Annual National Assessments postponed

The Department of Basic Education (DBE) announced on Friday that the Annual National Assessments (ANA) exams, due to start today (Tuesday) will be postponed till February 2016.

This after the three main teachers' unions indicated that they were not willing to 'administer' the tests.

The ANA were introduced in 2011 covering Grades 1 – 6 and tested learners' numeracy and literacy, in 2012 Grade 9 learners were included and in 2015 Grade 8 was also to be included.

This mean a total of 8.6 million learners were due to be assessed. In a statement, the DBE said that, "The three major teacher unions – SADTU, NAPTOSA and SAOU – have over recent weeks publicly expressed concerns about the administration of the Annual National Assessment (ANA).

The main concern of the Teacher Unions related to the frequency of the administration of ANA, its administrative demands, which did not leave enough time and room for improvement strategies to take root, before learners are re-assessed".

The statement continued, "At a meeting between the teacher unions and senior officials of the Department of Basic Education, consensus was reached to postpone the writing of the Annual National Assessment (ANA 2015), until the first week of February 2016.

It was agreed that the schooling environment, given the prevailing conditions and Union concerns to the administration of ANA, was not conducive to the writing of this very significant test, which provides valuable information on learner performance at the national, provincial, district and school level".

The unions also issued a statement welcoming the decision saying that, "The postponement will allow for the remodeling of the ANA by a joint task team that will comprise of Union Principals and Senior DBE officials.

It was also agreed that the remodeling will take place before the end of 2015. Furthermore, the Unions welcomes the commitment by the Director-General (DG) of the DBE to improve relations between the Department and Unions as well as making more resources available for teacher development.

The DG also committed to address the outstanding issues in the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) as a matter of urgency".

The Democractic Alliance has issued a statement saying that this is further evidence that the DBE is at the mercy of the unions – Sadtu in particular. The DA said children's futures were being compromised in the process as, without proper assessment, it is not possible for learners to be given the necesssary support.

“The decision by the Department of Basic Education to cave in to the threats of Sadtu and postpone the writing of the Annual National Assessments (ANAs) begs the question: who is currently in charge of our country’s education system?” DA spokesperson, Annette Lovemore, said in the statement.

The fact that the ANAs have now been postponed was yet another example of Sadtu being allowed to act against the interests of children with impunity, she said.

“It is important to recognise that Sadtu officials are elected through a highly political process, they are not appointed because of their educational expertise.”

The Department, however, said they considered the postponement to be in the best interest of schooling stability. They said it would also assist in improving the quality and thrust of the national assessment programme.

Pupils and teachers will be afforded additional space and time to address areas of weakness that have been identified in the previous assessment before the entire system is once again subjected to this national assessment in the new year.

"Over the next ninety days, the Task Team will engage the Teacher Unions and address their concerns so that the future design features of the national assessment are more amenable to the schools, teachers, learners and parents," the Department said.

They conclude their statement by saying, "Given the postponement of ANA 2015, schools will be informed via an official circular with regard to the management of the next steps in this regard."