Education
With regard to the impact of COVID-19 on education between 2020 and 2022:
What is the number of days that were lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic in (i) 2020 and (ii) 2021, (b) what was the impact of this on learning and teaching, (c) what specific programmes have been put in place to assist learners to catch up and (d)(i) what is the number of studies that have been conducted on the impact of COVID-19 on education in the province, (ii) what were the results of each study and (iii) can copies of each study be made available?
[a] Our administrative data from Temporary Revised Education Plans (TREPs) shows that between closures and rotating timetables, 155 school days were lost in 2020 and 2021 in our province. The exact number of days lost for an individual learner depends on their school’s specific TREP and the grade (as grades were brought back to class incrementally in 2020).
[b] The 2021 Systemic Tests, conducted in the Western Cape in October 2021, provide the clearest, internationally benchmarked and independent analysis of learning losses suffered by the learners in our province. The Western Cape is the only province in the country that has a reliable and clear measure of learning outcomes.
The 2021 results were compared to the 2019 results, as testing could not take place in 2020. While we had previously made great progress with a steady increase in performance in years preceding 2020, these gains have unfortunately been reversed as a result of the pandemic.
For both Language and Mathematics, the performance levels dropped significantly. The most affected phase was the Foundation Phase.
The table below provides a summary of the declines across the system:
|
PROVINCIAL RESULTS 2019 AND 2021 |
||||||
|
GRADES |
MATHEMATICS |
LANGUAGE |
||||
|
2019 |
2021 |
DIFF |
2019 |
2021 |
DIFF |
|
|
Gr3 Pass % |
58.1 |
44.3 |
-13.8 |
44.9 |
36.9 |
-8.0 |
|
Gr6 Pass % |
44.4 |
37.3 |
-7.1 |
42.8 |
39.4 |
-3.4 |
|
Gr9 Pass % |
22.7 |
21.6 |
-1.1 |
53.6 |
50.1 |
-3.5 |
|
Gr3 Ave % |
54.5 |
46.7 |
-7.8 |
44.2 |
38.9 |
-5.3 |
|
Gr6 Ave % |
48.2 |
44.5 |
-3.7 |
45.6 |
42.7 |
-2.9 |
|
Gr9 Ave% |
38.1 |
30.5 |
-7.6 |
51.9 |
48.9 |
-3.0 |
[c] As indicated in previous responses, there were several initiatives that addressed learning losses during the pandemic.
Post-pandemic, the WCED has developed improvement plans to support the recovery process in the classroom.
Please see attached documents – Annexure A and Annexure B.
[d] The WCED is aware of one major study that has been conducted by the University of Stellenbosch in collaboration with the University of Cape Town, using the data from our systemic tests: Learning Losses from COVID-19 in the Western Cape: Evidence from systemic tests 2019-2021.
Please see attached document – Annexure C.
