MATHEMATICS PASSPORT |
LANGUAGE
IN EDUCATION POLICY 14 JULY 1997
1.The language in
education policy documents which follow have been the subject of
discussions and debate with a wide range of education stakeholders and
role-players. They have also been the subject of formal public comment
following their publication on 9 May 1997 (Government Notice No. 383, Vol.
17997).
2.Two policies are announced herewith, namely, the LANGUAGE IN
EDUCATION POLICY IN TERMS OF SECTION 3(4)(m) OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION
POLICY ACT, 1996 (ACT 27 OF 1996), and the NORMS AND STANDARDS REGARDING
LANGUAGE POLICY PUBLISHED IN TERMS OF SECTION 6(1) OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN
SCHOOLS ACT, 1996. While these two policies have different objectives,
they complement each other and should at all times be read together rather
than separately.
3.Section 4.4 of the Language in Education Policy
relates to the current situation. The new curriculum, which will be
implemented from 1998, onwards, will necessitate new measures which will
be announced in due course.
4.LANGUAGE IN EDUCATION POLICY IN TERMS OF
SECTION 3(4)(m) OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION POLICY ACT, 1996 (ACT 27 OF
1996)
5.
1.PREAMBLE
2.This Language-in-Education Policy Document
should be seen as part of a continuous process by which policy for
language in education is being developed as part of a national language
plan encompassing all sectors of society, including the deaf community. As
such, it operates within the following paradigm:
1.In terms of the
new Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, the government, and thus
the Department of Education, recognises that our cultural diversity is a
valuable national asset and hence is tasked, amongst other things, to
promote multilingualism, the development of the official languages, and
respect for all languages used in the country, including South African
Sign Language and the languages referred to in the South African
Constitution.
2.The inherited language-in-education policy in South
Africa has been fraught with tensions, contradictions and sensitivities,
and underpinned by racial and linguistic discrimination. A number of these
discriminatory policies have affected either the access of the learners to
the education system or their success within it.
3.The new language in
education policy is conceived of as an integral and necessary aspect of
the new government’s strategy of building a non-racial nation in South
Africa. It is meant to facilitate communication across the barriers of
colour, language and region, while at the same time creating an
environment in which respect for languages other than one’s own would be
encouraged.
4.This approach is in line with the fact that both societal
and individual multilingualism are the global norm today, especially on
the African continent. As such, it assumes that the learning of more than
one language should be general practice and principle in our society. That
is to say, being multilingual should be a defining characteristic of being
South African. It is constructed also to counter any particularistic
ethnic chauvinism or separatism through mutual understanding.
5.A wide
spectrum of opinions exists as to the locally viable approaches towards
multilingual education, ranging from arguments in favour of the cognitive
benefits and cost-effectiveness of teaching through one medium (home
language) and learning additional language(s) as subjects, to those
drawing on comparative international experience demonstrating that, under
appropriate conditions, most learners benefit cognitively and emotionally
from the type of structured bilingual education found in dual-medium (also
known as two-way immersion) programmes. Whichever route is followed, the
underlying principle is to maintain home language(s) while providing
access to and the effective acquisition of additional language(s). Hence,
the Department’s position that an additive approach to bilingualism is to
be seen as the normal orientation of our language-in-education policy.
With regard to the delivery system, policy will progressively be guided by
the results of comparative research, both locally and
internationally.
6.The right to choose the language of learning and
teaching is vested in the individual. This right has, however, to be
exercised within the overall framework of the obligation on the education
system to promote multilingualism.
3.This paradigm also presupposes
a more fluid relationship between languages and culture than is generally
understood in the Eurocentric model which we have inherited in South
Africa. It accepts a priori that there is no contradiction in a
multicultural society between a core of common cultural traits, beliefs,
practices, etc., and particular sectional or communal cultures. Indeed,
the relationship between the two can and should be mutually reinforcing
and, if properly managed, should give rise to and sustain genuine respect
for the variability of the communities that constitute our emerging
nation. 4.AIMS
5.The main aims of the Ministry of Education’s policy
for language in education are:
1.to promote full participation in
society and the economy through equitable and meaningful access to
education;
2.to pursue the language policy most supportive of general
conceptual growth amongst learners, and hence to establish additive
multilingualism as an approach to language in education;
3.to promote
and develop all the official languages;
4.to support the teaching and
learning of all other languages required by learners or used by
communities in South Africa, including languages used for religious
purposes, languages which are important for international trade and
communication, and South African Sign Language, as well as Alternative and
Augmentative Communication;
5.to counter disadvantages resulting from
different kinds of mismatches between home languages and languages of
learning and teaching;
6.to develop programmes for the redress of
previously disadvantaged languages.
6.POLICY: LANGUAGES AS
SUBJECTS
7.
1.All learners shall offer at least one approved
language as a subject in Grade 1 and Grade 2.
2.From Grade 3 (Std 1)
onwards, all learners shall offer their language of learning and teaching
and at least one additional approved language as subjects.
3.All
language subjects shall receive equitable time and resource
allocation.
4.The following promotion requirements apply to language
subjects:
5.
1.In Grade 1 to Grade 4 (Std 2) promotion is based on
performance in one language and Mathematics.
2.From Grade 5 (Std 3)
onwards, one language must be passed.
3.From Grade 10 to Grade 12 two
languages must be passed, one on first language level, and the other on at
least second language level. At least one of these languages must be an
official language.
4.Subject to national norms and standards as
determined by the Minister of Education, the level of achievement required
for promotion shall be determined by the provincial education
departments.
8.POLICY: LANGUAGE OF LEARNING AND TEACHING
The language(s) of learning and teaching in a public school
must be (an) official language(s).
6.NORMS AND STANDARDS REGARDING
LANGUAGE POLICY PUBLISHED IN TERMS OF SECTION 6(1) OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN
SCHOOLS ACT, 1996
7.
1.INTRODUCTION
2.
1.AIM OF THESE NORMS
AND STANDARDS
2.
1.Recognising that diversity is a valuable asset,
which the state is required to respect, the aim of these norms and
standards is the promotion, fulfilment and development of the state's
overarching language goals in school education in compliance with the
Constitution, namely:
2.
1.the protection, promotion, fulfilment and
extension of the individual's language rights and means of communication
in education; and
2.the facilitation of national and international
communication through promotion of bi- or multilingualism through
cost-efficient and effective mechanisms,
3.to redress the neglect of
the historically disadvantaged languages in school
education.
3.DEFINITIONS
4.In these norms and standards,
unless the context otherwise indicates, words and expressions contained in
the definitions in the Act shall have corresponding meanings; and the
following words and phrases shall have the following
meanings:
1."the Act" means the South African Schools Act, Act 84
of 1996
2."the Constitution" means the Constitution of the Republic of
South Africa, Act 108 of 1996
3."school district" means a geographical
unit as determined by the relevant provincial legislation, or prevailing
provincial practice
4."language" means all official languages
recognised in the Constitution, and also South African Sign Language, as
well as Alternative and Augmentative Communication.
3.THE
PROTECTION OF INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS
4.
1.The parent exercises the minor
learner's language rights on behalf of the minor learner. Learners who
come of age, are hereafter referred to as the learner, which concept will
include also the parent in the case of minor learners.
2.The learner
must choose the language of teaching upon application for admission to a
particular school.
3.Where a school uses the language of learning and
teaching chosen by the learner, and where there is a place available in
the relevant grade, the school must admit the learner.
4.Where no
school in a school district offers the desired language as a medium of
learning and teaching, the learner may request the provincial education
department to make provision for instruction in the chosen language, and
section 5.3.2 must apply. The provincial education department must make
copies of the request available to all schools in the relevant school
district.
5.THE RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF THE SCHOOL
6.
1.Subject
to any law dealing with language in education and the Constitutional
rights of learners, in determining the language policy of the school, the
governing body must stipulate how the school will promote multilingualism
through using more than one language of learning and teaching, and/or by
offering additional languages as fully-fledged subjects, and/or applying
special immersion or language maintenance programmes, or through other
means approved by the head of the provincial education department. (This
does not apply to learners who are seriously challenged with regard to
language development, intellectual development, as determined by the
provincial department of education.)
2.Where there are less than 40
requests in Grades 1 to 6, or less than 35 requests in Grades 7 to 12 for
instruction in a language in a given grade not already offered by a school
in a particular school district, the head of the provincial department of
education will determine how the needs of those learners will be met,
taking into account
3.
1.the duty of the state and the right of the
learners in terms of the Constitution, including
2.the need to achieve
equity,
3.the need to redress the results of past racially
discriminatory laws and practices,
4.practicability, and
5.the
advice of the governing bodies and principals of the public schools
concerned.
7.THE RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF THE PROVINCIAL EDUCATION
DEPARTMENTS
8.
1.The provincial education department must keep a
register of requests by learners for teaching in a language medium which
cannot be accommodated by schools.
2.In the case of a new school, the
governing body of the school in consultation with the relevant provincial
authority determines the language policy of the new school in accordance
with the regulations promulgated in terms of section 6(1) of the South
African Schools Act, 1996.
3.It is reasonably practicable to provide
education in a particular language of learning and teaching if at least 40
in Grades 1 to 6 or 35 in Grades 7 to 12 learners in a particular grade
request it in a particular school.
4.The provincial department must
explore ways and means of sharing scarce human resources. It must also
explore ways and means of providing alternative language maintenance
programmes in schools and or school districts which cannot be provided
with and or offer additional languages of teaching in the home language(s)
of learners.
9.FURTHER STEPS
10.
1.Any interested learner, or
governing body that is dissatisfied with any decision by the head of the
provincial department of education, may appeal to the MEC within a period
of 60 days.
2.Any interested learner, or governing body that is
dissatisfied with any decision by the MEC, may approach the Pan South
African Language Board to give advice on the constitutionality and/or
legality of the decision taken, or may dispute the MEC’s decision by
referring the matter to the Arbitration Foundation of South Africa.
3.A
dispute referred to the Arbitration Foundation of South Africa must be
finally resolved in accordance with the Rules of the Arbitration
Foundation of Southern Africa by an arbitrator or arbitrators appointed by
the Foundation.
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