INFORMATION SERVICES: RESEARCH
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31 May 2004
Analysis of the Department of Education’s Strategic Plan and Budget Vote (Budget Vote 15)
The knowledge, skills and capabilities needed to meet the challenges of the 21st century depend upon education systems that distribute learning opportunities equitably and make efficient use of their human and financial resources. Effective Government budgeting and spending are fundamental and instrumental elements in enabling education systems across the globe to achieve these aims.
This paper gives an analysis of the Department of Education’s Strategic Plan (2004 – 2006) and Budget Vote (Budget Vote 15). It looks at the institutional commitment (mandate) and the expenditure trends of the various programmes of the Department. It analyses the expenditure trends of the programmes in line with the five broad priorities of the Department.
The institutional commitment of the Department of Education is premised on the following:
The aim of the Department of Education is to develop, maintain and support a South African education and training system for the 21st century.
In his Statement of Policy and Intent, the Minister of Education, Professor Kader Asmal, outlines nine major challenges that face the education system in South Africa in the next five years. These challenges have been consolidated into five broad priorities of the Department, in line with priorities of Government’s Social Cluster as follows:
In its contribution to the poverty alleviation programme, the Department of Education aims to increase its effort to reduce the financial burden of education to the poor in South Africa. In 2003, the Department completed a study on the "Review of the Financing, Resourcing and Costs of Education in Public Schools" which found, amongst other things, that hidden costs such as lunches, transport, school uniforms and learning material were still creating a barrier for the poor to access education in many parts of the country, especially in the historically disadvantaged communities in rural areas and townships. The report also found that although there were legislative provisions in place to exempt the poor from paying fees, lack of capacity to monitor and deal with non-compliance meant the poor did not benefit from such provisions.
As a result, in the next five years, the Department aims to implement the Action Plan derived from the review, and a series of other recommendations made by the study and other stakeholders to give effect to the principle of free basic education for the poor in South Africa.
The Department aims to encourage the 40% poorest schools not to charge fees at all. In order to charge school fees, these schools will have to seek permission from the Department. Schools in the least poor 20% will be considered for compensation by the Department, on an individual basis if 25% of their learners are from the poorest quintile.
The Department of Education started managing the NSNP this year (2004), taking it over from the Department of Health. In the first instance, the Department of Education aims to have a smooth transition as it takes over this function, to avoid an abrupt exclusion of learners who are already in the programme. However, the Department intends to ensure that the programme is aligned to the resource targeting principle of the Norms and Standards for School Funding, which progressively allocates resources in favour of the poor.
Accordingly, 60% of the poorest learners in Grades R to 7 will receive a nutritious meal during school days in the NSNP. The programme is seen as part of the Government’s Integrated Food Security Programme that promotes the establishment of food gardens in schools and communities as a sustainable means of ensuring the health of the poor, especially children. Therefore, as part of the NSNP, the Department will form partnerships with other organisations, especially community-based organisations (CBOs) in the establishment of food gardens in schools, beginning with the poorest schools in nodal areas and extending to rural and township schools by 2006.
Rural education will also receive focused attention during the next five years in an attempt to ensure that learners in rural areas are not denied access to education as a result of their circumstances. The Department of Education in collaboration with the Department of Transport plans an investigation into the feasibility of a public transport system catering for learners in rural areas. The Department considers the use of bicycles, hostel facilities, and the provision of boarding allowances as viable options in reducing access barriers in rural schools. Other conditions prevalent in rural areas that compromise the right that these children have to basic quality education will also be examined. These include multi-grade teaching where learners in different grades are taught in one room, lack of infrastructure and shortage of suitably qualified teachers.
Vulnerable children or children in distress include children that are in conflict with the law, those awaiting trial, street children and orphans (children without adult caregivers). Through the Department’s inclusive approach to dealing with children with special needs, all children in special circumstances will be accommodated in a manner that does not further ostracise them from society. Collaboration with other Government departments and non-governmental agencies in this regard will be emphasised.
Another key initiative in dealing with poverty will be the Extended Public Works Programme. The Department has already approved a plan for the creation of 4 000 job opportunities for unemployed persons in integrated models of delivery, for children from birth to four years as part of Early Childhood Development (ECD) programme. To ensure that The Department reaches all children of Grade R age, the ECD programme relies heavily on community-based day-care centres.
With regards to skills development, the Department plans the following:
In responding to skills shortages in certain categories, the Department plans to strengthen its Maths and Science Project in order to improve the output of mathematics and science Grade 12 graduates. In the next five years, the Department aims to consolidate what it has achieved and strengthen its interventions by ensuring that the Maths and Science Project is expanded to a large number of learners.
The persistent undersupply of qualified mathematics and science teachers in certain areas of the country will receive top priority as a means of ensuring equitable access to quality education for all learners. The problem of insufficient facilities and resources has been noted as a major stumbling block to effective learning and teaching, and will also be targeted during the next decade.
The model of dedicated schools has proved to be effective in boosting learner performance that the Department will investigate the feasibility of extending the concept into schools that will be dedicated to other critical subjects, such as Accounting, Performing Arts and others.
ABET has been identified in the ten-year review process as one of the weakest links of the Department’s efforts to enable the people of South Africa to develop their potential to the fullest. The uptake of ABET programmes has been improving at a slow pace, as has been retention rate. The Department plans an increase of 40 000 learners enrolled in ABET programmes by 2005. The Department of Education will also partner the Department of Labour in diversifying the curriculum in ABET to include learnerships and other career -specific programmes that will be relevant to the needs of ABET learners.
The Department intends strengthening its programmes in fighting illiteracy in South Africa. It intends to mobilise all schools to teach their learners the importance of social responsibility by starting community projects to fight illiteracy within their communities.
The National Qualifications Framework (NQF) is another critical way of ensuring that the skills people acquired through informal and experiential learning are duly recognised for portability and progression in their learning careers. The review of the NQF, which has just been completed, was aimed at ensuring that the provisions of the NQF as instruments for human resource development effectively achieve the goal of improving the rate of the targeted communities.
In taking the implementation of the NQF forward, the Department of Education and Labour will play a more proactive role in providing strategic leadership to the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA). SAQA will, in turn, provide the intellectual leadership required by a qualifications framework that integrates forms of learning that takes place in formal environment, in the workplace and in other informal settings.
In order to improve the quality of education in South Africa, the Department of Education plans the following interventions:
The progressive implementation of the National Curriculum Statements in Grade 10 to Grade 12 will be a major milestone in the completion of the curriculum reforms that began with the implementation of Curriculum 2005 in 1996. The Department plans to implement a campaign of teacher training, development of learner support materials and ensuring that support for teachers is available at local levels. The curriculum rollout will culminate in the Further Education and Training Certificate (FETC), which will replace the existing system of matriculation.
A recent achievement in the quality improvement arena is the agreement reached by the teacher unions and the Department to consolidate all quality management systems into a single Integrated Quality Management System. This will include the Whole School Evaluation, Development Appraisal System and the Performance Management System. The integration of the systems will lead to a more co-ordinated approach towards the development of teachers and recognition of good performance.
One of the most important factors in the delivery of quality education is the availability of suitably qualified teachers in all schools. The Department intends to strengthen its teacher development strategy in order to create competent and qualified teachers for all the gateway subjects across the education system in South Africa. The Department plans to create a policy environment for effective teacher education and ensure that teachers already in the system meet the minimum required levels of qualifications. A strategy for an intensive campaign on the national status and profiling of the teaching profession will be put in place, which will boost the professional status and morale of teachers. A further incentive for the retention of good teachers in the classroom has been the introduction of a salary progression system.
The quality of teaching and learning in institutions of higher education will also receive attention. The implementation of the Department’s National Plan for Higher Education is already under way, together with the transformation of academic programmes that will ensure a higher education system that is relevant to the needs of the student of the 21st century.
Infrastructural delivery is another factor contributing towards the overall quality of teaching and learning. The Department aims to address the issue of overcrowding in many of the country’s schools, while ensuring that no learners learn in unsafe structures.
One of the challenges of social development programmes identified in the ten-year review has been the growing evidence of a weak social fabric in the South African society. This manifests itself through the high incidence of violent crime, child abuse and racial intolerance that is still prevalent amongst the country’s schools and communities. The Department’s strategy to deal with race and values attempts to meet these challenges.
The Department plans to strengthen the impact of its HIV/AIDS intervention programmes in the education and training system in order to reduce the effects and impact of the pandemic in the system in the medium to long term. The current life skills programme will be one of the interventions that will be assessed. The Department also intends to increase the awareness of the school community (learners and teachers) on matters pertaining to HIV/AIDS prevention and management.
The Department intends to make reproductive health as part of the life skills programme. This is due to the fact that there seem to be a contention that the increase in incidences of teenage pregnancy is an indication that the country’s youth are not practising safe sex and may therefore not be aware of the full implications of parenthood at a young age.
The Department plans to address the general health of learners through partnerships with the Department of Health. It will establish mechanisms of ensuring that children with sight and hearing problems receive the necessary attention.
The capacity of some of the country’s institutions to deliver on their mandates still requires development and support. The merger unit established in the Department of Education will continue supporting Higher Education Institutions in managing the transition from "old" to the reconfigured institutions. The Department intends increasing its support to Further Education and Training (FET) Colleges and schools, especially those that still do not have the capacity to manage their own budgets.
The role of the district in supporting schools will receive added attention that will begin with a review of a number of effective districts, with the intention of identifying the "ingredients" of an effective district as well as the kind of support that schools obtain from it. The long-term vision is to have a nomenclature of education management and administration that will be understood by all role players.
The Department of Education has the following programmes:
The purpose of the Administration programme is to provide for policy formulation and the overall management of the Department.
The purpose of the Systems Planning programme is to provide strategic direction in the development, implementation and monitoring of education policies, programmes and projects.
The programme has established the following measurable objective: Promote effective education provisioning at national and provincial levels by developing policies and support systems, including norms and standards for funding and education information systems.
The purpose of the General Education programme is to manage the development, implementation, evaluation and maintenance of national policy, programmes and systems for general education.
The measurable objective of the programme is to improve education in the foundation, intermediate and senior phases, by implementing national policy for outcomes-based education and related teacher development programmes.
The purpose of the FET programme is to provide strategic direction to the FET sector and to manage the planning, development, evaluation and maintenance of national policy, programmes and systems for FET, including national assessments and quality assurance systems.
The measurable objective of the programme is to enhance student capacity by improving FET, by implementing national policy for outcomes-based education, including national assessments and quality assurance systems.
The purpose of the Quality Promotion and Development programme is to provide leadership for the development of policy and special education programmes in support of quality education across the system.
The measurable objective of the programme is to improve education through the development and implementation of programmes that address socio-economic risk, including school nutrition, HIV/AIDS, race and gender equity, values in education, and quality assurance programmes.
The purpose of the Higher Education programme is to provide strategic direction and develop policy and regulatory frameworks for an effective and efficient Higher Education system that contributes to fulfilling South Africa’s human resource, research and knowledge needs.
The measurable objective of the programme is to improve the access, efficiency and outputs of the Higher Education system through governance, planning, monitoring, and financing frameworks.
The purpose of the Auxiliary and Association Services is to co-ordinate and promote effective communication, liaison, international relations, and national and provincial co-operative governance in education.
The measurable objective of the programme is to enhance effective communication, liaison, international relations, and national and provincial co-operative governance in education by providing timely and relevant information and support.
The Department has identified the following strategic and key policy developments:
The national school funding norms, which came into effect in January 2000, were gradually implemented in all provinces by 2002 through the support of the European Union (EU). A new budget programme structure and a generic planning framework for provincial Departments of Education were implemented in 2003, to enable the Department and the National Treasury to make cross-provincial comparisons and determine whether amounts budgeted for specific programmes are adequate.
The Department also aims strengthen the monitoring of provincial budgets and expenditure through the analysis and evaluation of provincial strategic plans and the establishment of a budget monitoring and support office.
Over the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) period, the Department of Education will support the development and implementation of new funding norms for Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET), general education and training (GET) and Grade R.
A programme aimed at strengthening Education Management Information Systems (EMIS) will be further developed and enhanced, and a Master Systems Plan, data integration, and quality control systems will be developed and implemented.
Through the Thuba Makote project, an innovative building project which has been a poverty relief programme from 2001, nine schools have been constructed, one in each province. The Department plans to continue to manage and support construction projects in the provinces, some in partnerships with donors such as the Netherlands, the EU and Japan. A capital investment policy and a physical planning policy and guidelines for providing infrastructure will be developed by 2006, to assist in giving water, sanitation and electricity to all schools by 2015.
Over the current MTEF term, the Department plans, among other activities, to review the updated monitoring system for procuring and delivering learner support materials to schools, and monitor the performance of provincial education departments in terms of overall management and corporate services.
The Department is responsible for human resource development in the sector, including training teachers, and developing school managers and school governing bodies. The goals are firstly to ensure that all teachers are qualified, and secondly to improve the overall quality of teaching and management. As a result of upgrading programmes, the number of unqualified teachers has been reduced from nearly 80 000 to 30 000.
Thousands of teachers have been sponsored in various university level programmes, including special projects designed to improve mathematics, science and technology teaching, and to promote values in education. The Department plans to continue these initiatives, based on the need for specific skills in the sector.
Recent successes include the introduction of the National Professional Diploma in Education to support the upgrading of qualifications and the continuation of the National Teaching Awards Scheme introduced in 2000. The post-provisioning model (which calculates the number of teachers a school is entitled to on the basis of the number of learners, their levels, and the subjects they follow) has been refined in 2003 to include the poverty level of a school, and a new post and salary structure was implemented for educators. In 2004, an integrated quality management system will be implemented, and it is anticipated that by 2005, a performance reward system will be developed.
The Department plans to continue to strengthen the education system’s response to HIV/AIDS as well as to other social issues that impact negatively on the ability of children to access quality education in South Africa. These include providing relevant information to educators and learners, and ensuring support to affected and infected learners.
Violence and crime will also receive attention through the safe schools programme of the Department.
The revised National Curriculum Statement (NCS) for grades R to 9 in schools, which includes curriculum statements for each of the eight learning areas, became official policy in March 2002. The teachers’ guide for the development of learning programmes for the foundation phase was developed and distributed in 2003. Preparations for implementing the revised NCS in the foundation phase in 2004 were finalised in 2003.
The Department aims to remove all barriers to learning so that children with special needs, including the most vulnerable, are able to participate fully. Pilot programmes in the field of special needs education are being implemented, mainly with donor funding. The policy for early childhood development, which was developed during 2000, aims at including all children aged five in a pre-school class. The plan is that all children in this cohort will have at least one year of pre-school education by 2010.
Over the medium term, the Department plans to devote its attention to implementing the revised National Curriculum Statement, ensuring that it is used effectively in schools and strengthening teacher development.
The Department also plans to enhance teaching and learning in poorer areas by ensuring that teachers are implementing the curriculum correctly. An overarching implementation strategy has been developed and measurable deliverables have been identified.
The FET college system underwent a substantial rationalisation process nationally during 2002, with 152 former technical colleges amalgamated into 50 FET colleges. The main challenge facing these institutions is to be flexible enough to provide market-related programmes as cost effectively as possible. Curriculum reform and changes to financing mechanisms will be the main focus areas of restructuring during the MTEF period.
The Department began preparing for the implementation of outcomes-based education in FET in 2002, and identified 35 subjects for curriculum development. In addition, the qualifications and assessment policy framework for grades 10 to 12 (schools) was developed during 2002. This policy specifies the new Further Education and Training Certificate (FETC), which will replace the Senior Certificate by 2008.
In December 2002, the Department released its proposals for restructuring the institutional landscape of the Higher Education system. This was seen as a key element in the broader strategy for the transformation of the Higher Education system as a whole.
The national and institutional planning process, in conjunction with funding and an appropriate regulatory framework will be the main levers for meeting national goals and objectives. The new funding framework, which will be introduced from the 2004/05 financial year, will facilitate this process. Planned student enrolments, approved in advance by the Minister, linked to institutional performance in meeting national goals and objectives, will in future determine levels of funding.
This process has been started through the approval of the programme and qualification profile of each Higher Education institution. In relation to the mergers of Higher Education institutions, a distinction is made between the legal establishment of new institutions and the substantive integration of merged institutions. Although the legal process to establish a new institution can be completed in a relatively short time, the substantive integration of the merged institution is likely to take between three and five years.
The management of the implementation of mergers and incorporations is the responsibility of the institutions concerned. The role of the department will be to provide financial and technical support and guidance, and to monitor the implementation process at the level of individual institutions. The Department established a merger unit within the Higher Education Branch to provide this support.
The 2004 Budget increases the medium-term allocation by R860,4 million in 2004/05 and R945,5 million in 2005/06. These funds will be used for the following:
5.1 Expenditure Trends
The Budget of the Department of Education indicates the following expenditure trends:
Table 1: The national education budget by programme, 2003/04 to 2006/07 (R'000)
|
Education programmes |
2003/04 |
2004/05 |
2005/06 |
2006/07 |
Real change from 2003/04 to 2004/5 (%) |
Real annual average change 2003/04 to 2006/07 (%) |
|
Administration |
82775 |
97072 |
125808 |
151056 |
11.4 |
16.3 |
|
Systems Planning |
279854 |
36790 |
36306 |
37841 |
-87.5 |
-31.5 |
|
General Education |
383704 |
217677 |
220725 |
231088 |
-46.0 |
-16.7 |
|
Further Education and Training |
111579 |
179614 |
153703 |
156367 |
53.0 |
10.4 |
|
Quality Promotion and Development |
739134 |
872459 |
949341 |
1136502 |
12.2 |
9.8 |
|
Higher Education |
8954424 |
9908545 |
10583782 |
11253399 |
5.2 |
2.6 |
|
Auxiliary and Assoc. Services |
33055 |
32800 |
37317 |
40540 |
-5.7 |
2.0 |
|
Total |
10584525 |
11344957 |
12106982 |
13006793 |
1.9 |
1.8 |
Source: Estimates of National Expenditure 2004
Administration provides for policy formulation and the overall leadership and management of the Department, including the responsibilities of the Minister, the Deputy Minister and the Director-General. It provides for personnel, financial, administrative and other corporate services.
The programme’s annual average growth was 21,8% per year over the period 2000/01 to 2003/04. The annual average growth over the medium term is slightly higher, at 22,5%. Expenditure on Administration as percentage of the total expenditure of the Department (excluding transfer payments) increases from 18,7% for the period 2000/01 to 2003/04 to 27,3% for the medium term. This increase is mainly due to the estimated costs over the medium term of the new office building envisaged for the Department, which will be constructed in the planned Government Boulevard and is being procured through a public-private partnership. This provision also explains the high growth in goods and services expenditure over the medium term.
Systems Planning provides strategic direction for developing, implementing and monitoring education policies, programmes and projects. The focus is on crosscutting areas, such as: financial and infrastructure planning; human resource management; labour relations and human resource development; and information systems for education. A key element is co-ordination with provinces for implementing national policy, and for support and monitoring.
The programme’s average annual growth in spending was 11,0% per year for 2000/01 to 2003/04. There is, however, a strong decline over the medium term due to the phasing out of the Financial Management and Quality Enhancement conditional grant to provinces and the Thuba Makote project from 1 April 2004. Spending on compensation of employees is set to increase rapidly in 2004/05, because of the restructuring of the department and the establishment of a budget office to support and monitor provincial Departments of Education.
General Education manages the development, implementation, evaluation and maintenance of national policy, programmes and systems for general education (reception year and grades 1 to 9 and equivalent adult basic education and training qualifications), including for early childhood development and the South African National Literacy Initiative (SANLI). The programme also develops policies and programmes to promote the development of educators, and management and governance capacity, and evaluates qualifications for employment in education.
The programme has an annual average growth of 66,2% per year for the period 2000/01 to 2003/04 largely because of funding for HIV/AIDS life skills programmes in schools. The MTEF estimates, however, decline strongly due to the phasing out of the poverty relief allocation for the Ikhwelo project. Transfers will continue to dominate the medium term estimates, due to the provision for the HIV/Aids conditional grant to provinces. The medium term estimates provide for an additional amount of R20,0 million for each of the three years for the implementation of the revised National Curriculum Statement.
6. Service Delivery Objectives and Indicators
The revised National Curriculum Statement was implemented in the foundation phase in January 2004. A total of 1 058 ‘master trainers’ received training, and the orientation and preparation of the foundation phase teachers, school management teams and provincial officials were completed in
November 2003.
Programmes for training early childhood development practitioners to improve access to early childhood development began in all provinces. The training of 4 500 early childhood development practitioners started in September 2003, and 4 500 community-based ECD sites are operational. A database of sites has been developed for monitoring purposes. To date, 135 000 Grade R learners have been reached.
In February 2002, the South African National Literacy Initiative (SANLI) started literacy classes through a partnership with the University of South Africa (Unisa) ABET Institute, funded by the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID). A target of 75 000 learners was initially set for the period February 2002 to the end of December 2003. By the end of December 2002, the project had already reached 100 000 learners in all nine provinces. In February 2003, a new target was set and again significantly exceeded well before the end of December 2003. This over subscription has defied high learner dropout rates internationally, and has served as good advocacy for the departmentally-funded SANLI literacy projects.
The extraordinary success of the project has led to a partnership between the department, Unisa and the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC). The IEC has agreed to sponsor learner support materials for 100 000 learners in what is now called the ABET/Unisa/IEC project. The benefit to learners is that learner support materials have now been enhanced by the inclusion of materials on human rights and voter education, significant for the 2004 national elections.
The Department’s literacy initiative exceeded the target set in February 2002 by 309 per cent. Since 1999, the department has reached 1,6 million illiterate people. Through the Ikhwelo project, 222 educators and 9 project co-ordinators have been appointed, and 843 learners attended lessons in agriculture, Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs), and the eight learning areas during 2003. Equipment as well as learner support materials were purchased for the learners.
A framework for the recognition of prior learning is in place for educators who have this is a Relative Education Qualification Value (REQV) 11 plus a one-year professional qualification. One thousand four hundred and fifty (1 450) educators have been recruited for the mathematics, science and technology project, which aims to improve teacher capacity to teach these subjects. Furthermore, training and orientation courses have been developed, conducted by universities, to support teachers in curriculum implementation. These courses have success rates of between 70% and 80%.
The 2004 Education Budget Vote shows an increase in the medium-term allocation by R860,4 million in 2004/05 and R945,5 million in 2005/06. In its strategic Plan and Priorities, the Department also plans to strengthen the monitoring of provincial budgets and expenditure through the analysis and evaluation of provincial strategic plans and the establishment of a budget monitoring and support office. The Department has also shown commitment in budgeting for the established priority areas outlined in its Strategic Plan.
8. Issues for Clarity
The following issues need clarity from the Department:
The 2004 Education Budget has shown alignment with the Department’s five broad priorities. The Department’s medium-term allocation increases by R860,4 million in 2004/05 and R945,5 million in 2005/06. Spending in the Department is dominated by the Higher Education programme, which is projected to consume an average of 87,1% of the Department’s expenditure over the medium-term. This reflects mainly transfers to Higher Education institutions and the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS). The termination of the Financial Management and Quality Enhancement in Education conditional grant from 1 April 2004 is the main reason for the decline in the spending trend of Systems Planning in 2004/05. For General Education, the decline in the spending trend in 2004/05 results from the phasing out of the Early Childhood Development conditional grant, as the programme for the establishment of early childhood development centres will in future be funded by the provinces
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