SUMMARY
South Africa suffers the effects of a highly discriminatory educational system of the past when a large percentage of the educational budget was spent on a small portion of the population. The country’s need for qualified people in the fields of science and technology is vast. There is no time to wait for natural correction. Students admitted to university from disadvantaged backgrounds have little chance of success. This causes understandable resentment, wasting time, effort and money. In 1991 Wits University set up the College of Science to provide basic training in Mathematics, Physical, Life and Earth Sciences for students with poor school marks but potential to succeed at university. Students not meeting Science Faculty criteria are given special entrance tests. Those judged to have potential are admitted to a two year course in the College of Science. Students passing these two years are admitted to the second year of the B Sc. degree. Our experience with this special programme suggests that the following are satisfactory methods for this category of learners for the future; extended time to learn biological content integrated with skills, reduced lecturing time, more small group tutorials. The Biological Sciences results have been encouraging. Students who would not have been admitted to university have graduated with B Sc., B Sc. Honours, M Sc. and Ph. D degrees.
KEY WORDS widening access; integration of skills and content; disadvantaged
Department of Animal Plant & Environmental Sciences,
University of the Witwatersrand, WITS 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa.shirley@gecko.biol.wits.ac.za
South Africa today suffers from the results of a highly discriminatory educational system of the past where a large percentage of the educational budget was spent on a small and select portion of the population. One of the major promises of the new government elected in South Africa in 1994 was to bring better education to all the people of the country. Unfortunately, when the new government came to power there was no shadow education programme ready for implementation and the system in place has many shortcomings. The problems requiring attention are vast and it will take considerable time to turn education around. The inherent discipline and collective will required to make the education system work has vanished in some schools. This is a legacy from the time when students of schools, colleges and universities were political activists and lead the struggle against apartheid. These institutions were a focus of discontent, and anarchy became the accepted norm.
In South Africa the majority of disciplines at most universities and colleges have used the regionally organised school leaving examinations as an indicator of student potential. These results have therefore been used as a criterion of excellence for admission to tertiary education (university exemption). It has become apparent over the years that this examination system is a poor indicator of educational potential, particularly among weaker students. To date no alternatives have been put in place. Analysis of the results of these examinations also gives cause for concern. The overall trend is a reduction in number of students passing the examination and a steady and worrying decline in the number obtaining university exemption (Table 1).
Table 1. COMPARISON OF SCHOOL LEAVING EXAMINATION RESULTS
Year Number writing examination Number passing examination University entrance % pass 1994 495 408 287 343 88 497 18 1995 531 453 283 742 78 821 15 1996 518 032 278 958 79 768 15 1997 555 267 261 400 69 007 12 1998 553 151 279 986 71 808 13 1999 511 159 249 831 63 725 12 What is of even greater concern are the numbers of students who choose to write science subjects and the very low numbers that succeed in passing. These are the people who will continue in science and technology, including engineering and medicine. Relatively large numbers write Biology but the pass rate is in the region of 40%. Fewer students (less than a quarter) attempt Mathematics and the pass rate just over 20% and even fewer attempt Physics and Chemistry (grouped as Physical Sciences) and the pass rate in most years is below 20% (Table 2). This means that the overall scientific training in the school leaving population is very limited and this is cause for concern. School places are limited and failures are seldom allowed to repeat their final year. Those that are allowed to rewrite have a poor record of success. This means that student aspirations to continue with any form of tertiary education are defeated at school level.
Table 2. COMPARISON OF STUDENTS PASSING SCIENCE SUBJECTS1 2 3
Year Mathe-matics % pass rate Biology % pass rate Physics & Chemistry % pass rate 1997 102 472 20 219 124 42 81 031 16 1998 117 827 21 245 406 44 103 081 19 1999 122 225 24 202 583 40 102 896 20
The country’s need for qualified people is vast and there is no time to wait for a natural correction, particularly in the fields of science and technology, while the education system is improved. Students admitted to university from disadvantaged backgrounds have little chance of succeeding and this causes understandable resentment and wastes time, effort and money.
How can this problem be addressed effectively?
There is a basic assumption by tertiary education institutions in South Africa that potential to succeed in science and biology exists in at least some students who perform poorly in school leaving exams. How can this potential be unlocked? Around the country our education providers have various academic support programmes in place to deal with the problem. They can be classified as follows.
Here all students in need of academic support are given an introductory year before starting their tertiary education.
Here the students are registered for their chosen qualification but allowed to carry a reduced course load per year and therefore take longer to complete their studies.
Students register for their chosen qualification but attend additional tutorials to address learning problems.
These efforts have met with varying success around the country. The University of the Witwatersrand has been concerned about this problem since 1970 and our efforts at academic support have evolved through each of the above programmes in turn.
In 1991, the Faculty of Science at Wits University as a group, analysed the strengths and weaknesses of the above models, and decided to set up the College of Science to provide basic training in Maths, Physical, Life and Earth Sciences for students with poor school marks but potential to succeed at university.
The College is a virtual structure with a small central administration co-ordinating a teaching staff appointed to the college but housed in the academic departments. Five members of staff, Dr D. Mycock, Ms G. Carter, Ms G. Cron, Ms D. Osberg, Ms C. Still form the Biological Sciences team that is housed in the Department of Animal Plant and Environmental Sciences.
Students who do not meet the Science Faculty entrance criteria are given special entrance tests and those judged to have potential are admitted to a two year course in the College of Science where they study basic science subjects, Mathematics, Physical Science and Biological Science or Earth Science. Students who successfully pass these two years are deemed to have the necessary skills and knowledge to allow them to cope with the second year of a normal degree where they follow their subject of choice.
Special feature of the College programme include:
The system has now been in place for ten years and we feel that it is very successful. The results have been encouraging, particularly in the Biological Sciences. Students who would not have been admitted to the Science Faculty under normal conditions have graduated with B Sc., B Sc. Honours and M Sc. & Ph. D degrees (Table 3).
Particular effort has been put into developing skills training in the context of biological content. A manual with the series of exercises used has been published.4 This set of tutorials incorporates both practical and intellectual skills in a graded series of exercises. It covers subjects such as biological classification, hierachical organisation, use of the microscope, measurement and scale, 2 and 3D perception as well as note-taking and other writing skills. We have had notable success with improving writing and communication skills. These have been noted particularly by external examiners.
Table 3. SCIENCE GRADUATES FROM STUDENTS ENTERING COLLEGE 1991-1996 5
Yr. of intake B.Sc Hons MSc/PhD Total 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 Total 1991 141 23 21 11 1 1 57 24 6 1992 149 22 21 9 2 55 16 8 1993 134 17 16 6 6 45 17 6 1994 105 25 17 9 51 7 1 1995 128 15 14 29 10 1996 142 8 8 Total 799 23 43 49 51 41 37 245 74 21 * 2 8 3 6 19 9 * = students graduating from other faculties
Hons = B Sc (Honours)
Particular effort has been put into developing skills training in the context of biological content. A manual with the series of exercises used has been published5 This set of tutorials incorporates both practical and intellectual skills in a graded series of exercises. It covers subjects such as biological classification, hierachical organisation, use of the microscope, measurement and scale, 2 and 3D perception as well as note-taking and other writing skills. We have had notable success with improving writing and communication skills. These have been noted particularly by external examiners.
Students in the past felt that they were being discriminated against when it was suggested they join the programmes listed above. Students currently registered have a very positive attitude to the College of Science. This is a direct reflection of the very professional attitude that staff bring to their teaching duties. There is none of the "add on" approach that characterised our earlier efforts at providing academic support.
The college staff work closely with mainstream course teachers so that the courses are equivalent. One of the major benefits of the whole exercise is that the creative teaching methods developed by the College staff feed back into mainstream teaching. We have also had to rethink what students should learn and how they should be assessed.
The development of the College of Science is not without problems. Because of the very high staff to student ratio the running costs are very high. This also means there are limited possibilities for adoption in a country where funding for education is relatively limited. One way to try and overcome this is to implement a distance learning programme. Plans for this are already in place.
What are the possibilities for the future? This is meeting to examine the way forward for biological education in the new century. Our present experience convinces us that the combination of skills teaching with content is particularly effective in present situation in the South African context and would probably suit other countries facing similar education problems. It is probably inappropriate in more developed countries where the education levels are much higher and school teaching is more effective. The presentation of a graded learning programme and increased staff student ratio is a sure way to improve student learning.