TheTimes.jpg Education: The acid test Penwell Dlamini and Katharine Child, The Times, Johannnesburg, 21 September, 2015 The Department of Education will have to find common ground with teacher unions in the standoff over the Annual National Assessments, according to knowledgeable observers. Their views came to light as Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga battles it out with teachers' unions on the implementation of the assessments later this year. "There has to be meaningful consultation with the unions. One cannot push ahead unilaterally. There have been concerns expressed, not by just one union. Sadtu [SA Democratic Teachers' Union], Naptosa [National Professional Teachers' Organisation of SA] and other unions have expressed concern," said Salim Vally, director of the University of Johannesburg's (UJ) education faculty. Vally believes the assessments should be seen as a diagnostic test, and a way of uncovering weaknesses. "It should not be punitive ... Teachers are the most critical factor here and some of the concerns should be looked at; I do not think they are irrational," said Vally. Yesterday, Motshekga held negotiations with unions to try to find a solution to their refusal to write the assessments in December this year. Sadtu vowed to fight government on its plans to have the tests written in December. Spokeswoman Nomusa Cembi told EWN last night: "The decision they took shows utter disrespect for the union. We are stakeholders in education." The assessments are standardised national assessments for languages and mathematics in the intermediate phase (grades 4 - 6) and in literacy and numeracy for the foundation phase (grades 1 - 3). They were introduced by Motshekga in 2011. Equal Education general secretary Tshepo Motsepe said writing the tests this year would be difficult for all parties. "For pupils it means they will be subjected to two exams ... which will put strain on learners, teachers, in terms of marking, and the system in general. With these confrontations it is our people who suffer. Our kids suffer," Motsepe said. UJ Education Professor Elizabeth Henning said she doubted the tests would take place this year. "The unions have a case but have approached it rather drastically. I heard that test papers have been trashed in some districts. I am afraid it looks as if the exercise has been compromised," said Henning. From: <http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/2015/09/21/Education-The-acid-test> http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/2015/09/21/Education-The-acid-test -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
