In SA at the time...
Development continues
The transformation of the national policy architecture in education was complete and there was national consensus that education and skills development was key to the ongoing development of the country.
The transformation of the national policy architecture in education was complete and there was national consensus that education and skills development was key to the ongoing development of the country.
- Government had allocated more of the national budget to education than any other item. However, 87 per cent of this budget was spent on teacher salaries, and only 13 per cent was left to spend on infrastructure, learning and teaching resources, and teacher training.
- The corporate and private sector made the highest annual contribution to the non-profit sector of any comparable country – an estimated R2.2 billion. In 2002, 36 per cent of this funding (R792 million) was devoted to education; this amount excluded the contribution of independent trusts like the Zenex Foundation.
Professionalising grant-making practices
The Zenex Foundation’s move into the consolidation phase showed that, while its growth had been substantial and its financial contribution to education and development sizable, it was not yet able to meet a key objective set by its trustees: to have 25 significant projects running in tandem. Instead of expanding further, the Zenex Foundation decided to consolidate its efforts by preparing for longer-term growth and systematic development. This decision was especially justified since it had already established itself as a legitimate grant-making organisation that was proactive and responsive to the local educational and development context.
Gail Campbell was appointed as CEO of the Zenex Foundation in 2003 and, charged with taking the organisation forward, she undertook a thorough review of the Zenex Foundation and its operations.
The internal review of the Zenex Foundation highlighted its key achievements to date as:
- implementation of new organisational and operational structures aligned to Zenex Foundation strategy.
- consolidation of the Zenex Foundation’s policy framework for the funding of projects.
- development of grant-making tools intended to ensure the capacity of the Zenex Foundation to effectively identify, appraise, select, manage and evaluate evermore significant programmes.
- development of a project-tracking and record-keeping system.
- improved communication with NGO partners.
- development of a research-based strategy for the funding of mathematics and science projects.
- establishment of impact indicators for all projects.
- projects approved in 2003 all being evaluated both through internal monitoring and external evaluations.
In SA at the time...
Development continues
Increased expenditure had resulted in some key achievements such as:
South Africa's democracy had firmly taken root and the national environment was stable. The country was even more ready to grow and develop – assuming it could overcome its remaining major educational challenges such as:
Increased expenditure had resulted in some key achievements such as:
- greatly expanded access enjoyed by learners of all ages.
- an increasing level of systematic and formal management of the system.
- the adoption of 'cutting edge' educational policies and curricula for learning.
- high access and enrolment figures – between 1998 and 2002 figures showed that access to education was high, with 20 million learners enrolled in schools in 2002.
South Africa's democracy had firmly taken root and the national environment was stable. The country was even more ready to grow and develop – assuming it could overcome its remaining major educational challenges such as:
- There were still large backlogs in resource provision and qualitative improvement.
- Four provinces (Mpumalanga, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo) had the lowest expenditure per learner and had the greatest backlogs, lowest matriculation pass rates and the highest number of unqualified or under-qualified teachers.
- It was more difficult than expected to operationalise and implement the new policies effectively.
- The shift to outcomes-based education, in the form of the Revised National Curriculum Statement, presented enormous challenges to the system. Many teachers had inadequate content knowledge and government lacks the resources to retrain and develop teachers rapidly. Government also lacked the resources to provide adequate teaching and learning resources to the level required for the effective implementation of the revised curriculum.
- International assessments of learners' performance in mathematics, science and English showed that South African learners fared poorly against other countries, often obtaining the lowest scores. This finding does not bode well for economic growth.
- Some of the challenges in mathematics, science and language classrooms included poor curriculum coverage, the slow pace of task completion, lack of conceptual progression in lessons, the fact that learners did very little written work, inadequate opportunity for learners to read and comprehend, and a lack of meaningful feedback given to learner responses
The environmental factors of the years 2003 to 2004 persuaded donor agencies to provide continued support to the education system – both private sector donors and independent agencies like the Zenex Foundation. The CEO's internal review listed some of the national policy imperatives with which the work of the Zenex Foundation was very clearly aligned:
- focus on learners previously disadvantaged by state policy and in marginalised communities.
- focus on retraining existing mathematics and science teachers and encouraging the professional development of teachers in accordance with the National Framework on teacher education.
- need to provide incentives to retain mathematics and science teachers in the system.
- need to provide the necessary resources for the teaching of mathematics and science.
- need for the improved teaching and learning of English as a second language used as the language of learning and teaching while still promoting multilingualism.
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