Quality Improvement, Development, Support and Upliftment Programme for Public Schools Presentation to Portfolio Committee 19 October 2007

Objectives of QIDS UP Quality Improvement, Development, Support and Upliftment Programme for Public Schools – QIDS UP (Kids Up) - an “Affirmative Action” programme targeting schools serving poor communities where quality of education is often compromised due to lack of basic minimum resources, overcrowding and shortage of skilled personnel for effective learning and teaching. High impact intervention programme with a long- term vision.

Scope of project: Focus on 14 districts selected on a combination of criteria including –Being a presidential node –Concentration of Q1/‘no fee’ schools –Persistent unsatisfactory performance in Grade 12 Targets no fee primary schools serving 1.2 million learners (both in urban and rural areas;) Provinces working with DoE in these primary schools with the additional space to include secondary schools in their target schools.

Key Focus areas Adequate provisioning of resources to support learning and teaching; Improved learner competencies in literacy and numeracy; Improved management and leadership of schools; Improved support for learning by district offices; and Strengthened monitoring and evaluation of learning outcomes.

Adequate Resources: Key Focus Basic Resource Package for effective teaching in all grades between Grades R and 7; Resource package focused on essential resources for the learner(e.g textbooks, stationery etc), class (posters, chalkboards, atlases, dictionaries, classroom reading corners), the teacher (reference materials) and school (computers for teaching and administration etc); Provincial audits have been conducted in most schools to determine need and provide accordingly. Also dependent on available budget in province. Resource allocation also includes pro-poor staff allocation to deal with high learner numbers, including teaching assistants and assistant teachers. (This has been dependent on the OSD processes and implementation therefore still has to begin.)

Improving literacy and numeracy levels: key focus Strengthened support to teachers through: –Provisioning of critical teaching and reference materials; –Targeted capacity building programmes. Increased access to books for both schools and learners; Appropriate and continuous tracking of learner competency levels.

Improving leadership and management Providing principals and SGBs with key protocols on key school leadership and management areas: recruitment of qualified staff, managing the curriculum; managing discipline etc. Improving principals’ management skills through an innovative 2yr ACE programme (400 already in training); Strengthening district-based support for school leaders.

Strengthening monitoring and evaluation of learning outcomes Baseline studies to be completed in all schools. Baseline information to be used to set learner, school and district improvement targets. Data item banks being developed to strengthen teacher capacity to assess learners appropriately without outside support. Baseline data already collected in 3 districts (Sedibeng West, Lusikisiki and Obonjeni). Remaining districts to have completed exercise by beginning of 2008 financial year. Process above complemented through collection of data on teacher competencies and qualifications.

Some key achievements Most provinces have increased their budget allocations for QIDS UP in the current MTEF and should be able to drive reasonable programmes; In almost all provinces capacity has been established to manage the programme – in some provinces current officials have either been re- assigned to drive QIDS UP or have neen assigned the programme in addition to the programme. In the Western Cape and Mpumalanga special appointments have been made to drive QIDS UP. In addition to key focus areas of Literacy, Numeracy and Management in quintiles 1 and 2 primary schools – provinces determining province specific focus, informed by context. In the DoE a dedicated unit has been established and there is now reasonable movement in all key areas of the project.

Summary of some provincial activities Northwest: Will work in 208 primary schools serving learners; providing basic resource pack based on a needs assessment already conducted. Baseline study also on track. KZN: Work in schools serving learners; of these schools, those that have electricity have been provided with computers for administration; will focus on a) increased access to library resources; b) improving infrastructure and c) research into factors influencing learner performance and provide baseline on learner performance.

Provincial activities Free State: Will target 279 primary schools, primarily in 2 districts and increase access to libraries through mobile libraries, provide classroom reading and reference materials and provide support to principals on curriculum management; Eastern Cape: Will target 692 schools in Libode and Lusikisiki to improve basic infrastructure and help these schools to develop and implement School Improvement Plans; Western Cape: Will work in 379 schools including 76 secondary schools that are not performing well at Grade 12. Will improve basic infrastructure; work with principals and SGBs to improve leadership and management skills; train RCLs; mount a Family Literacy Campaign; host a QIDS UP conference for schools to create interest and excitement as well as a major advocacy campaign.

Provincial activities Gauteng: Will target 263 quintile 1 “no fee” schools serving learners. Will provide each learner and each school with a minimum resource pack as determined by audit.; support all targeted schools to deliver comprehensive education including sports, art and music. Mpumalanga: Targeting 503 quintile 1 schools. Will provide minimum resource pack (essential resources) to schools; improve management and leadership.

Key challenges Despite most provinces indicating that they have a) identified target schools b) done audits of needs in these provinces and c) finalised minimum resource packs for the schools as well as deliver on other identified programmes – often difficult to get evidence from provinces, hence strengthened capacity at DoE; Given potential benefit of programme that delivers in visible ways to the poor (combination of resources and quality improvement programmes) - immense pressure to demonstrate and report on measurable progress.