Pretoria – The Basic Education Department says preparations for the 2014 Annual National Assessments (ANA) are at an advanced stage.
ANA was put in place by the department as a strategy to annually measure progress in learner achievement towards the 2014 target of ensuring that at least 60% of learners achieve acceptable levels in Literacy and Numeracy.
The 2014 ANA kicks-off on 15 September.
According to the department, last year’s performance by the learners was impressive.
Announcing last year’s ANA results, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said since the introduction of the programme, there has been a steady improvement in the learners’ performance.
“We’re seeing already steady improvement in performance as a result of this direction we’re taking with positive output from those learners who’ve already been through the new Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements.
“The ANA allows teachers to reflect on their performance and to identify areas that require additional support to ensure effective learning,” she said at the time.
Minister Motshekga said ANA has yielded not only valuable information on the status quo, but it has also pointed to those areas calling for urgent attention to improve performance.
The 2013 assessments were conducted in Grades 1 to 6 and Grade 9.
ANA is one of the initiatives that form the backbone of the department’s Action Plan to 2014: Towards the Realisation of Schooling 2025.
ANA targets Literacy and Numeracy because these have been found universally to be the key foundational skills for successful learning in school and beyond.
The tests are administered in all the eleven official languages in the foundation phase and in the two languages of teaching and learning in the Intermediate and Senior Phase.
From 2012, the assessment included all learners in Grades 1 - 6 and Grade 9 and was administered in the third quarter of the school year.
In 2014, the department will also pilot the assessment of a sample of learners in Grades 7 and 8. Based on the findings of the pilot, a decision will be made in 2015 on the assessment of Grade 7 and 8 learners.
The ANA timetable for 2014 can be found on the department's website at www.education.gov.za
Parents are advised to support their children in the preparation for ANA 2014 and to ensure that the results are made available to them, so that this information could serve as an important diagnostic source of the areas of strength and weakness of the learner, based on a standardised national test. – SAnews.gov.za
