The Western Cape Legislature has officially passed its Education Amendment Bill.

In a statement released on Friday (16 November) provincial education minister, Debbie Schafer, said that the bill constitutes the biggest public education reform since 1994, and is designed to achieve excellence in education for every child, in every classroom, in every school in the Province.

“The bill is innovative, in that it represents a real exercise of a province’s concurrent legislative competence in basic education,” she said.

“If we are to be at the forefront of education, it is important that we are open to innovative ways of delivering education, that we have effective and efficient ways of assessing how well schools are performing, and that we ensure measures are put in place to improve schooling where this is needed.”

The main focus areas of this bill are:

The establishment of an evaluation authority to be known as the Western Cape School Evaluation Authority (or “SEA”);

The specific provision for Collaboration Schools and Donor-Funded Schools;

The establishment of intervention facilities for learners who have been found guilty of serious misconduct, as an alternative to expulsion;

The enabling of classroom observation, and;

Providing for an exception to the prohibition of alcohol on school premises, on application to the Head of Department, for adult events after hours.

Alcohol

Under the new rules, there will not be a general power for any school to allow the sale or consumption of alcohol at a school function.

However, schools that wish to, will be permitted to apply in writing to the head of department, who can authorise a governing body or principal (in the case of a staff function) to permit the sale or consumption of alcohol.

This puts the decision for school functions squarely in the hands of the governing body, which is largely elected by parents from the community, Schafer said.

“Section 45A of our existing Act, which is not being changed, provides that alcohol may not be brought onto school premises except for legitimate educational purposes. The new provision is providing for an exception to this, for schools that wish to apply for permission, subject to conditions.”

Observation and SEA

The bill establishes an evaluation authority to be known as the Western Cape Schools Evaluation Authority (SEA).

The SEA will independently evaluate schools and develop school evaluation reports which will trigger Departmental support and developmental actions.

This information will be available publicly to parents and communities. The aim is that, through working with the Organisational Development Team, we will have finalised the key job descriptions, job gradings, standard operating procedures and performance review processes over the next two months.

“We want to assess the true quality of education in our system, in a manner that is fair, consistent and an honest reflection of how well a school is functioning, with a particular focus on teaching and learning in the classroom, not just compliance,” said Schafer.

“The new reports will be more concise, insightful and focused on the right issues. The assessments are also shorter, already resulting in a cost saving. This means we can assess more schools in a shorter time, and then focus on the improvement aspects.”

Intervention facilities

The bill allows for the establishment of intervention facilities for learners who have been found guilty of serious misconduct, as an alternative to expulsion.

Following expulsion learners are typically just accommodated in another school.

Establishing an intervention facility as an alternative, will enable the learner to receive various therapeutic programmes and intervention strategies, specific to their situation, whilst still receiving an education.

“This is not an old-style reformatory, but a short-term facility where specialist interventions can be given in the hope that a learner can be re-integrated into his or her school without having to be expelled and accommodated in another school,” said Schafer.

Donor-funded schools

The bill makes provision for collaboration schools and the declaration of existing schools as collaboration schools by the Provincial Minister.

Further provisions have been made to allow for these contributors to be directly involved in matters pertaining to the governance of these schools and for the funding of posts for educators and non-educators appointed directly by the governing bodies of these schools.

“A review of public expenditure on education in the Western Cape for 2016/17 showed that the children in the poorest quintile schools received the highest State allocation,” said Schafer.

“In effect, the revenue gap between poorer and wealthier schools is now entirely determined by the private contribution of school fees by wealthier parents.

“It is clear that state funding alone is not enough to overcome the massive differences in total income between non-fee paying schools and fee-paying schools.

“Thus, the only way that the State can further narrow the income gap between poorer and richer public schools is to harness private sources of funding for schools where parents cannot afford to pay fees,” she said.

She added that the Western Cape was not handing over public schools to private players but was instead trying to create sustainable partnerships within the ambit of public schools.

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