Some Independent Examinations Board stars of matric 2018

The Independent Examinations Board (IEB) has released its 2018 results with the expected outstanding results.

“Every year our society experiences the release of the National Senior Certificate (NSC) examination results through a range of lenses,” said Anne Oberholzer, CEO of the IEB.

Oberholzer noted none of these lenses acknowledged the NSC results for what they really were – an indication of a pupil’s performance at a point in time, by means of an examination, which can only assess a very small sample of the knowledge that could be associated with a specific subject, and the limited number of skills associated with that subject.

“Comparatively little is assessed using alternate methodologies,” Oberholzer said. “When teachers focus narrowly on teaching and assessment as a process of achieving good examination results, we do our profession and in turn our pupils, a major disservice.

“We start believing that narrowing the learning experience to that which will contribute to achieving excellent examination results is educationally sound. Yet this is the complete antithesis of what quality education is all about.”

Oberholzer said education and training were often confused.

“Training is teaching pupils what to do, providing them with ‘recipes’, or templates, of what to do when they see a particular type of question,” said Oberholzer.

“Education, however, is teaching pupils how to think; providing them with strategies and opportunities to apply those strategies, so that they know what to do even when they don’t know what to do.”

Some IEB stars of matric 2018. Picture: Supplied

Some results have trickled through: Tomer Melnik, Iman Cassim, and Sayuri Naidoo from Gauteng Crawford College earned nine A distinctions each.

Asad Ameer, Darshan Vereesh Ramphal, Sayuri Naidoo, Danika Ramalingum – all from Crawford – made the outstanding achievement list by being within the top 5% in six subjects, and achieved a rating level of seven in Life Orientation.

They were joined by Clarice van Zyl and Nicole Kayla Philips from Maragon Ruimsig High School, and Jacques Charles Louis de Chermont of Southdowns College.

At Saheti, Gerry Reynders was the school’s top candidate, achieving the highest average (92%) and a full house of nine distinctions, together with Stefanie Babiolakis, while Melina Christodoulou Preston and Kimon Kokkoris took home eight distinctions each.

St Andrews School for Girls also had a bumper crop this year – with Emily Macgregor and Vivian Yan taking home nine distinctions each.

Georgia Carrington, Kathleen Charlton, Alexandra De Sousa, Sharessa Naidoo, Cara Nel, Nicole Rivett and Michelle Stevens took home eight distinctions each. Macgregor and Nel also received an outstanding achievement, landing within the top 5% in six subjects and achieved a rating level of seven in Life Orientation.

More than 60 pupils throughout the country made the IEB’s outstanding achievement list while more than 80 were commended for being in the top 5% in five subjects and achieving a rating level of seven in Life Orientation.

INFO

More qualify for degree studies

• The 2018 pass rate is 98.92%, comparable to last year’s pass rate of 98.76%.
• All candidates who passed achieved a pass that is good enough to enter tertiary study at one of the three levels:
• 90.65% (compared to 88.50% in 2017) of the cohort achieved entry to degree study.
• 7.33% (compared to 8.95% in 2017) qualified for entry to diploma study.
• 0.95% (compared to 1.30% in 2017) achieved entry for study at the Higher Certificate level. – Independent Examinations Board

– news@citizen.co.za

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