Western Cape Education Department: Building Human Capital: Focus on the Youth

1. Western Cape Education Department: Building Human Capital: Focus on the Youth Presentation at Kensington High School on Launch of Provincial Dinaledi Focus Schools Maths, Science and Technology 26 November 2005 “Education is the most effective tool to mine human capital throughout the world” Klor de Alva

2. Contents • Purpose of presentation • Why is it not business as usual? The Presidential Review. • Scale of the problem • Scale of the Education problem in the province

3. Contents • Why Human and Social Capital? • What is Human Capital? • Indicators of Human Capital • What is Social Capital? • Implications for Dinaledi Schools • Conclusion

4. Purpose of this presentation • Explain the Human Capital Strategy • Draw links between Human Capital and Maths, Science and Technology Focus • Implications and possibilities for Dinaledi Schools

5. Purpose of this presentation • The point of departure is a developmental approach to government. This implies a pro-active and facilitative approach to development and not one based on formulating and applying regulations and restrictions • We are government and don’t have the luxury of debating whether the global world order is a good or bad thing. Our task is to find ways and deal with it constructively as employees of government.

6. Why is it not business as usual? • Presidential Review: Great progress in the decade of freedom • The advances of the First Decade by far supersede the weaknesses. Yet, if all indicators were to continue along the same trajectory, especially in respect of the dynamic of economic inclusion and exclusion, we could soon reach a point where the negatives start to overwhelm the positives. This could precipitate a vicious cycle of decline in all spheres.

7. Why is it not business as usual?: • Required are both focus and decisiveness on the part of government, the will to weigh trade-offs and make choices, as well as strategies to inspire all of society to proceed along a new trail. If decisive action is taken on a number of focused areas, the confluence of possibilities is such that the country would enter a road of faster economic growth and job-creation, faster and more efficient provision of quality services, increased social cohesion and reduction of the paradigm of exclusion prevalent among sections of society.

8. Why is it not business as usual? • Contained in the body of work that now informs government programmes is a simple message: there are hundreds of thousands of things that government does and should continue to do; but it should define a new trajectory of growth and development, identify the key things required to attain it, and make strategic choices in expending effort and allocating resources in order to blaze out along this new trail.

9. Maths and Science Crisis • Students’ uptake of, and performance in, the critical subjects like mathematics, science and technology, is alarmingly inadequate. • Cannot meet the needs of the 21st century and we are unable to compete globally

10. Scale of the Maths and Science Problem • African and Coloured Maths HG 1070 • White Maths HG 2663 • African and Coloured Science HG 1176 • White Science HG 2516 • Not producing enough engineers, scientists and related professions • Therefore the MST strategy

11. Scale of the Educational Problem in the Province • The same worrying trends are shown in the grade 6 test results of 2003. These results are highly correlated with poverty and race. • Quantitative analysis of the Western Cape school enrolment figures by various researchers indicates that only 45 – 52% of learners who enroll in Grade 1 reach Grade 12. (Crouch, 2002; van Wyk, 2003).

12. MST as one priority • The Human Capital Strategy must of necessity focus much of its delivery strategy on widening the base of learners who take mathematics, science and technology (MST) throughout their school careers, and simultaneously to improve dramatically the performance and achievement of learners in these subject areas. • Our MST Strategy clearly outlines our programmes and interventions in this regard, and these include expanding the number of Dinaledi schools; establishing Focus Schools (schools of excellence) for among others, MST, sports, business, ICT, arts and culture, etc. in each district; launching a curriculum redress programme with the introduction of the FET NCS in 2005/06.

13. Why Human Capital and Social Capital? • The South African economy has reached a point where there is a strong platform upon which the rate of growth can be ratcheted up a notch, to at least an average rate of growth of 4% per year in the short-to-medium term-to long-term (within five years), and possibly 5% in the medium to long term • A substantial number of job losses and a lack of a sufficient economic growth rate results in the need for the building of human and social capital

14. Why Human and Social Capital? • The ability of South Africa to deliver a better life for all, and more particularly to halve poverty and unemployment rests on our ability to raise the growth rate. • Our policy is pro poor and based on growth • At this time we need to use all available resources to work differently to advance growth and compensate for the limited fiscal resources • Education budget as decreased with major cuts and will continue to do so

15. Why Human Capital and Social Capital? • The big question is what should be the balance in the prioritisation between economic and social programmes • What is a quite clear is that educational spending must be utilized optimally to contribute to the growth • Over the next few years the possibility of a declining budget is a distinct possibility • We have to build human and social capital in order to advance the economic growth rate.

16. What is Human Capital? • Human Capital as that set of individual and collective capacity (education, knowledge, skills, experience, health, motivation, entrepreneurship, etc) that enables people to participate in and contribute to the overall development of their society. • Human Capital Strategy focuses on youth, mainly black youth, to ensure they have access to better education

17. What is Human Capital? • Internal Human Capital: Officials in government who deliver the service • External Human Capital: ECD, ABET, GET, FET and HE • What all this means is that the best way we can invest for South Africa’s future is to train, employ, constantly upskill an support researchers in all these areas of expertise (Margaret Legum) • Provide quality ECD, ABET, GET, FET and HE programmes

18. What is Human Capital? • This cannot be achieved overnight. It is a medium and long term plan • At ECD level, we are talking about introducing quality education with the emphasis on human values • At a GET level, the focus is on numeracy and literacy and quality learning • At Secondary Level the focus is on making the correct career choices and quality learning • Ultimately we want to increase our throughput rates

19. Indicators of Human Capital • Human Capital is measured by the number of people in the education system: so we look at: • Average educational attainment • Literacy rate • Percentage of population with some university or equivalent • Primary, secondary and tertiary education

20. Indicators of Human Capital • Proportion with university degrees as a proportion of the labour market • Educational attainment of the population aged between 25-64 • Adult participation in education and training • Percentage of graduates with science degrees • Indictor of child development at age 5 National Roundatable on the Environment and Economy, 2005

21. Implications of Human Capital! • Context gave rise to the pro poor policy of iKapa Elilmayo which is a provinical enconomic growth and development strategy • Mandate of the developmental state: managers must manage, responsive, work in an integrated manner with other sister departments, work smarter, deal with issues in a rigorous, committed manner, work diligently and have a commitment to the developmental state • Urgency in response rate is key, systematic organised and urgent responses

22. What is Social Capital? • Social capital refers to the networks in communities that enable it to take responsibility for, and to take leadership in projects that are designed to improve the conditions of the collective in that community. In doing so, the community mobilizes and exploits the varied resources available to it to meet its identified objectives.

23. Implications of Social Capital • Utilize all the maths and science departments at the higher education institutions • Look at the private sector and generate a sustained campaign to obtain their assistance • Look at the NRF for funding research projects • Find the best maths and science teachers in the province who could support you • Look at best practices internationally • Make connections with the various projects nationally and look at the Department of Arts and Culture projects • Use retired teachers as well as the National Maths Association to support you • You are not alone!

24. Implications for Dinaledi • Provide a sound foundation in science, mathematics and technology to a diverse population so that as reach our maths and science targets • Integrate and apply science, mathematics and technology in an enriched environment • Emphasize problem solving and creative thinking approaches to teaching and learning • Provide training and expose teachers and staff to best practices • Develop collaborative partnerships and mentoring programs among schools, communities, businesses and industries • Motivate students to higher levels of learning • Use school as a base for neighbouring schools

25. Implications for Dinaledi • Supply outreach activities to students who cannot benefit from your programmes • Explore Saturday classes and vacation classes to bring on board learners from other schools • Encourage independent research • Arrange regional events • Share resources with very disadvantaged learners

26. Conclusion • This approach to focus schools is developmental • There will be a fair degree of trial and error • We must not become alarmist with the challenges, we must manage them • This is a big project with big implications • The trajectory is still to be mapped where there are challenges but immense possibilities • Our challenge is to create the necessary skills to make us globally competitite and ensure our growth strategies work.