As was reported during 2006, 11 tutors were contracted to assist partner schools in Arandis and Tamariskia. The brief is that the tutors are attached to schools during the morning to coach and mentor class teachers and learners at the same time. The tutors and teachers plan, co-teach, evaluate and re-plan together, so that their lesson presentation benefits both teacher and learner. The aim is to improve capacity among class teachers through this process. In order to successfully implement the Whole School Development Programme, stakeholder consultations had to be carried out. In June 2007, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Rössing Foundation and the Erongo Regional Education Office in Swakopmund. The MoU clearly outlines the roles and responsibilities of both institutions in terms of programme implementation, use of resources, and monthly interventions. The MoU is further strengthened by a Project Steering Group that meets once a month to monitor and assess programme progress and possible shortfalls.

In addition, all stakeholders in Arandis have formed an Education Subcommittee as part of the Arandis Sustainable Development Project. The aim of this Subcommittee is to make Arandis a centre of educational excellence and a town of choice to live in.

The Rössing Foundation embarked upon the development of a five-year Strategic Plan for the period 2008 to 2012. This Plan will form part of the broader Rössing Foundation Plans in order to achieve uniformity in methods of programme identification and resulting project implementation.

Overall, Rössing Foundation's pioneering strategies are meant to bring about educational change in line with ETSIP requirements. Throughout the year under review, the Rössing Foundation was visited by numerous partners and stakeholders in education with the intention of studying its approach to improve education provision in the Erongo Region. The work done so far and the present level of success experienced have also attracted other partners. For example, the Skorpion Zinc Mine plans to introduce a similar approach with their partner in education in the Karas Region.

School interventions

Interventions at UB Dax

For the first time in the long history of UB Dax, a 100% progression of learners to the Secondary phase was achieved. These learners have now entered Grade 8 at Kolin Foundation. This positive development should be attributed to, amongst other things, the progress made with Grade 7 English and the impact of the Rössing Foundation's partnership work with the school. One of the biggest challenges the Rössing Foundation faces in 2008 is to obtain the full buy-in from teachers at the school to then take ownership of programmes and interventions in order to secure sustainability,

Interventions at Festus Gonteb

At one stage, Festus Gonteb was the most disadvantaged school in Swakopmund – and it continues to experience a lack of classroom space. As a result, all classes are still overcrowded. Nonetheless, the work of the Rössing Foundation tutors assigned to the school was well supported by all the staff, while the Upper Primary tutors enjoyed the full and active cooperation of their partner teachers.

Reading received the principal focus at Festus Gonteb because, as revealed through a reading test, the learners' reading competency was very low. The well developed-reading programme introduced by the Rössing Foundation will continue into 2008, therefore. The commitment of the school teachers contributed enormously to the improved outcomes, and if this trend continues, the school will soon become one of the more sought-after in Swakopmund.

Interventions at the Atlantic Combined School

As a result of past changes in school leadership, this school has not done well, and overall academic performance has been poor. One of the side-effects of this has been the poor implementation of the school timetable. Nevertheless, a number of unutilised academic periods made it possible to trial the Reading Programme. This first practical experience allowed the current programme to be developed. The two tutors at this school focused on the Reading Programme, therefore, rather than on other aspects of English class teaching or general language development.

Interventions at Kolin Foundation

The overall Grade 10 pass rate of the school dropped considerably from 2006 to 2007 (see Table 1 below). This drop should not be attributed the work of the Rössing Foundation, but to the overall backlog in English acquisition over the years – which is in turn linked to teacher fluctuation. This backlog, which has presented a challenge to Rössing Foundation tutors and their partner schools, brought about interventions that focused on English, mathematics and science. The backlog needs to be overcome so that improved competencies are achieved and better examination results can be obtained.

As regards English results, Table 2 shows that only 40 (67%) Grade 12 learners obtained A to D symbols in English for 2007 and were able to enter tertiary institutions. The remaining 18 learners did not meet the required minimum for such entry, and were obliged either to repeat Grade 12 or improve their English results.

Grade 10 English results were better in comparison with the Grade 12 outcomes for 2007. Altogether 78 learners received B to D symbols (Rössing Foundation set C as an acceptable average pass rate).

As regards mathematics, physical science and life science, the Grade 10 results show that learner performance dropped on average in 2007, despite the support provided to the school (see Figure 3). In comparison with 2006, six more learners achieved an A symbol in 2007.

In respect of learner achievements, the number of Grade 10 learners awarded the symbols A to C for mathematics, physical science and life science, respectively, shows an improvement in the mathematics performance from 2004 to 2006. In 2007, however, the learner pass rate in all three of these subjects dropped. Despite interventions by the Rössing Foundation, albeit with too few tutors, the overall performance by learners in terms of obtaining A to C symbols dropped in physical science and life science – especially in 2007.

Figure 3 also shows that, over the past four years, learner performance in terms of being awarded A to C symbols increased significantly – except for 2007, where performance dropped drastically. To some extent, this shows that the interventions by the Rössing Foundation did not produce the expected positive outcomes in terms of the overall achievement of A to C symbols.

In general, the results show that performance in mathematics, physical science and life science declined from 2006 to 2007. Contrary to 2005 and 2007, the school obtained good results in 2006. These good results can be attributed to committed learners and the experienced teachers who taught them during that year. The teachers in service during 2007 had little or no teaching experience.

Figure 4 shows that learner performance in respect of being awarded A* to C symbols for mathematics, physical science and biology is relatively poor: only 13.8% of learners obtained A* to C symbols for mathematics, while 30.6% and 36.1% of learners, respectively, obtained symbols in this range for biology and physical science. The majority of learners obtained symbols in the categories of C to F – despite Rössing Foundation support for biology and physical science in particular.

The symbol distribution for A*, A, B and C is very low compared with previous years: only 5.4% of learners obtained an A* or A symbol, while 3.1% obtained B and 16.2% obtained C symbols. A total of 32 (24.6%) out of 130 learners who sat for the external final examination obtained symbols in the range of A* to C.