A COMPREHENSIVE REPORT ON THE MONITORING AND … Centres _PDF Final report.pdf · 8 A Comprehensive...

Research, Development and Quality Assurance (RDQA) 1

A COMPREHENSIVE REPORT ON THE MONITORING AND EVALUATION ACTIVITIES OF NAMCOL TUTORIAL PILOT CENTRES

Unit: Research, Development and Quality Assurance (RDQA)

2014

Namibian College of Open Learning

2 A Comprehensive Report on the Monitoring and Evaluation Activities of NAMCOL Tutorial Pilot Centres

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

Abbreviations 3 Tablesandgraphs 4 Introduction 5 Backgroundinformation–NAMCOL 7 Rationalforthereportinrelationtoconductedstudies 8 TheApproach/Methodologyusedbytherelatedproposedactivitiesandstudies 9 Summaryofthemainfindingsrelatedtothereportandstudies 13 Conclusionandrecommendations 31 References/Bibliography 32 Annexures 33


ABBREVIATIONS

CED - CertificateinEducationforDevelopment CBM - CertificateinBusinessManagement CECD - CertificateinEarlyChildhoodDevelopment CLGS - CertificateinLocalGovernmentStudies CYP - CommonwealthDiplomainYouthDevelopmentWork CWCY - CertificateinCommunity-basedWorkwithChildrenandYouth DEASA - DistanceEducationAssociationofSouthernAfrica DED - DiplomainEducationforDevelopment DECPPE - DiplomainEarlyChildhoodandPre-PrimaryEducation ECC - EnglishCommunicationCourse HoC - HeadofCentre HIV/AIDS - HumanImmunodeficiencyVirus/AcquiredImmuneDeficiencySyndrome ICDL - TheInternationalComputerDrivingLicense JSC - JuniorSecondaryCertificate,Grade M&E - MonitoringandEvaluation NAMCOL - NamibianCollegeofOpenLearning NOLNet - NamibianOpenLearningNetworkTrust NSSCO - NamibiaSeniorSecondaryCertificate NTA - NamibiaTrainingAuthority NQA - NamibiaQualificationsAuthority SS - SecondarySchool


TABLES AND GRAPHSTables

PageTable1: Thestratifiedrandomsamplingresultedintheselectionofthe

followingcentresforcomparison 9

Table2: Chi-Squaretests 17

Table3: Symmetricmeasures 18

Table4: Chi-Squaretests–Combine 19

Table5: Symmetricmeasures 19

Graphs

Graph1: Enrolment–Physicallearners2012 6

Graph2: Enrolment–Physicallearners2013 6

Graph3: Comparison-KuisebmundSS(Pilot)andSwakopmundSS(Non-Pilot) 13

Graph4: Comparison–KampunguSS(Pilot)andSauyemwaSS(Non–Pilot) 13

Graph5: Comparison–OshakatiSS(Pilot)andOkatanaSS(Non–Pilot) 14

Graph6: Comparison–AugustineumSS(Pilot)andGeingobSS(Non–Pilot) 14

Graph7: Comparison–AugustineumSS,NSSC(Pilot)andGeingobSS,NSSCO (Non–Pilot) 14

Graph8: Comparison–PilotandNon–Pilot(Allcentres,JSC) 15

Graph9: Comparison–KuisebmundSS(Pilot)andCoastalHighSS(NonPilot) 2013/14b 15

Graph10:Comparison–KampunguSS(Pilot)andSauyemwaSS (Non–Pilot)-2013/14 15

Graph11: Comparison–OshakatiSS(Pilot)andOkatanaSS(Non–Pilot)-2013/14 16

Graph12: Comparison–AugustineumSSPilotandGeingobSS(Non–Pilot)-2013/14 16

Graph13: Comparison–PilotandNon–Pilot(AllCentres,JSC)-2013/14 16


1. INTRODUCTION

ThisreportcoversthemonitoringandevaluationactivitiesatthefourPilotCentresestablishedbyNAMCOLinitsendeavourtoincreasethepassrateoftheGrades10and12learners.Thereportaddressesandsummarisesthestudiesandotheractivitiesthathavebeenconductedin relation to theCentres’management andoperations, perceptionof learners and tutorstowardtheCentresandtheimpactoftheCentresontheexaminationresultsofthetargetedlearners.ThePilotCentreswereintroducedin2012inthefourNAMCOLregionaloffices.

ThePilotCentresforJSCwerehostedatthefollowingCentres:Dr.R.Kampungu(North-easternregion),Augustineum(Southernregion),OshakatiSS(Northernregion)andKuisebmundSS(Centralregion).

The followingNon-Pilot Centres for JSCwere randomly selected to be comparedwith theabove Pilot Centres: Sauyemwa SS (North-eastern region), Hage Geingob SS (Southernregion),OkatanaSS(Northernregion),SwakomundSSandCoastalHigh(Centralregion).

TheonlyPilotCentre forNSSCOwas in the Southern regionatAugustineumand thiswascomparedtoHageGeingobSS(asaNon-PilotCentre).


Belowaretheleaners’enrolmentsforthePilotedandNon-PilotedCentres:

Graph 1: Enrolment (JSC and NSSCO) – Physical learners 2012

ThehighestenrolmentswereinbothAugustineumSSandHageGeingobSSandforJSCthehighestwereinKampunguSSfollowedbyOshakatiSS

Graph 2: Enrolment (JSC only) – Physical learners 2013

ThehighestenrolmentwasinOshakatiSSandthelowestinOkatanaCS


2. BACKGROUND INFORMATION - NAMCOL

TheNamibianCollegeofOpenLearning(NAMCOL)isasemi-autonomouseducationalinstitutionestablishedbyanActofParliament(Act1of1997)anditfallsunderthejurisdictionoftheMinistryofEducation.TheCollegecantraceitsrootsbacktovariouscontinuinganddistanceeducationprogrammesavailabletoNamibiansbeforeIndependence.Latein1994,theseprogrammeswereconsolidatedunderasingleDirectoratewithintheMinistrywhichcanberegardedasthefirststepinNAMCOL’stransformationintoanautonomousinstitution.InApril1998,thenewlyestablishedCollegetookoverresponsibilityfortheprogrammesthatwereformerlyprovidedbytheMinistryofBasicEducation,SportandCulture.

TheNAMCOLHeadOfficeissituatedinWindhoekattheYetuYamaCentre.TheCollegehasfourregional offices – in Ongwediva, Otjiwarongo, Rundu andWindhoek – and four sub-regionaloffices – inGobabis, KatimaMulilo, Swakopmund and Keetmanshoop. Learner-enrolment hasgrowntremendouslyfrom10882learnersin1996to35746in2013.

NAMCOL offers study opportunities for adults and out-of-school youth in three categories:SecondaryEducation,ProfessionalEducationandVocationalEducation.TheSecondaryEducationProgrammesconsistoftheJuniorSecondaryCertificate,Grade10(JSC)andtheNamibiaSeniorSecondaryCertificate,Grade12 (NSSCO). TheProfessional andVocational Educationoffer thefollowing programmes: Certificate in Education for Development (CED), Certificate in LocalGovernmentStudies(CLGS),DiplomainYouthDevelopmentWork(DYD),CertificateinBusinessManagement (CBM), Certificate in Community-basedWork with Children and Youth (CWCY),CertificateinEarlyChildhoodDevelopment(CECD),DiplomainEducationforDevelopment(DED),DiplomainEarlyChildhoodandPre-PrimaryEducation(DECPPE),AutomotiveMechanics,WeldingandMetalFabrication,PlumbingandPipefitting,OfficeAdministration,BasicComputerLiteracyCourse, InternationalComputerDriving License (ICDL) and theEnglishCommunicationCourse(ECC).

The College is committed to providing quality services to all its customers. The College is amemberof theNamibianOpen LearningNetworkTrust (NOLNet) and theDistanceEducationAssociation of Southern Africa (DEASA). The professional programmes are accredited by theNamibiaQualificationsAuthority(NQA).TheSecondaryEducationstudymaterialsconformtothecurriculaoftheNamibiaJuniorandSeniorSecondaryEducation.TheCollegeisregisteredwiththeNamibiaTrainingAuthority(NTA)asaVocationalTrainingprovider.


3. RATIONALE FOR THE REPORT IN RELATION TO CONDUCTED STUDIES

NAMCOLofferstwodifferentmodesoflearningi.e.face-faceanddistancemodes.Theface-facemodeinvolvestutors’facilitationandisofferedtobothGrade10and12.Theface-facemodeismorecompulsorytograde10,whereasforGrade12itisonlycompulsoryforlearnerswhotakeAgricultureScienceasasubject.ThelearnerswhooptedfordistancemodearerequiredtoattendvocationalworkshopsthatareconductedinMayandAugust.Apartfromtheseworkshops,studyguides,assignments,tutoriallettersandonlinefacilities,thelearnersareexpectedtostudyontheirown.NAMCOLmakesuseofpart-timetutorstoconductthetutorialsfortheselearners.ThesearetutorsthatareemployedbytheMinistryofEducationonafull-timebasis.

ConcernshavebeenraisedbyprincipalsandtheMinistryofEducationofficialsthatthesetutorsareneglectingtheirpermanentworkbydevotingtoomuchtimeintutoringNAMCOLlearners.NAMCOL,on the other hand, experiences absenteeism, lack of commitment,motivation and exhaustionamongthesetutors.TheseconcernswerefurtherraisedduringtheNationalEducationConferencewhichwasheldin2011.AfterconsideringtheconcernsfromtheConference,thecabinetpassedaresolutiontoexploretheuseoffull-timetutorsforNAMCOL.ThisresultedinNAMCOLsettingupthefourPilotTutorialCentresinfourNAMCOLregionsi.e.North,NorthEastern,SouthernandCentralregions.ThemainaimofthesePilotCentreswastoemploytheirownfull-timetutorstoequipthe learnerswithnecessarysupportandguidance.ThePilotCentresweretorun for twoyearsafterwhichitwillbeassessedintermsofitsimpactandsuccess.


4. THE APPROACH/METHODOLOGY USED BY THE RELATED PROPOSED M&E ACTIVITIES AND STUDIES

MonitoringandevaluationoftheseCentreswereconductedonacontinuousbasisasrequiredby NAMCOLmanagement. Three reports/studies were conducted as part of themonitoringandevaluationactivities.Thereports/studieswerenamelyonthemonitoringandevaluationofactivitiesattheCentres,comparativestudyontheimpactoftheCentresandthelearners’andtutors’perceptionsandexperiencesofthePilotCentres.

4.1 Monitoring and evaluation of activities at NAMCOL Pilot Tutorial Centre

TheaimofthisspecificreportwastogivefeedbackontheprogressmadeontheactivitiesatCentresincludingthemanagementandoperationsofthePilotedCentres.

Forthisparticularreportaquestionnairewasdeveloped,pre-testedanddistributedtotherespectiveregionsandCentres.ThequestionnairecoveredthefollowingaspectsofCentres’operationsandmanagements:openingdaysandhours,supervisionandmonitoring,careerdevelopment, recruitmentofpermanentand full-timetutors, subjectenrolment,drop-outrate,examinationsandassignments,mockexaminations,learners’enrolments,examinationenrolments,learners’andtutors’attendanceandextramuralactivities.

4.2 Impact study on NAMCOL Pilot Tutorial Centres: A comparative study

The aim of this studywas to assess the impact/success of NAMCOL Pilot Centres on thelearners’performance.

Theobjectivesofthestudywerethefollowing:• toanalysethePilotCentres’learners’examinationresults,and• tocomparetheresultsoflearnersattendingthePilotCentreswiththosenotattending thePilotCentres(NAMCOLmainstream–Non-PilotedCentres).

Learner’s population in all Pilot Centres and Non-Pilot centres were used as a samplingframe.AllthePilotCentreswereincludedinthestudy.StratifiedsamplingwithproportionatemethodswasusedtoselecttheNon-PilotCentres.

Table 1: The Stratified random sampling resulted in the selection of the following Centres for comparison

NAMCOL Name - Pilot Grade Versus Name - Non - Grade

Southern AugustineumSS JSCand VS HageGeingob JSCand

Northern OshakatiSS JSC VS OkatanaCS JSC

North Dr.RKampunguSS. JSC VS SauyemwaSS JSC

Central KuisebmundSS JSC VS SwakopmundSS/ JSC


Thestudyusedtheexaminationresultsfor2012and2013retrievedfromtheNAMCOLData-base.AcomparativestudybetweeneachpairofPilotCentreversus itsequivalentNon-Pilotwascarriedout.DatareflectingthepercentagecountsofperformanceachievementsbygradeA-UwereusedforeveryPilotandNon-PilotCentre.

Thedataweretransformedintopercentagestoreducepossibleeffectsoflargevariabilityduetounequal sample sizesof thevariouspairsofCentres.ThegraphicsweregeneratedusingMicrosoftExcel.

Thedataweresummarisedintotwo-waycontingencytables,typicallycross-classifiedbytwocategoricalvariables(havingrowsfortheconditionoftheCentre,havingtwonominalcategories,PilotandNon-Pilot,andcolumnsforthegradeachievementsofeightordinalcategories,A-U andA+-UinthecaseofNSSCO.Due to the ordinal nature of the grade achievement variable, an alternative test, Mantel-Haenszel forlineartrendorcorrelationanalysis,whichtakesintoaccounttheorderofthegrades(A-U)wasthoughttobemorereliableovertheChi-squared.Asaresult,thetwotestswerecompared(Chi-squaredtestandMantel-Haenszel .

HerethedatawerealsoconvertedintopercentagestoreducepossibleeffectsoflargevariabilityduetounequalsamplesizesofthevariouspairsofCentres.Thestatisticalanalysisprocesswascarried out on SPSS(StatisticalPackagefortheSocialSciences).A comparative study betweeneachpair of Pilot Centre versus its equivalentNon-Pilotwascarriedout.ThetraditionalChi-squaredtestisusuallyappliedforsuchsetupofdatatotestforpossibleassociation (whetheronevariable’sdistributionofoutcomes is independentof theothervariableornot).However,theChi-squaredtestworksbestundertheassumptionthatbothvariablesarenominal.Due to the ordinal nature of the grade achievement variable, an alternative test, Mantel-Haenszel for linear trend or correlation analysis, which takes into account theorderofthegrades(A-U),wasthoughttobemorereliableovertheChi-squared.Usingthistestapproach,thehypothesiswouldbestatedas:

versusthealternative:

Foranalysispurposes,bothvariableswereconvertedintonumericcodes,withtheconditionoftheCentrecodedasPilot=0andNon-Pilot=1;whilethegradeachievementcountswerecodedfrom0 to7 for thegradesA-U.Anothersimilarbut separate test for linear trend,Cochran-Armitage,mayalsobeconsideredforcomparisonandconfirmationoftheMantel-Haenszeltestresults.ArequestfortheChi-squaredstatisticfromSPSSautomaticallyincludestheresultfortheMantel-Haenszel,buttheCochran-Armitagetestwouldbeoptional.BothMantel-HaenszelandCochran-ArmitagetestshaveasymptomaticChi-squareddistributionwithonedegreeoffreedom.TheMantel-Haenszelisshownas“Linear-by-Linear”ontheSPSSoutput.

Of interest to draw inferences from the results of the tests, the correlation , the teststatisticvaluesand thecorrespondingp-values fromtheSPSSoutputswillbeconsidered togive insight intoany relationshipbetween thevariables. In layman’s terms,p-values canbeexplainedastheprobabilityofmakingawrongdecisionofrejectingahypothesisstatement


whenitistrue(calledTypeIerror).Whenobtainingaverysmallp-valueforateststatistic,itbasicallymeansthatitisalmostbeyondreasonabledoubtthatthehypothesisstatementtobetestedisfalseandmustberejected.Conventionally,smallerp-valuesthan0.05(significancelevelof95%)areconsideredtobeconvincingfortherejectionof .Extremelysmallp-values areassociatedwith largeteststatisticvaluesandusually leadtotherejectionof (nullhypothesis),whereastheoppositeoflargep-valuesyieldsmallerteststatisticvalues,leadingtotheacceptanceof .Inotherwords,forourarrangementofthehypothesisstatementsabove,smallerp-valueswillbesignificanttoreject infavourof ,hintingthattheassumptionofexistenceof some relationshipbetween the twovariables tohold truth (butnotnecessarilylinear);whichcouldimplythatthegradingperformanceofthelearnerscoulddependontheconditionoftheCentre.

Furthermore,fromthewaythevariableshavebeencoded,apositivecorrelation wouldreflectthattheperformanceofthePilotCentreisbetterthanitscounterNon-Pilotone.Thestrengthofanydifferenceintheperformances,however,dependsonthesizereflectionofthevalueofthecorrelation:thegreaterthepositive value,themoresignificantsuchadifferenceisintheperformanceoftheCentres.

Undertheassumptionoftheexistenceofalineartrend,itwouldbenaturallyexpectedthatthePilotCentresshouldtendtohavemorescoresontheuppergrades,whiletheNon-PilotCentreswouldpredominantlybeexpectedtobealignedwithscoreslowerthanthoseofthePilotCentres.Inaddition to theextensivecomparativestudydone in2012/13 theUnitdida summarizedexaminationresultscomparisonbetweenthePilotandNon-Pilotcentresfortheyear2013/14.Thiswasdonewith the aimofmaking comparisons for the sameCentres for twodifferentsuccessive years to put more weight on the previous findings and to see the differences.Thecomparisonfortheyear2013/14couldnotincludetheGrade12NSSCObecauseoftheintroduction of the new Information Management system that cannot merge the resultsof theNSSC(O).Despite this, the current results significantlyproved the same trendas lasttime.Further,thestudycouldnotmakethesamecomparisonbetweenKuisebmundSSandSwakopmundSSbecausetheSwakopmundSSdidnothaveanintakefortheyear2013/14.AsaresultSwakopmundSSwasreplacedbyCoastalHighSSforthecomparison.

4.3 Assessment of NAMCOL’s Pilot Tutorial Centres – Learners’ and Tutors’ perceptions and experiences

ThiswasaqualitativestudythatinvestigatedtheperceptionandexperiencesofthoselearnersandtutorsatthefourPilotCentres.Thestudyservedasaninvestigationofhowpersonality-typepreferencesplayedaroleinlearners’andtutors’perceivedexperiencesofthesetutorialservices.ThestudypopulationforthisstudywerethelearnersandtutorsinallfourNAMCOLPilotTutoringCentresinWalvisBay,Windhoek,OshakatiandRundu.

Thestudyusedanon-probabilitysamplingmethodthatincludedpurposiveandconveniencesampling.Taperecorderswereusedtorecordtheproceedingofthediscussions.Thedatawerethentranscribedandanalysedusingcodesontheemergingthemes.


The following were the number of respondents for the study as per specific centre:

Windhoek - 21learners(6malesand15females) - 5tutors(3malesand2females)

Rundu - 12learners(4malesand8females) - 8tutors(allmale)

WalvisBay - 12learners(5malesand7females) - 6tutors(4malesand2females)

Oshakati - 9learners(3malesand6females) - 5tutors(3malesand2females)

Total Learners - 54 Tutors - 24

Thestudyused twodifferentquestionnaireguides for learnersand the tutors toelicit therequiredinformation.Taperecorderswereusedtorecordtheproceedingofthediscussions.Thedatawerethentranscribedandanalysedusingcodesontheemergingthemes.Thestudyuseduniformeddata collection tools consistently. Fair,honest,balanceddetailedaccountsoftherespondents’experienceandperceptionsbasedontheirownview-pointintheirownrespectivesocialsettingswerecaptured.

4.4 The Financial implication of the Pilot Centres

For the financial year (April 2012 –March 2013)NAMCOL spentN$ 2 518 961.32 on thewagesofthetutorsforthePilotCentres.Thisamountrepresentsabout9.6%ofthetotal(N$26141744.21)NAMCOLbudgetspentonwages.

Additionally,forthefinancialyear(April–November2013)NAMCOLspentN$1760562.00onthewagesofthetutorsforthePilotCentres.Thisamountrepresentsabout6.3%ofthetotal(N$27987802.11)NAMCOLbudgetspentonwagesforthesaidperiod.


5. SUMMARY OF THE MAIN FINDINGS RELATED TO THE REPORT AND STUDIES

5.1 Monitoring and evaluation of NAMCOL Pilot Tutorial Centre

Inthereportonthe‘MonitoringandevaluationofNAMCOLPilotTutorialCentres’itwasobservedthat class supervisionby theHoC’swas lacking in someCentres. In general regions failed toprovideProfessionalDevelopment sessionsandAcademicGuidancedespite the fact that theofferingofanIntroductoryCourse,MotivationaltalksandCareerGuidancesessionswerewellconducted.

The following concerns related to the report on the monitoring and evaluations of NAMCOL Pilot Tutorial Centres were highlighted:NAMCOLfailedtoemployownfull-timetutorsinsomeCentres.Thehighestsubjectdrop-outrates among learners were recorded as 80%. The lowest learners’ attendance was 41%. Incontrast,tutors’attendancewasverygoodwiththelowestattendanceof96%.Classsupervisionvisits insomeCentreswerelackingaswasthemockexaminationattendanceandassignmentsubmissions.

1.2 Impact study of NAMCOL Pilot Tutorial Centres: A comparative study

5.2.1 JSC (2011/12)Graph 3: Comparison - Kuisebmund SS (Pilot) and Swakopmund SS (Non- Pilot)

KuisebmundSS(Pilot)didbetterinthehighergrades(A,B,C,D,andE)thanSwakopmundSS.Alsonotecurveinthelinegraph.

Graph 4: Comparison – Kampungu SS (Pilot) and Sauyemwa SS (Non – Pilot)

SauyemuaSS(Non-Pilot)didwellinthehighergrades(A,B,C,DandE)comparedtoKampunguSS(Pilot).ThelinegraphillustratesclearlythattheNon–PilotCentresdidwellcomparedtothePilotCentres.


Graph 5: Comparison – Oshakati SS (Pilot) and Okatana SS (Non – Pilot)

OkatanaSS(Non-Pilot)didwellinthehighergrades(A,B,CandD)comparedtoOshakatiSS(Pilot).ThelinegraphshowsminordifferencesbetweenthetwoCentres

Graph 6: Comparison – Augustineum SS Pilot and Hage Geingob SS (Non – Pilot)

HageGeingobSS(Non–Pilot)didbetterinthehighergrades(A,C,DandE)comparedtoAugustineumSS(Pilot).Non–PilotCentresdidwellasisclearlyseeninthelinegraph.

5.2.2 NSSCO

Graph 7: Comparison – Augustineum SS, NSSC (Pilot) and Hage Geingob SS, NSSCO (Non – Pilot)

AugustineumSSforNSSCO(Pilot)didwellinthehighergrades(B,DandE)comparedtoHageGeingobSS(Non-Pilot).Nomajordifferencesobservedbetweenthetwocentresasseenonthelinegraph.


Graph 8: Comparison – Pilot and Non – Pilot All Centres, JSC

TheNon–PilotCentresexcelledinthehighergradesA,C,DandE.NosignificantdifferencesobservedbetweenthetwoCentresasseenonthelinegraph.

Descriptive Statistics (examination results of 2012/13)5.2.3 JSC (2012/13)

Graph 9: Comparison – Kuisebmund SS (Pilot) and Coastal High SS (Non Pilot) 2012/13

KuisebmundSS(Pilot)didbetterinthehighergrades(A,B,C,D,andE)thanCoastalHigh(Non-Pilot).

Graph 10: Comparison – Kampungu SS (Pilot) and Sauyemwa SS (Non – Pilot) - 2012/13

SauyemuaSS(Non-Pilot)didverywellinthehighergrades(A,B,C,andD)comparedtoKampunguSS(Pilot)


Graph 11: Comparison – Oshakati SS (Pilot) and Okatana SS (Non – Pilot) - 2012/13

OkatanaSS(Non-Pilot)didwellinthehighergrades(A,B,Candd)comparedtoOshakatiSS

Graph 12: Comparison – Augustineum SS (Pilot) and Hage Geingob SS (Non – Pilot) - 2012/13

HageGeingobSS(Non–Pilot)didbetterinthehighergrades(AandB)comparedtoAugustineumSS.(Non–pilot)

Graph 13: Comparison – Pilot and Non – Pilot All Centres, JSC - 2012/13

TheNon–PilotCentresexcelledinthehighergrades(A,B,andC


Thesummativedescriptivecomparisonfortheperiod2012/13analysisrevealedthattherewerevariations intheresultsofthePilotandNon-PilotCentreseg. insomecasesPilotCentresdidbetterthantheNon–PilotCentresandverseversa.HageGeingobSecondarySchool(JSC-NonPilot)didwellamongtheNon-PilotCentres.KuisebmundSS(JSC-Pilot),OshakatiSS(JSC-Pilot)andAugustineum(NSSCO)surpassedthecomparedNon–PilotCentresintermsofhighergrades.TheCentres(PilotandNon-Pilot)revokeeachotherintermsHigherGradesachievements.

Asfortheresultsofthecomparisonfortheyears2013/14,exactlythesametrendwasobservedasthecomparisonoftheyears(2012/13).Theexaminationresultscomparisonisevenworseintheyears2013/14comparedtothepreviousyears(2012/13).

5.3 Results and discussion - Exploring relationship and associations As can be seen from the SPSS outputs (See Tables below), for the five pairs (including the consolidated data of all the Centres) of tests carried out, the results indicate that there has not been any significant impact on the performance of learners from the conditions of the Pilot Centres. Considering the four pairs of Centres, only theKuisebmund SS (Pilot) shows animprovementintheperformanceoflearnersoveritscounterpartSwakopmundSS(Non-Pilot).The

testforthislast-mentionedpairofCentreshasavalueof9.162withap-value0.02whichissignificant(torejectthe ofindependence).Thecorrelationforthispairisalsosignificantlypositive,0.207,withanassociatedprobabilityundernullhypothesisof0.003.

TheresultsfortheremainingthreepairsofCentres(DrKampunguSSvsSauyemwaSS,OshakatiSSvsOkatanaSS,AugustineumSSvsH.GeingobSS)allhavenegativecorrelations(respectively-0.262,-0.099,-0.116),albeitweak,exceptforthecaseofDrKampunguSSvsSauyemwaSSwhichissignificantlynegativewithalarge teststatisticvalueof14.282.ThesecouldbeindicativeofthefactthatNon-PilotCentresdidslightlybetterthanthePilotones–contrarytowhatwouldhavebeenexpected.TheSPSSresultsfortheGrade10Centresaredepictedinthetablesbelow:

Table 2: Chi-Square testsChi-Square Tests

region Value df Asymp.Sig.(2-sided)

region1PearsonChi-Square 10.706b 7 .152LikelihoodRatio 12.327 7 .090Linear-by-LinearAssociation 9.162 1 .002NofValidCases 199

region2PearsonChi-Square 14.487c 7 .043LikelihoodRatio 15.326 7 .032Linear-by-LinearAssociation 14.282 1 .000NofValidCases 201

region3PearsonChi-Square 5.135d 7 .643LikelihoodRatio 5.677 7 .578Linear-by-LinearAssociation 2.488 1 .115NofValidCases 201

region4PearsonChi-Square 4.589e 7 .710LikelihoodRatio 4.990 7 .661Linear-by-LinearAssociation 2.029 1 .154NofValidCases 202

TotalPearsonChi-Square 3.170a 7 .869LikelihoodRatio 3.174 7 .868Linear-by-LinearAssociation 2.952 1 .086NofValidCases 803


Table 3: Symmetric MeasuresSymmetric Measures

region ValueAsymp.

Std.Errora

Approx.Tb Approx.Sig.

region1

IntervalbyInterval

Pearson’sR .215 .067 3.092 .002c

OrdinalbyOrdinal

SpearmanCorrelation

.207 .068 2.973 .003c

NofValidCases 199

region2

IntervalbyInterval

Pearson’sR -.267 .064 -3.912 .000c

OrdinalbyOrdinal

SpearmanCorrelation

-.262 .066 -3.830 .000c

NofValidCases 201

region3

IntervalbyInterval

Pearson’sR -.112 .069 -1.583 .115c

OrdinalbyOrdinal

SpearmanCorrelation

-.099 .070 -1.409 .160c

NofValidCases 201

region4

IntervalbyInterval

Pearson’sR -.100 .070 -1.428 .155c

OrdinalbyOrdinal

SpearmanCorrelation

-.116 .070 -1.646 .101c

NofValidCases 202

Total

IntervalbyInterval Pearson’sR -.061 .035 -1.720 .086c

OrdinalbyOrdinal

SpearmanCorrelation -.062 .035 -1.749 .081c

NofValidCases 803

Except for Kuisebmund SS vs Swakopmund SS and Dr Kampungu SS vs Sauyemwa SS wheretheobservedp-values fortheMantel-Haenszelwere0.002,0.0001respectively leadingtotherejectionofindependenceofthevariables,thetestyieldedp-valuesoutputsof0.115and0.154respectively for the remaining pairs of Oshakati SS vsOkatana SS and Augustineum SS vs H.GeingobSS, i.e. failing to reject theassumptionof independenceof thevariables tested.Thereasons for the surprisingoutcomesarenot so clear to theanalysts as towhy theNon-PilotCentresseemedtohavedoneslightlybetterthanthepilotedcounterpartsinthreeofthefourcasesoftests(forthethreepairsofCentresotherthanKuisebmundSSvsSwakopmundSS).TheresultsdiscussedabovealsoseemtoreplicateintheoveralltestforthecaseoftheconsolidateddataforalltheCentres.

Theobservedvalueof the test statisticvalueof2.952withap-value of0.086 for thecombined data of all the Centres reveals that the performance of learners is not dependentonwhethertheCentrewasaPilotoneornot.Thecorrelationmeasure(-0.062)betweenthevariablesforthiscaseisalsonegativeandveryweak,whichalsoindicatesindependenceofthevariablesifconsideredtogetherwiththe teststatistic.

TheresultsforthetwoGrade12Centresaredepictedinthetablesbelow.TheoutcomeofthetestforthepairofAugustineumSS(Pilot)vsH.GeingobSS(Non-Pilot)Grade12cameoutevenmoreconvincingandthat theperformanceof learners isnotaffectedbytheconditionof theCentres(PilotversusNon-Pilot).


Table 4: Chi-Square tests – CombinedChi-Square Tests

Value df Asymp.Sig.(2-sided)

PearsonChi-Square .786a 8 .999LikelihoodRatio .787 8 .999Linear-by-LinearAssociation

.310 1 .578

NofValidCases 199

Table 5: Symmetric MeasuresSymmetric Measures

ValueAsymp.Std.

Errora

Approx.Tb

Approx.Sig.

IntervalbyInterval

Pearson’sR .040 .071 .556 .579c

OrdinalbyOrdinal

SpearmanCorrelation .042 .071 .597 .551c

NofValidCases 199

TheMantel-Haenszeltestforthispairyieldedacrediblysmallvalueof0.310withalargep-value of 0.578, forthrightly failing to reject the hypothesis of existence of any relationship betweenperformanceandtheconditionoftheCentres.Theweakcorrelationmeasureof0.042furtherconfirmssuchindependenceoflearners’performanceontheconditionoftheCentreaswell.

In comparison, some Grade 10 Non-Pilot Centres have done slightly better than their Pilotcounterpartsinthreeofthefourcasesoftestsandviceversa.TheoutcomeofthetestfortheGrade12cameoutevenmoreconvincing that theperformanceof learners isnotaffectedbytheconditionoftheCentres(PilotversusNon-Pilot). Insummingup,thisstudyconcludedthattherewasnosignificantimpactontheperformanceoflearnersfromtheconditionsofthepilotedCentres.

1.4 Assessment of NAMCOL’s Pilot Tutorial Centres - Learners and Tutors’ perceptions and experiences

5.4.1 AugustineumLearners

Perceptions and ExperiencesGenerallytheyexpressedpositiveopinionsabouttheCentreexceptfortutorsandtutoring.‘Let me just say, the Centre is really doing fine’.Theyhadsomereservationsaboutsometutorsclaimingthatsometutorsdonotteachwell.‘For me, the problem is that some teachers just teach us from the book’. , ‘He/she (did not give any notes.) - like writing on the board or explaining’.


OnapositivenotetheyfeltthatNAMCOLdidwellintheestablishmentofthisCentreandtheyfeltthatNAMCOLisfulfillingtheirambitiontocontinueandfinishwiththeirSecondaryEducation.TheyfeltthatasecondopportunityisaffordedbyNAMCOLandthattheyshouldmakeuseofit.‘NAMCOL is really helping us to pull up our socks’ ‘so that we can achieve what we wanted to achieve in the future or to make our dreams come true’. Tutorstendtoturnablindeyetothelearners’attendance.‘Teachers are not really serious with learners.’ ‘If a learner is absent, if a learner is not attending classes, they should be strict and ask the learners where were you and that you did not attend the classes that whole week’., You come in, you walk out after 30 minutes, they don’t mind’.Someofthetutors’don’tcometoclassesandtheydonotadvisethelearnersaccordingly.Thelearnerswouldcometoclassanddon’tfindatutorintheclassroom.Besidesthesecomments,theycommendedsomeofthetutorsforpreparingandteachingwell.‘Our ‘X’ subject teacher is very strict and teaches us very well’.Thisparticular‘teacher’goestoagreatextenttophonethelearnersabouttheirabsence.Theyfeltthatthetimeforclassesistooshortandshouldbeextended.

BesidesNAMCOL’sreputation,mostofthelearnersagreedthattheywillrecommendtheCentrestoothers,mostlybecauseitisanalternativeforthosewhocan’tmakeittotheconventionalschools‘They (conventional schools) don’t allow you to repeat simply because of your points or your age’. I know some “kids” who don’t want to be seen that they are from NAMCOL, but then it’s for your own good. It’s for you to improve your points’.

Dislikes

Sometimesclasses‘clash’andresultinsomelearnersmissingsomeclasses.Tutorsareunabletocontrol learnersthatmakeanoise intheclass.Tutorsareannoyedwith learnersthatusemobilephonesinclasses.‘Sometimes people used to come with their phones and then they play their music very loudly outside the classes’.Whentheteachersobservedthatthereareafewlearnersintheclasstheyrefusedtoteachthosefewwhoarepresent.Severallearners’dress- code seems to be perceived as inappropriate. ‘Ladies wear short things which are really inappropriate. You cannot come to class wearing something short, wearing something exposing and then...’ You cannot wear something exposing and then you expect the guys to concentrate in classes. ‘I understand they have hormones’.Theknock-offtimeforclasseswastoolate,especiallyduringwintertime.‘The time is fine but when the time change, then 19H00 is dark and some people have to walk far distances’. SomelearnersexpressembarrassmentatbeingassociatedwithNAMCOL.Recommendations for improvement by Learners

• Measuresshouldbeputinplacetocontrollearners’absencesorskippingofclasses;• Tutors’absencesshouldalsobecommunicatedtolearners;• NAMCOLshouldseetoitthatthetutorsarewell-preparedforclassesandthattheyuse

additionalresourcestoenhancelearning;• Proceduresshouldbeputinplacetocontroltutors’absences;• NAMCOLshouldsetoutacleartimetableforlearnersabouttheclasses;• Decisionsshouldbetakene.g.whentoteachornottoteachbasedonthenumberof

learnerspresent;• Control the other learners at school e.g. not to hang around and look through the

windowswhileNAMCOLtutoringisinprocess;


• Controllearners’dresscodesandsetrulesfortheuseofmobilephonesintheclass;• RaiseNAMCOL’simage;• NAMCOLtobuilditsownCentreswithownclassrooms;and• NAMCOLtomaketransportavailabletoandfromtheCentres.

TutorsPositive Aspects about the Centres

Thelearnersarebeingattendedtoby‘teachers’thatarenottired.‘It’s not like somebody who has been teaching from the morning maybe to 13H00 and then later on maybe you come and join the group’.Tutorsarecommittedandputmoreeffortintotutoring.Moretimeisgiventointeractwithlearners.Manyofthelearnershaveenoughtextbooksandothermaterialcomparedtoformalschools.

Difficulties, Challenges and Constraints affecting Tutoring

Oneofthemainchallengeswastheattendanceoflearners,especiallyinwinter.‘InWinter they don’t come. They say that they stay away because it’s dark, so by the time that winter is over and they have to catch up again, it’s already time for the examination’. ThefactthatNAMCOLstartslateatthebeginningoftheyear;forexample,startinginMarchinsteadofJanuary,putsatremendouspressureontutorsandlearnerstofinishontime.Bythetimethemockexaminationstartstheyhavenotcoveredwhattheyaresupposedtocoverforthesemester.Theycomplainaboutthefactthattheyarenottaughteverythingthatisonthesyllabus.

Theduedates,especiallyforthefirstassignments,wereaproblembecausetheyaretooclosetothestartofthefirstsemester.Oneofthemainproblemswaswiththemoderationofmockexaminationpapers. Thepapershappened tohavemanymistakeson themand someof thepaperswerenotcomplete.Forexample,TheOtjihereroAugustpaperhadlotsofmistakesandPaperOnewasmissing.

Additional Activities

Tutorsarrangeclassesafterhours.Theyhavenetballandsoccerteamsthathavebeensponsored‘By someone whose name I don’t want to mention here’.Thesoccerteamhappenedtobethewinnerthe‘Goreangabtournament’.

Centre’s Management

TheydidnothaveanythingnegativebesidespraisefortheManagementoftheCentre.

Recommendations for improvement by Tutors

• NAMCOLshouldreconsiderstartingthefirstsemesteratthebeginningoftheyearearliersothatthelearnersareabletocoverthesemesterworkandarefullypreparedforthemockexamination;

• Considergivingfullsyllabusestotutors;


• Moderatorsforassignmentsandexaminationpapersshouldbeencouragedtodotheirworkproperly;

• Considerstartingearlierinwinter;• Encouragelearnerstoattendclassese.g.byputtingsomerulesinplace.Forexample:If

youdonothaveacertainpercentageattendancethenyouwon’tbeallowedtowritetheexamination;

• Measuresshouldbeputinplacee.g.withregistration,learnersshouldbemadeawarethatattendanceiscompulsory;

• ProvisionshouldbemadetoattendtolearnersatAugustineumtoprovidethemwithor refer them toother Centres/facilities because for a month in thefirst semester,AugustineumlearnershaveextraactivitiesandNAMCOLlearnersdon’tattendclassesduringthatperiod;

• The motivational speakers should be ‘appropriate’ persons e.g. former NAMCOLlearners thatareat thePolytechnicofNamibiaor theUniversityofNamibiaorwhohavecompletedtheirstudies;

• TimeslotsontheradioandTVprogrammesshouldberevisedbecausethetimestheyare broadcast programmes most learners are in classes. Weekends should also beutilisedfortheseprogrammes;and

• There should be a clear distinction between contact and non-contact learners atregistration.

Conclusion

ThelearnershaveapositiveperceptionabouttheCentresbuttheytendnottobesatisfiedwithsomeofthetutorsbasedontimemanagementandtheirteachingapproach.Thedresscode,noisyenvironmentandnon-cooperativelearnerscameunderthespotlightaswell.Inaddition,themoderationoftheexaminationpapersandassignmentsemergedasoneofthemainissues.

5.4.2 OshakatiLearners

Perceptions and Experiences

They exhibited a positive experience and perceived the tutorial Centres positively besidesrequestingNAMCOLtoappoint itsowntutors ‘They must just provide their own tutors for NAMCOL., They must not use teachers of other schools’.

TheyagreedthattheywilladviseeverybodytomakeuseoftheseCentresinthefuturebecausetheyarealsocheap.‘Ithinkwithoutthisprogrammewewilljustbeathomedoingnothing’.

Dislikes

Theymentionedthatsometutorsliketochatontheirphoneswhileinclass,sodothelearners.Onehourpersubjectdidnotgowellwiththem.Theywantedmorehourspersubject.Theyalsocomplainedaboutdirtyclasses. ‘Classrooms are not in a good way, not organised, papers are just all over’.


Likes

Theylikethewaymostofthetutorsteach. ‘I really like the teachers because they teach us very nicely like explaining where we don’t understand. They ask questions if you don’t understand’. TheyhadhighappreciationofthebooksandothermaterialthatNAMCOLsupplies.Thetutorsmotivatethelearnersonaregularbasis.‘Attending NAMCOL is not the end of the world’. ’You can pass and become someone in the future’.

Recommendations for improvement by Learners

• NAMCOLshouldbuildtheirownCentres;• Theyshouldchangethetimeinwinter;• TheyshouldprovidetransporttoandfromtheCentres.

Tutors


TheyperceivedtheCentresverywell.‘This was an opportunity to help these learners who have failed so that at least when they come to classes every day and are in contact with their teachers it will help them at least to be serious about NAMCOL’.

Difficulties, Challenges and Constraints affecting Tutoring

Thetutorshaveaperceptionthatthelearnersarenotseriouswiththeirstudies, ‘they are lazy to read’ andtheyfeelthattheyarebeing‘spoon-fed’toomuch.Learners’absenteeismand‘dodgingofclasses’wasaverybigconcerntothem.Absenteeismforexample,duringnormalclasshours,duringmockexaminations,nothandingintheirassignments,cominglatetoclassesandgoingoutastheywishweresomeoftheissuesraised.‘A lot of them are absent themselves. Some we only see when they come to collect their assignments’, ‘When you are giving them a test and announce the test beforehand, most of them will not come’. Someofthelearnersarenotinterested incompletinggivenactivities.The indiscriminateuseofmobilephonesby learnerswas of great concern to them. ‘Some of the learners normally chat when you are writing something on the chalkboard’. Learnersingeneralhaveanegativemind-settowardsMathsandScienceandperceivethemtobedifficultsubjects.Thetutorsfinditdifficulttoconvincethemotherwise.SomelearnersenrolwithNAMCOLandatthesametimewithotherinstitutions‘They will enrol here and attend classes for one month or two and from there they will vanish and when we make enquiries as to why they don’t attend classes, we learn that they are studying elsewhere’. Tutorsarenotabletoidentifywhoshouldattendornotattendspecificclasses. ‘We end up teaching anyone from the streets. We do not know them personally, so we end up teaching anyone, therefore we feel that having to present an ID would be helpful’.


Recommendations for improvement by Tutors

• NAMCOLshouldputsomerulesandrequirementsforenrolmentinplace,e.g.alearnermusthaveaminimumof15pointsinsteadof2points;

• Thematerialsshouldnotbeprovidedwithanswerbookletssothatthelearnersarecompelledtodoextrawork;

• Putsomemechanismsinplacetocontrolthelearnersthatareattendingclasses.Forexample,givethemNAMCOLID’s,auniformliket-shirtswiththeNAMCOLlogoonthem,etc.;

• NAMCOLshouldbuilditsownCentres;• NAMCOLmustcomeupwithstricterregulationstocontrolabsenteeisme.g.80%

attendancebeforeyouareadmittedtotheexaminations;• NAMCOLshouldemployasecretarytorundailyadministrativeworkattheCentre;• Markingandfeedbackfromassignmentsshouldbetimely,e.g.Learnersshouldget

thematerialintimetohelpthembeforetheysubmitthesecondassignment.

Conclusion

ThelearnersandtutorsingeneralhavepositiveperceptionsabouttheCentres.Thelearnersaresatisfiedwiththewaytheyaretutoredandmotivated.Thereweresomereservationsontimemanagementbytutorsandlearners,useoflaboratory,theuseofmobilephonesbybothtutorsandlearnersduringclassesandthedirtyclassroomsandalsothemaximum1hourpersubject.

5.4.3 Walvis BayLearners


TheyallwereinagreementthattheyfoundtheTutorialCentrestobegoodandhelpfulexceptfor some tutors that they considered not doing well. ‘Oh, I am just asking because some teachers look like they aren’t like how can I say...they aren’t good at the subject they are teaching’. ‘Tutor X, you can like see he does not have experience for it and all that, he is like reading out of the book’.

MostoftheparticipantswereoftheopinionthattheywillrecommendeverybodytojointheCentre.‘The Centre is very helpful. I gain more understanding in most of the subjects like Life Science and Entrepreneurship’. ‘This Centre is like a normal school’.

Dislikes

TheyseemedtolikeeverythingabouttheCentresexceptforsometutorswhomtheymentioned.‘Everything for us here at the Centre is smooth and it goes well’.

Recommendations for Improvement by Learners

• NAMCOLshouldappointteacherswithexperience;• Thebookletscontainmanymistakesandtheyneedtobewell-moderated.


Tutors


They regard theCentre in apositivewaybecause it allowsmoretime formentoring and forteachingand learning. ‘Myself it’s a very good project because it’s trying to help those who have failed their Grade 10 exams so as to make them pass.’

Difficulties, Challenges and Constraints affecting Tutoring Theyhavedifficultiesusingtheschoolfacilitieslikethephotocopymachineandthemultimediaservices (computers and projectors). They don’t have full access to photocopymachines eg.Whentheywanttousethemthentheofficesmightbeclosed.Thelearnersdon’twanttoacceptthattheCentreisfulltime.‘Ja, so 30% of them feel that they are being forced to attend the classes’.Tutorshavedifficultieswiththoselearnersthathavefulltimejobs.Theyfinditdifficulttocometoclasses.‘They come and go back to work and so on’. ‘The working people normally are serious’. ‘The small ones, are not serious’.Sometimestheycomeandspendafewhoursandgo.However,therearetheonesthatseemtobeseriousabouttheirwork.

Theothermajorchallengestheyhavearewiththose learnersthatstayedoutsidethesystemforalongtime,e.g.thosewhodroppedoutofschool10yearsagofinditdifficulttoadaptandunderstandthenewsyllabus.Questionpaperscomelatesometimesandit’sdifficultforthosethatworkfulltimetoaskofffromworktimeandtimeagain.Thetutor-learnerratioseemedtobotherthem.Theysometimesteachover40learnersperclasswhichmakesitdifficulttogivemoreattentiontoindividuallearnersthatarestruggling.Learners’lackofdisciplinewasalsoachallengetothem.Someofthemdon’tlistenduringclasses.Theyplay,skipclassesandarenotseriousabouttheireducation.

Additional Activities

ThetutorshappentotutoronSaturdays.TheyhaveHIV/AIDSawarenessclubsthatarebeingassistedbytheCatholicAIDSAction.Theyalsohavemonthlymotivationaltalks.

Centre Management

TheycommendedtheCentreforbeingmanagedverywell.‘Management of the Centre is not a problem. Whenever there is a problem at the Centre we approach it as a group. ‘We all stand together and we talk one thing. It involves everyone’.

Recommendations by Tutors

• NAMCOLshouldlimitcertainrequirementsforadmission.Forexample:Aprospectivestudentshouldnothaveleftschoolformorethan5years;

• NAMCOLshouldmaintainatutor-learnerratio;• LearnersshouldwritetestseveryFriday.


Conclusion

They found the Centres to be good, helpful and managed well except for their reservationaboutsometutors.Theyfounditdifficulttoaccessandusetheschoolfacilitieswheretheyareoperating.Theyexpresseddifficultieswiththoselearnersthathavefulltimejobsandthosethatstayedoutsidethesystemfortoo long.RegardingtheadditionalactivitiesattheCentre,theyrunlessonsonSaturdaysholdmonthlymotivationaltalksandtheyestablishHIV/AIDSawarenessclubs.

5.4.4 RunduLearners

ThelearnersfoundtheCentresandthetutoringtobegoodandthetutorsencouragethelearnersalot. ‘The centre is nice’. ‘I like the way I studied Life Science. I couldn’t understand but when I came to NAMCOL I understand now’.

Dislikes

Thelearnerswerenothappywiththeknockingofftimeof20H00.Theythinkit’stoolateforthem.‘We knock off very late - at 20H00 and some of our parents are not happy’. ‘We start at 16H00 to 20H00’. ‘Some learners had a different opinion about the knocking off time. They felt that it was fine with them. ‘Actually I don’t like knocking off earlier sometimes, like the lady who says knocking off at 20H00 is not good’. ‘For me it is good because some of us don’t have lights at home so I have to read until we knock off’. Whenevertheywanttostudyintheclassrooms,theyareoccupiedbyspecificschoollearners.

Likes

They like theway the tutorsare tutoring.“I like the teachers. I am happy with teachers the way they are giving knowledge to us’. ‘I like this Centre because I think I am improving on my symbols which I got last year’.

Recommendations for improvement from the Learners

• NAMCOLtobuilditsownbuildings;• NAMCOLshouldrevisethestartingtimeandtheknockingofftime;• NAMCOLshouldemployqualifiedandcommittedtutors;• NAMCOLshouldencouragetutorstoteachwellandbecommitted.


Tutors


ThetutorshavepositiveperceptionsandexperiencesoftheCentre.‘The Centre is giving some learners that have given up hope a chance to continue’. ‘It’s more effective than the original Centre’. ‘Instead of these young boys and girls being thrown on the street, they have been given a chance to come back to school to some setting where they can be guided and to see - how they can look at education differently from what it was like in the class….in a normal school’.Difficulties, Challenges and Constraints affecting Tutoring

Theyhavedifficultiesintutoringlearnersthatleftschoolalongtimeback. ‘I know of a “kid” whom I taught in Grade 10 in 2003 and he’s back now’. Theselearnersneedlotsofattentionandsometimestheykeepthetutorsbackwiththeirwork.Learners’absenteeismisaconcerntothem.‘More than 40% of the learners walk away after registration’. Thoselearnersthatdofulltimeworkseemedtobealreadytiredwhentheycometotheclassesandsomearenotusedtosittinginaclassforalongtime.

OneofthemainchallengeswastheadmissionofthelearnerstothePilotCentre.Theadmissionrequirementsshouldberevised.‘The main challenge here is the admission’. ‘Since it is a pilot programme I was expecting that there should be specific criteria for the “kids” that will be admitted into the Centre’. ‘There are some ‘kids” who are admitted with something like 8 / 9 points.’ ‘From my observations, since the inception of this programme, there were no specific admission criteria that were used’. ‘Learners with low points like 7 or 8 were still admitted to the programme’. ‘Learners, who have been repeating NAMCOL for so many years, are still part of this programme’. Thetutorsfinditdifficulttotutortheselearnersandto letthempassattheendoftheyearbecausetheyhavebeenoutofschoolforsolong.Theseparticularlearnersaresaidtobeundisciplinedanddisruptivetoothers.TheyfeltthatthelearnersdonotexpressthemselvesinEnglish.‘At the end of the day I fail to apply a learner-centred approach, because they can’t talk. They fail to spell even basic words. 99% of them are repeaters’.

ThetimeframeforthenormalschooldoesnotfitinwithNAMCOLbecauseNAMCOLstartslateatthebeginningoftheyear.Theassignmentsandthemockexaminationdonotmatchwithwhatthe learnerscoveredduringthesemester.Themockexaminationdoesnotresemblethefinalexamination.Forexample,Paper1isonitsownandPaper2onitsown.Fridaysposeagreatchallenge to the learnersbecausemostof themdonotattendclassesonFridays.TheyneedsomepracticalmobilekitstobeusedinclasslikeforLifeScience,GeographyandAgriculture.Theyexperiencedifficultiesinusingtheschoolfacilities.Sometimestheyarenotallowedtousethemorthefacilitiesarebeingutilisedbytheschoolstaffmembersandotherlearners.

Learnersgettheirmaterialandassignmentquestionswhentheyregisterandtheytendtobeaheadofthetutors.Learnerssometimesaskthetutorsquestionsrelatedtoassignmentswellinadvance.Thememorandafortheassignmentsandthemockexaminationarenotalwaysaccurate.The tutors thendevelop their ownmemorandawhichput them in conflictwith the learnersbecausethelearnershaveaccesstotheoriginalmemoranda.Theyfeelthattheexaminerssetpapersonworkthattheydidnotcover.‘I think it’s better for us to send the topics still to be covered to those who are setting the papers so that they know which areas we have covered’. They set questions which are way in advance of the study programme/material covered’.


Theyfeelthatthosesettingassignmentsaretakingitfromothercountries’ExaminationBoardsliketheCaribbeanandtheydonotadheretothecurrentsyllabus.TheyfeelthatNAMCOLdoesnotpositivelyacknowledgetheirwork. ‘You don’t even receive a pat on the back to say look here, guys you have worked hard, this is good. There is no recognition and that also kills the spirit of working’. ‘I have a problem. Can I have 3 days’ paid leave? Theyalsolackjobsecurityandtheirpaydoesnotcomeintime.Additional Activities

Theygiveextraclassesduringweekends.

Recommendations by Tutors

• NAMCOLshouldmakesurethattheassignmentsandthemockexaminationsshouldbeinlinewiththestudyprogramme;

• TheCentres’tutorsshouldbeinvolvedinsettingupthemockexaminationpapersandassignmentsifpossible;

• NAMCOLshouldbuilditsownCentres;• Tutors should be asked to send the topics well in advance to those that set the

assignmentsandmockexaminations;• ShoparoundforunutilisedCentreslike‘MariaMwengereCentre’inRundutobeused

asatutoringCentre;• NAMCOLshouldhaveitsowncalendarexceptforthefinalexaminations.

5.4.5 Recommendations given by respondents concerning all the Centres

(Note: These recommendations come from the respondents’ viewpoints and NAMCOL management is advised to be open to those recommendations that are realistic)

1. Reconsiderstartingthefirstsemesterearlieratthebeginningoftheyearsothatthelearnerscoverthesemesterworkandarefullypreparedforthemockexamination;

2. Considergivingfullsyllabusestotutors;3. Moderatorsforassignmentsandpapersshouldbeencouragedtodotheirworkproperly;4. TheCentresshouldconsiderstartingearlierinwinter;5. Encouragelearnerstoattendclassesbyputtingsomerulesinplacelike,iftheydonot

haveacertainpercentageattendance,thentheywon’tbeallowedtositforexaminations;6. ProvisionshouldbemadetoattendtolearnersatAugustineumtoprovidethemwith

or refer them to other Centres/facilities because for a month in the first semesterAugustineumlearnershaveextraactivitiesandNAMCOLlearnersdon’tattendclassesduringthatperiod;

7. Motivationalspeakersshouldbe‘appropriate’personse.g.NAMCOL’sformerlearnersthat are at the Polytechnic of Namibia or the University of Namibia or who havecompletedtheirstudies;

8. TimeslotsontheradioandTVprogrammesshouldberevisedbecausethetimestheyarebeingbroadcastaretimesmost learnersare inclasses.Weekendsshouldalsobeutilisedfortheseprogrammes.


9. NAMCOLshouldbuildtheirownCentres;10.NAMCOLshouldmaketransportavailabletoandfromtheCentres;11.Thematerialsshouldnotbeprovidedwithanswerbookletssothatthelearnersare

compelledtodoextrawork;12.Putsomemeasuresinplacetocontrolthelearnersthatareattendingclasses.For

example,givethemNAMCOLID’s,uniformsliket-shirtswithNAMCOLlogo,etc.;13.AsecretaryshouldbeemployedtododailyadministrativeworkattheCentre;14.Markingandfeedbackfromassignmentsshouldbetimely,sothatlearnersgetthe

materialintimetohelpthembeforetheysubmitthesecondassignment;15.PaymoreattentiontomoderatingNAMCOLbooklets;16.NAMCOL should put certain admission requirements in place. For example, learners

shouldnothaveleftschoolformorethan5years;17.Atutor-learnerratioshouldbemaintained;18.ConsidergivinglearnerstestseveryFridaytoimproveattendanceonthisday;19.NAMCOLshouldemployqualifiedandcommittedtutors;20.NAMCOLshouldencouragetutorstoteachwellandbecommitted;21.NAMCOLshouldmakesurethattheassignmentsandthemockexaminationsshouldbe

inlinewiththestudyprogramme;22.InvolvetheCentres’tutorsifpossibleinsettingupthemockexaminationpapersand

assignments;23.Centretutorscanbeaskedtosendinthetopicswellinadvancetothosethatsetthe

assignmentsandmockexaminations;24.ShoparoundforunutilisedCentreslike‘MariaMwengereCentre’inRundutobeused

asatutoringCentre;25.NAMCOLshouldhaveitsowncalendarexceptforthefinalexaminations;26.Tutorsshouldberemindedtobepunctualinattendingclassesandspendthefully

allocatedtimewiththelearners;

LiaisewiththeHeadmasterconcernedtorequestthefulluseoftheschoolfacilities;NAMCOLshouldbuyitsownequipmentlikephotocopymachines,computers,mobilepracticalitemsandprojectorsinthelaboratoryforusebyNAMCOLlearnersateachCentre.

5.4.6 Summarised conclusion of all the Centres

Asthenatureofthisstudyhasaqualitativeapproach,itwasnotpracticaltomakeageneralisedfinding;henceitdeliberatedonspecificsCentrebyCentre.

Augustineum

ThelearnershaveapositiveperceptionabouttheCentresbuttheytendnottobesatisfiedwithsomeofthetutorsbasedontimemanagementandtheirteachingapproach.Thedresscode,noisyenvironmentandnon-cooperativelearnerscameunderthespotlight.


Oshakati

ThelearnersandtutorsingeneralhavepositiveperceptionsabouttheCentres.Thelearnersaresatisfiedwiththewaytheyaretutoredandmotivated.Thereweresomereservationsontimemanagementbytutorsandlearners,useofthelaboratoryofthehostschools,theuseofmobilephonesbybothtutorsandlearnersduringclasses,thedirtyclassesandalsothemaximum1hourpersubject.

Walvis Bay

ThelearnersfoundtheCentretobegood,helpfulandmanagedwellexceptfortheirreservationaboutsometutors’attitudesandteachingapproach.Theyfounditdifficulttoaccessandusetheschoolfacilitieswheretheyareoperating.Theyexpresseddifficultieswiththoselearnersthathavefulltimejobsandthosethatstayedoutsidethesystemfortoolongintermsofadaptationandtime.RegardingtheadditionalactivitiesattheCentre,theyrunlessonsonSaturdays,holdmonthlymotivationaltalksandtheyestablishHIV/AIDSawarenessclubs.

Rundu

ThetutorsandlearnershavepositiveperceptionsandexperiencesregardingtheCentre.ThetutorsexpresseddissatisfactionwiththeadmissionofthelearnerstothePilotCentreeg.Onthosewithlowmarksandthosethatleftschoolalongtimeago.Thoseteachersemployedonafull-timebasiscitedlackofjobsecurity.

General perceptions of tutors and learnersIngeneral,thelearnersandtutorshavepositiveperceptionsandexperiencesabouttheCentres,buttheytendnottobesatisfiedwithsomeofthetutorsbasedontimemanagementandtheirteachingapproach.


6. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

NAMCOL failed to employ anticipated own tutors in some of the Piloted Centres due tounavailabilityofqualifiedtutors.Ingeneral,thelearnersandtutorshavepositiveperceptionsandexperiencesabouttheCentresbuttheytendnottobesatisfiedwithsomeofthetutorsbasedontimemanagementandtheirteachingapproach.Thefollowinggeneraldissatisfactionswereraised:dresscodeoflearners,theuseofmobilephonesbybothtutorsandlearnersduringclasses, the restriction inusing thehost school’s facilities includingphotocopymachinesandlaboratory,difficultieswiththoselearnersthathavefulltimejobsandthosethathavestayedoutsidethesystemfortoolongtocopewiththecurrentcurriculumandteaching.TutorsclaimedthattheadmissionrequirementsofthelearnerstothePilotCentresweretoolow,hencethepoorperformanceandresults.

Ingeneralsomeregionsfailedtoimplement/providethestandardproposedactivitiesdespitethepositivereactiontotheseactivitiesinsomeotherregions.Thesubjectdrop-outratesinsomePilotCentresareofgreatconcern.Ontheotherhand,thetutors’attendancewasexcellent.Theotherareasofconcerninsomeregionswerelearners’poorclassattendanceandattendanceatmockexaminations.

Persuasively,thereisnosignificantimpactontheperformanceoflearnersfromtheconditionsofthePilotedCentresasrevealedinthecomparativestudies.Additionally,theseCentresputaheavyfinancialburdenonNAMCOL’sbudgetaryoperation.

AsaresulttheprojectshouldbeterminatedprimarilybecausetheimpactsofthePilotCentresonperformancearenotsignificant.


7. REFERENCES/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Alexander,A.2004.Aqualitativeexplanationofstudents’experienceswithtutoriallearning.B.A.SpelmanCollege.NortheastLouisianaUniversity.USA

Kambonde,E.2012.Proposalfor-ThePilotProjecttotestAlternativestotheUseofTeachersfromFormalSchoolsAtNAMCOLTutorialCentres.NAMCOL.Windhoek.Namibia

NamibianCollegeofOpenLearning.2012/13.StatisticalDigest.NAMCOL.Windhoek.Namibia

Trigwell,K.2003.UndergraduateStudents’ExperienceofLearningattheUniversityofOxford.InstitutefortheAdvancementofUniversityLearning.OxfordUnivrsity.UKAccessedat:http://www.learning.ox.ac.uk/media/global/wwwadminoxacuk/localsites/oxfordlearninginstitute/documents/overview/research/publications/OLCPFinal.pdfDate:18/10/2012Time:11H00

Neuman,W.L.2006.SocialResearchMethods–QualitativeandQuantitativeApproaches.6th Edition.PearsonInternational.UniversityofWisconsinUSA


8. ANNEXURES

Annexure 1 - Questionnaire guide

The Questionnaire Guide

Learners and Tutors’ Perceptions

Semi-structure Interview Guide on NAMCOL’s Pilot Tutorial Centres

My name is................. I would be grateful if you could help me in NAMCOL’s attempt toenhanceandimprovetheteachingandlearningsituationatNAMCOL’sPilotTutorialCentres.IamconductingastudyonlearnersatNAMCOL’sPilotTutorialCentres.ThestudywillinformactionrequiredbyNAMCOLtomakeasuccessofitsTutorialCentres.Aspartofthestudy,Iwouldlikeyoutobepartofthediscussionthatelicitsthenecessaryinformation.Thisgrouptalkwilltakeapproximatelytwohours.Thegrouptalkwillberecordedasareminderwhenwearegoingtoanalyseourdata.

Anythingyousaywillbekeptconfidential.Thequestionnaire isstrictlyconfidentialandwillnotaffectanyfutureparticipationoryourcurrentenrolmentwithNAMCOLTutorialCentre.Nonamesorindividual’sresponseswillbeprovidedtoNAMCOL.Idonotforeseeanyriskorharmtoyouduringourdeliberation.Iaminterestedinyourhonestviewanddeliberation.

Questionnaire Guide - Learners1. Howdoyoufindthetutorials?2. Whatarethethings/aspectsyoudon’tlikeaboutthetutorialsandwhy?3. Whatarethethings/aspectsyoulikeaboutthetutorialsandwhy?4. WhatcanwedotoimproveourservicesattheCentresinthefuture?5. Willyouadviseanybodytoattendsimilartutorials?If‘Yes/No’elaborate.

Thank you

Questionnaire Guide – Tutors1. WhatisgoodaboutthisTutorialCentre?2. Whatdifficulties,challengesandconstraintsdoyouexperienceinofferingthiscourse?3. GiverecommendationsonhowtoimprovetherunningoftheCentres.4. WhatisitthatyoudoadditionaltoenhancingtheteachingandlearningattheCentre?

Explain.5. Whatdon’tyoulikeabouthowtheCentrehasbeenmanaged?

Thank you


Annexure 2 – Sampling frame work

1. Central regionNormal Stream

Swakopmund Secondary School (Swakopmund) JSC AccountingAfrikaans1stlanguageAfrikaans2ndlanguageAgricultureEnglish2ndLanguageEntrepreneurshipGeographyHistoryLifeScienceMathematicsPhysicalScience

Pilot CentreKuisebmund Secondary School (Walvis Bay) JSC Accounting

Afrikaans2ndlanguageEnglish2ndLanguage4EntrepreneurshipGeographyHistoryLifeScienceMathematicsOshindonga1stLanguagePhysicalScience

CommentOshindonga1stLanguageandAfrikaans1stLanguagehavebeenomittedforcomparisoninthetwoCentres.

2. North Eastern region

Normal StreamSauyemwa CS (Rundu) JSC Agriculture

English2ndLanguageEntrepreneurshipGeographyHistoryLifeSciencePhysicalScienceRukwangali1stLanguage


Pilot CentreDr. R. Kampungu Secondary School (Rundu) JSC Accounting

AgricultureEnglish2ndLanguageEntrepreneurshipGeographyHistoryLifeScienceMathematicsPhysicalScienceRukwangali1stLanguage

CommentMathematicsandAccountingwereomittedbecausetheycouldnotcorrespondwiththetwosampledCentres.

3. Northern region

Normal StreamOkatana CS (Oshakati) JSC Agriculture

English2ndLanguageEntrepreneurshipGeographyHistoryLifeScienceOshindonga1stLanguagePhysicalScience

Pilot CentreOshakati Sen. Sec. School (Oshakati) JSC Accounting

AgricultureEnglish2ndLanguageEntrepreneurshipGeographyHistoryLifeScienceMathematicsOshindonga1stLanguagePhysicalScience

CommentMathematicsandAccountingwereomittedbecausetheycouldnotcorrespondwiththetwosampledCentres.


4. Southern region Normal Stream

Hage Geingob (Windhoek, Katutura) JSC AccountingAgricultureEnglish2ndLanguageEntrepreneurshipGeographyHistoryLifeScienceMathematicsPhysicalScience

NSSC Accounting

Agriculture Biology BusinessStudies DevelopmentStudies Economics English2ndLanguage Geography History Mathematics PhysicalScience

Augustineum (Windhoek, Katutura) JSC AccountingAgricultureEnglish2ndLanguageEntrepreneurshipGeographyHistoryLifeScienceMathematicsOtjiherero1stLanguagePhysicalScience

NSSC AccountingAgricultureBiologyBusinessStudiesDevelopmentStudiesEconomicsEnglish2ndLanguageGeographyHistoryMathematicsOtjiherero1stLanguagePhysicalScience


Comment

Otjiherero1stLanguageout.

Annexure 3 - NAMCOL Pilot Tutorial Centres - 2012

NAMCOL Pilot Tutorial Centres - 2012

NAMCOL region Name of the Centre Grade Subject EnrolmentCentral Kuisebmund Sec. School 10 Accounting 10

Afrikaans2nd Language

9

English2nd Language

37

Entrepreneurship 88Geography 80History 61LifeScience 151Mathematics 15Oshindonga1st Language

9

PhysicalScience 60Total 520

Northern Oshakati Sen. Sec. school

10 Accounting 9

Agriculture 133English2nd Language

97

Entrepreneurship 85Geography 93History 45LifeScience 111Mathematics 32Oshindonga1st Language

43


North Eastern Dr. Romanus Kampungu Sec. School

10 Accounting 10

Agriculture 147English2nd Language

62

Entrepreneurship 114Geography 171History 62LifeScience 152Mathematics 43PhysicalScience 63Rukwangali1st Language

42

Total 866


Southern Augustineum Sec. School 10 Accounting 38Agriculture 72English2nd Language

70

Entrepreneurship 95Geography 126History 81LifeScience 109Mathematics 46Otjiherero1st Language

19


Augustineum Sec. School

12 Accounting 49

Agriculture 118Biology 248BusinessStudy 115DevelopmentStudies

248

Economics 60English2nd Language

422

Geography 107History 56Mathematics 150Otjiherero1st Language

56

PhysicalScience 109Total 1 738

A COMPREHENSIVE REPORT ON THE MONITORING AND … Centres _PDF Final report.pdf · 8 A Comprehensive...

Documents

Transcript of A COMPREHENSIVE REPORT ON THE MONITORING AND … Centres _PDF Final report.pdf · 8 A Comprehensive...