Education

My department has informed me of the following:

(1)       (a)       The decision by the national government to not fully fund the nationally negotiated 2023 multi-year public sector wage agreement has resulted in massive budget shortfalls for provincial education departments across the country.

The national government only allocated 64% of the cost of the wage increases to our province for the Western Cape Education Department (WCED). The WCED implemented cost-containment measures including making substantial cuts to non-personnel budgets, freezing posts in Head Office and district offices which resulted in a 20% vacancy rate, encouraged schools to convert contract appointments, and restricted the appointment of substitute teachers.

Despite implementing a drastic R2.5 billion budget cut, we still face a R3.8 billion budget shortfall over the next three years. To remain fiscally stable, we had no choice but to reduce the Basket of Educator Posts by approximately 2 400 posts in 2025.

(b)       The national government’s decision to not fully fund the 2023 multi-year public sector wage agreement has put critical learner support programmes at risk across the country.

Every province is facing a fiscal emergency because of the national government’s decision. Every province will have to find a way to foot the enormous cost of the nationally negotiated wage agreement. How provinces cover the shortfall, if they are even able to do so, will vary, but every option we choose will have a negative impact on our children’s futures.

In the Western Cape, we made some clear decisions on what spending we needed to protect in the face of this massive budget shortfall.

Firstly, we agreed that we would protect schools for learners with special education needs from the reduction in posts. These are our most vulnerable learners and require extra care and support from our department.

Secondly, we agreed that we would not cut funding for school meals or learner transport. We cannot have learners go hungry, or be unable to get to school, so cutting this budget was not an option for our province.

Thirdly, we agreed that we would not cut the funding that our schools receive to pay their daily expenses. Schools rely on this funding to pay for everything from water and lights to stationery. We cannot have a situation where schools cannot write exams because they can’t afford paper, or have their electricity disconnected because they can’t pay the bill.

The choice to reduce the number of teaching posts was therefore an unavoidable one.

The extent of the reduction in the overall basket was based on the cost of implementing the wage agreement, projected over three years, and the level of funding provided by the national government which constituted 64% of the cost.

(2)       It is important to note that we are not firing teachers, and we are not retrenching teachers. The reduction in posts will mean that some contract teachers will not be reappointed after their contracts end on 31 December 2024, and some permanent teachers will be asked to move to another school where there is a suitable vacancy.

(a)       The formula (distribution model) determining how the total number of teaching posts gets divided between schools is prescribed by the national government according to their agreement with teachers’ unions.

We are guided by the Post Distribution Model they have agreed to, which is contained in Annexure A.1 of the Personnel Administrative Measures (PAM), published in the Government Gazette No. 46879 of 9 September 2022 (pg 22-28).

According to the PAM, the factors included in the weighting of learners in the Post Distribution Model are:

PRINCIPLES ON WHICH THE MODEL IS BASED

The model is based on the principle that available posts are distributed among schools, proportionally to their number of weighted learners.

The concept of “weighted learner”, instead of actual learner, is used to enable schools to compete on an equal footing for posts. As some learners and some learning areas require more favourable post allocations than others, each learner is given a certain weighting that reflects its relative need in respect of post provisioning. Other factors like the size of the school, the need to redistribute resources and the need to ensure equal access to the curriculum may require that additional weighted learners be allocated to some schools. A weighted learner enrolment for each school is determined, which, in relation to the total learner enrolment of the province, reflects its relative claim to the total pool of available posts in the province.

FACTORS THAT ARE BEING TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT IN DETERMINING THE POST PROVISIONING NEEDS OF SCHOOLS AND LEARNERS

Educational and administrative factors that impact differently on the post provisioning needs of learners and of schools for which specific provision is made in the model are the following:

The maximum ideal class size applicable to a specific learning area or phase. This ideal maximum value also takes into account complicating factors that may apply, such as additional contact time required between educator and learner and the requirement to attend to learners in more than one place at the same time. Although the situation in South Africa is such that ideal maximum class sizes cannot be complied with, these ideal values form a basis of comparison between the requirements of all the learning areas and grades.

Period load of educators. It is common practice that educators in the secondary school phases have a lower period load than educators in the primary school phases. This is mainly as a result of more complex time tables and subject combinations. A lower period load implies a more favourable overall learner-educator ratio. The norms used in this regard are based on average prevailing practices and do not represent workload policy.

Need to promote a learning area. By providing a more favourable learner-educator ratio in respect of a learning area in grades 10 to 12, schools can be motivated to promote such a learning area. This may only be done in terms of national or provincial policy in this regard.

The size of the school. The smaller a school, the more difficult it is to manage with a certain learner-educator ratio and the more favourable it should be. This matter is addressed by adding a certain constant number of weighted learners to each school. The constant additional number of weighted learners could be seen as providing for a school’s principal post, or for part of it, independently from the number of learners. It could also be seen as providing for posts to deal with certain basic responsibilities that each school has, irrespective of its size.

The number of grades. Especially in respect of smaller schools, it is more complex to manage a school with a relatively large number of grades than a similar sized school with only a few grades. This matter is addressed by linking the additional number of weighted learners, referred to under the previous point, to the number of grades. A further increase in the number of weighted learners of a combined school is required to compensate for the management complexity of such a school.

More than one language medium of instruction. In order to deal with this complicating factor, the number of weighted learners that is granted per grade in terms of the previous point, is increased if more than one language medium of instruction is used in the particular grade. A HoD may set a certain minimum number or percentage of the learners in a grade that must receive tuition in a second language before recognition is given in this way.

• Disabilities of learners. These learners require additional support from various categories of personnel. Norms with regard to the provisioning of educator posts, including teaching staff, therapists and psychologists still need to be determined. Until new norms have been determined, the norms for the allocation of educator (teaching staff) posts that applied in terms of the 1998 Post Provisioning Model, as published in Government Gazette No. 119627 on 18 December 1998, as well as the norms that applied in respect of therapist and psychologist posts, will continue to apply except in schools where the allocation is done in terms of a field testing of norms that are in the process of being developed. The weightings that apply to learners for purposes of allocating educator posts in terms of the Post Distribution Model are as follows:

In accordance with specific circumstances in a department, each of the above weightings may be increased, after consultation with trade unions who are members of the ELRC, by between 0% and 20%. It is important to note that the weightings that apply to learners based on their curriculum, school phase, instruction media or the fact that both primary and senior secondary phases are provided for, do not apply to these learners.

Learners who are mildly to moderately learning disabled are weighted in terms of the curriculum they follow and not in terms of their disability. If they are accommodated in so-called special schools where they receive vocational training, they are counted as 2.5 weighted learners each.

Access to the Curriculum. In order to ensure affordable and fair access of learners to the curriculum, the numbers of learners that are fully funded in respect of subjects that are more expensive to offer need to be regulated. (Certain subjects are more expensive than others because they require smaller classes and/or special equipment and facilities.) A HoD, therefore, may identify specific schools at which the offering of such subjects should take place as well as the maximum number of learners at such schools that should take the subjects concerned. This means that a maximum number (or percentage) of learners may be set in respect of a particular subject at a particular school. Should a school exceed such a limit, the excess learners will be funded in terms of the norms applicable to the least expensive subject. It is possible that the maximum number of learners that will be counted as taking a particular subject at a particular school may be specified as zero even though such a subject was considered for post provisioning purposes in the past. This would mean that all such learners taking such a subject would be counted as if they are taking the least expensive subject for purposes of post provisioning.

In order to assist a school to introduce such a subject, a certain minimum number of learners may be counted for post provisioning purposes during a phasing in period, even though the actual number of learners taking the subject is lower than this number. The implementation of these measures must be in accordance with a department’s policy on redress in the implementation and promotion of the curriculum.

• Poverty. In order to compensate for the negative impact that poverty has on learning, the poverty grading of a school is also taken into account.
• Level of funding. Policy may require that different phases be funded at different levels. Currently, all grades are set at a 100% funding level while Grade R is set at a funding level of 0%. This is merely a tool that could be used if and when required.
• Ad Hoc factors. Certain factors that are not considered above, such as an unexpected growth in learner numbers, may exist at a particular school and may justify the allocation of additional posts to such a school. These posts must be allocated from an additional pool of posts that need to be created for this purpose.

The weightings are added into a mathematical model, which determines the post allocation for each school. Reducing the total number of posts in the formula will affected the number of posts allocated to each school, according to these weightings.

(b)     The decision by the national government not to fully fund the wage deal, and the resulting reduction in the basket of posts, will have a negative impact on our schools and learners. The National Treasury recognised this in the 2023 Mid-Term Budget Policy Statement, noting the risk of increased class sizes and teacher workloads.

(c)      (i)          1 027 schools

(ii)         The list of schools is attached as Annexure A.

(iii)        The number of learners affected at each school will depend on the unique circumstances of each school, including which posts are identified by the school, and what adjustments the school makes to compensate for the reduction.

(iv)        The implementation of the reduction at each school will be specific to the school, and the school may make adjustments to class sizes, curriculum offerings, timetabling, etc.

              Norms and Standards payments for school expenses, support for school feeding, and learner transport will not be affected, as we consider these priority support measures for learners in poor communities.