, the Department of Basic Education developed the National Curriculum Statement (NCS) Grades 1-12, which makes provision for equal use of all 11 official languages and South African Sign Language in the schooling system.

The National Curriculum Statement Grades 1-12 encourages learners to learn through their home languages, particularly, though not limited, in the foundation phase, Motshekga said.

“The policy does not restrict the use of home language instruction up to Grade 3, but emphasises the use of the home language in Grades 1-3 to reinforce the critical foundational skills of reading, writing and counting. The NCS recognises the importance for learners to learn in their home language.”

“The Language of Learning and Teaching (LoLT) can be selected from any official language. The NCS and the LiEP advocate for an additive bi/multilingualism approach that encourages learners to learn through their home language as long as it is feasible, as well as to learn other languages.”

Additive multilingualism allows maintenance of learners’ home language as they acquire additional languages as subjects or as languages of instruction, Motshekga said.

Home languages, English, and the reality

The National Development Plan (NDP) recommends that learners’ home language be used as LoLT for longer periods and English be introduced much earlier in the foundation phase, said Motshekga.

She noted that the plan emphasises the need to develop African languages or mother tongues as integral to education, science and technology, to develop and preserve these languages.

“Despite all these noble efforts, the reality on the ground reflects otherwise. The hegemony of English as a preferred medium of instruction and communication seems to prevail, which together with Afrikaans are still the dominant languages of learning and teaching in the majority of South African schools.”

The minister has previously acknowledged that there are issues with moving to a purely mother-tongue-based system, noting that it was likely impossible to have a pure class in Sotho or Xhosa in Gauteng the way similar classes have been held in the Eastern Cape.

She added that in classes teachers use multiple different languages to help children learn and get their point across. However, when it comes to assessments – which are typically done in English – they are once again forced to grapple with a language they did not understand while learning.

“They are no longer being tested on their cognitive development or understanding (of the work). You are now testing their language abilities, which is a problem.

“Government has begun the process of changing this and the next step is to assess them in the language they are taught – so that we are able to assess performance and not language proficiency.”

She added that government would have to use technology and other systems to effectively translate complicated scientific and mathematical concepts into languages that do not necessarily have the same terminology.

Pilot project and expansion 

The Eastern Cape has initiated its Mother Tongue Based Bilingual Education pilot, wherein 2,015 schools are using IsiXhosa and Sesotho as the LoLT up to Grade 9.

Learners in these schools are taught mathematics, natural science and technology in their home languages IsiXhosa and Sesotho.

This initiative was started in 72 Confimvaba schools in Grade 4 in 2012 and incrementally in subsequent grades and it is now being implemented up to Grade 9 in 2022, Motshekga said. The province is now planning to roll it out to all the schools where it is feasible.

“The DBE is currently putting a prudent plan in place to roll out African Languages Mother Tongue Based Bilingual Education to the other eight provinces,” the minister said.

BUSINESS TECH

THE Chancellor’s Medal for 2021 was awarded to Actuarial Sciences graduate, Bradley Moorcroft.

Moorcroft was announced as last week as the official recipient of the Stellenbosch University’s coveted Chancellor’s Medal for 2021.

“The medal is awarded annually to a final-year or postgraduate student who has excelled academically, has contributed to campus life in various ways, and has worked hard at developing co-curricular attributes,” the university said in a statement.

Moorcroft was awarded bachelor of commerce (Honours) degree in Actuarial Sciences. cum laude, at the virtual graduation in December 2021 and returned to Stellenbosch this week to receive the medal in person at the April graduation ceremony of the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences.

Over the last four years, Moorcroft passed all his subjects in his B. Com and Honours (Actuarial Sciences)

degrees with distinction, achieving 90%–99% in half of his modules. During his honour’s year, he was the

top student and achieved the highest average mark in the past five years.

Furthermore, “he reached the standard necessary to be recommended for exemptions from all the Actuarial Society of South Africa (ASSA) examinations available to date in his studies, which is a very rare achievement,” the university said.

Commenting on his award, Moorcroft said: “There are so many exceptional final-year and postgraduate students who graduated in my cohort, and it is a big surprise and huge honour to be recognised in this way. This is the cherry-on-top of a rewarding and enjoyable Stellenbosch chapter.”

“It was quite a challenge to balance my actuarial studies with other responsibilities during the COVID-19 period. So, I also view this award as recognition of the hours of commitment and hard work it took to navigate this journey,” said Moorcroft.

Moorcroft added that many people have supported him and contributed to his success. “I cannot take credit for this award alone. I am very grateful for the unfailing support and encouragement of those who have been closest to me through the ups and downs of the past four years.”

He believes embracing his studies with a team minds​​et helped him achieve his goals.

“This is an approach that I would recommend to any incoming student. I was lucky enough to form a solid group of classmates. We supported each other, learned from each other’s successes and mistakes, helped each other grasp the key concepts, and formed great friendships.”

INSIDE EDUCATION

OF the 2.1 million people employed in South Africa’s formal finance sector in the third quarter of last year, actuaries constituted less than 0.1%. This is because there are less than 2 000 actuaries in South Africa, most of whom are members of the Actuarial Society of South Africa (ASSA).

An actuary is either an Associate Member of ASSA (AMASSA) or a Fellow of ASSA (FASSA).

Student members and technical members are not actuaries and may not use this title.

In an environment where demand for actuarial skills significantly exceeds supply, the unemployment rate for South African actuaries is zero, according to Mike McDougall, CEO of ASSA.

Compounding the shortage in South Africa is the emigration of actuaries to countries trying to meet their own growing requirements.

ASSA’s membership statistics show that last year some 25 South African actuaries took up employment opportunities outside of South Africa.

McDougall says the demand for actuaries is not unique to South Africa.

The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, for example, predicts a 24% growth rate in the employment of actuaries in the US from 2020 to 2030, which far exceeds the growth expectations for all other professions.

South Africa nevertheless ranks among the countries with a high number of actuaries, with the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK) the only countries in the world with more than 10 000 actuaries.

ASSA is one of the 10 largest actuarial associations in the world and the largest on the African continent.

McDougall explains that the actuarial qualification is one of the toughest to obtain, whether in South Africa or abroad.

In 2010, ASSA introduced a homegrown actuarial qualification, which meant that actuaries no longer had to turn to the UK for their actuarial qualification.

Approved by the International Actuarial Association (IAA) as a primary qualification, the South African qualification is as difficult to obtain as those offered by professional bodies in other countries, adds McDougall.

He explains that once a student member has graduated from university with a degree in Actuarial Science, it takes a minimum of three years to complete the additional requirements to become a Fellow of the Actuarial Society of South Africa (FASSA).

However, most student members take at least eight years to pass the required 13 technical skills exams and complete the required work-based learning under the supervision of a mentor.

Transforming the profession

While a consistent focus on transforming the South African actuarial profession is showing results, the progress is painfully slow because it takes almost a decade to produce an actuary.

Actuarial Society of South Africa Membership Figures – Fellows

In 1998, a mere 2.2% of Fellows were African, Coloured and Indian. Today, 24 years later, this has increased to 25%, which means the number of African, Coloured and Indian Fellows is growing at an annual rate of 20%. By comparison the total number of Fellows is growing by an average of 6% a year. While we acknowledge that the transformation of our profession is slow, we are encouraged that the Society’s many transformation initiatives are beginning to make a difference.

Students who come from disadvantaged backgrounds and who did not grow up with English as their first language face significant hurdles on their path towards achieving Fellowship.

The journey to becoming a Fellow member of ASSA consists of several stages:

1. Student members are expected to pass three foundation and four core technical skills exams and complete basic professionalism training in order to achieve the Technical member of ASSA (TASSA) designation.
2. A TASSA becomes an Associate member of ASSA (AMASSA), also known as a generalist actuary, on completion of the remaining general skills exams, further professionalism and business skills training and two years of work-based experience.
3. In order to qualify as a Fellow member of ASSA (FASSA), which is the apex qualification, members choose a primary and secondary area of specialisation. They must pass another set of technical skills exams and complete more professionalism training and a further year of work-based learning. Members who select risk management as their secondary area of specialisation also gain the Chartered Enterprise Risk Actuary (CERA) designation.

The table below provides an overview of the demographics of each of the four ASSA membership categories:

Strong pipeline of potential actuaries

When looking at the pipeline of potential actuaries, by next year the number of black African student members and Technical members is likely to surpass the number of white members on the road to becoming actuaries.

Actuarial Society of South Africa Membership Figures – Pipeline (Associate, Technical and Student members)  

With the aim of helping struggling student members achieve their qualifications, the Actuarial Society Academy was established in 2016. The Academy provides working student members with educational support as well as soft skills training such as communicating in a corporate environment, balancing work and studying, and coping with the demands of the workplace.

Mike McDougall is CEO of the Actuarial Society of South Africa.

THE Covid-19 pandemic has provided the scope for a shake-up of South Africa’s school system, says basic education minister Angie Motshekga.

Addressing an education conference on Thursday, Motshekga said that she was not advocating for ‘wholesale curriculum changes’, but noted that there was room for an overhaul of key issues.

“Based on the international practices and literature, there is a need to accurately determine the most appropriate curriculum approach given the changing topography of the sector post-Covid-19. We must envisage the development of a South African competency-based curriculum framework that addresses the unique South African context.

“As public schooling advocates, we are not the training mill for the industry; hence, we must think about how to use basic education curriculum reforms for social cohesion. Rewriting our history books and curriculum is a good start.”

Some of the key proposals highlighted by Motshekga in her address include:

Language 

“There is an urgent need to constructively address the language in education policy, which currently limits the language of learning and teaching to English and Afrikaans,” Motshekga said.

“We must strike while the iron is hot and commission a full scale extended research on the language issue and what will be the most appropriate policy relating to the language of learning and teaching.”

STEM

Motshekga said there will be no point in ‘rebooting the system’ if the country does not confront the low uptake and throughput in STEM subjects: Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

She added that learners must be able to read for meaning by their tenth birthday, while all children should be meeting all developmental milestones by the age of five.

Technology

Every school child in South Africa must be supplied with digital workbooks and textbooks on a tablet device by 2024.

Infrastructure 

The dire state of school infrastructure in townships and rural areas remains a ‘bugbear’ for the department and this urgently needs to be addressed, Motshekga said.

“We need reliable data on the current state of school infrastructure. We must eradicate infrastructure backlogs relating to inappropriate structures, sanitation and water supply. We must eradicate pit latrine toilets. We need to repair schools damaged by storms and vandals promptly.”

BUSINESS TECH

SPORT Sciences in Africa have the University of Cape Town sitting on the discipline’s throne after it was announced that the university has been placed top, not just in South Africa but on the African continent, for the Global Ranking of Sport Science Schools and Departments.

The rankings were determined by Shanhai Rankings 2021 Global Ranking, and highlight the performances of over 300 universities.

Among these, 287 universities and 13 sports universities with sporting departments or units were compared and considered.

Professor Vicki Lambert, the director of UCT’s Research Centre for Health through Physical Activity, Lifestyle and Sport (HPALS) said: “We are a small group of dedicated researchers, including 12 NRF-rated scientists, enthusiastic postgraduates and a wide network of international collaborations.”

“We are committed to translation of our work, that it is inclusive and ‘difference-making’ to policy and practice and that we innovate, developing bespoke solutions relevant to the Global South,” she added.

In speaking to eNCA, Lambert noted that a key strength for the University comes from international collaborations and that the ranking, which is in the top 14% globally, is also accredited to research published in the top journals for a discipline among other indicators.

The rankings are considered by looking at different categories, from papers indexed in Web of Science, to total citations, citations per paper and papers published in the top 25% of journals, as well as those papers marking international co-authors collaborations.

The achievement follows other triumphs from UCT for 2021, including the university leading Africa in five key world university rankings. These include the U.S. News & World Report Best Global Universities Rankings, Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings, Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings, the Center for World University Rankings (CWUR) and the ShanghaiRanking’s Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU).

UCT NEWS

THE aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to behavioral concerns in students, with many teachers and psychologists noting an escalation of anxiety, depression and other mental health issues in students. 

Impero Software, which creates digital tools for workplaces and schools, is the latest ed-tech company to announce a new piece of classroom management software expected to help address issues with focus and behavior in schools.

The company’s Impero Classroom tool, which launched today, offers classroom device monitoring, browser controls and the ability to share and broadcast presentations, among other things.

The company’s news release said it’s designed to give K-12 teachers a real-time window into what their students are doing and keep them focused on the task at hand, whether in the classroom or remotely as part of hybrid learning, on a multitude of web-based operating systems or applications.

“We’ve seen many schools still struggling with children in school and out of school,” Impero Software CEO Justin Reilly told Government Technology. “We wanted to challenge some of those difficulties that teachers are currently facing, and to support them with the core principles of classroom management.”

As part of the tool, teachers can prevent students from visiting certain websites, or direct students to websites to help nudge them in the right direction.

Teachers also can share the screen of a student to showcase a presentation to the class, or send each student’s browser to a particular website to speed along a lesson, the release said. The tool itself can work in a single classroom or district-wide, and can function with multiple staff members at the same time.

“Teachers can monitor all the students’ screens like a CCTV and see what’s going on, to see who’s on task,” Impero Software Vice President of Product Sam Heiney told Government Technology. “It’s really designed to allow the teacher to manage, monitor and engage their students in this new environment of using lots of different devices and operating systems.”

Kaitlin Trujillo, Impero’s key account manager, said that if Impero Classroom is implemented correctly by teachers, it has the potential to improve student focus.

“The software allows the teachers to be able to monitor and respond to student behavior,” she said. “It’s about being able to respond to off-topic behavior, and then be able to proactively manage that behavior moving forward using the software.”

Heiney said Impero Classroom can potentially add minutes of instructional time to a teacher’s day because of its efficiency, and it runs on the open source Backdrop CMS, so it can integrate with several student information systems and access a plethora of student data. He said that the tool can generate a full profile for each student, with details such as whether a student has a sibling in the school, or if there has been a recent death in the family.

“The real power of Impero Classroom is that integration, that suite of products that we bring to bear, because what Backdrop provides is a view of student profiles with information that can help a teacher guide student interactions on the devices in the most appropriate way,” he said.

“It allows teachers to create individualized learning plans, classroom environments that are truly engaging, and that modify and monitor and manage behavior, not just computer use.”

Reilly said the company wanted to focus on supporting teachers’ need to reach students in the classroom or from afar.

“The first principal piece here is learners being better learners. If you can educate children to be better learners, that really is fantastic, but to do that, you’ve got to create a really productive and safe environment,” he said.

GOVTECH