The Department was asked to comment whether it had erred in regard to the recent maths exams, and Members commented that there needed to be greater synergy between the NSC level and the NBT, so that there could ideally be one test for entrance, qualification and support assessment. Members also queried the statement that many students were being “coached” at schools, and examined the distinction between good coaching, which was essentially supportive teaching, and coaching merely to get through the exam papers. The NBT had to tell universities to institutionalise their support mechanisms it was not supposed to be used to turn students away. The Committee agreed that something had to be done about meeting students’ educational needs. They questioned what the consequences were to failing the Benchmark Tests, whether these were used to indicate what level of support was required, or whether they were used to “gate-keep” and block some students from admission. Members also thought that there must be a serious discrepancy between the National Senior Certificate (NSC) exams, which most students passed, and the National Benchmark Tests (NBT), which the majority did not pass. HESA clarified that the Chairperson’s earlier comments reflected the results of tests written at some historically Afrikaans universities. The Committee asked about a statement made by the HESA Chairperson to the Higher Education Portfolio Committee that most students in their first year were unable to read, write and spell, doubting whether most students could be functionally illiterate, unless the matric exams were severely compromised or there was something else wrong. It maintained that the matric results were an accurate assessment of the level of students in the country. The Department of Education stated that people should be intolerant about the level of failure that was reflected in the matric examinations. An institution that admitted students that fell in to the basic band had to be able to demonstrate to the Department of Education that it was involved in initiatives to help these students. Students in the proficient band did not need much assistance. The universities would have to put in programmes to assist these students with their needs. These challenges would impact on their chances to achieve a degree of quality within a reasonable time. HESA identified challenges with students who placed in the intermediate band. The tests categorised students into three domains depending on whether they fell in to the proficient, intermediate or basic bands. The project aimed to provide additional information about performance in core, underlying areas of Academic Literacy, Quantitative Literacy and Mathematics. There were difficulties in identifying students’ educational needs and there was a lack of appropriate curriculum flexibility at entry to meet these needs.
BENCHMARK TESTS IN EDUCATION HOW TO
The project was developed to demonstrate inefficiencies in Higher Education and to address concerns about how to interpret the new National Senior Certificate. Higher Education South Africa (HESA) briefed the Committee on results received from the National Benchmark Tests Project.
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