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The public is distrustful of the validity of the 1996 matric examination results. It seems, however, that most South Africans believe that the most serious problems in education will be solved within the next few years. These are some of the major findings in a countrywide study that the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) conducted among 2?197 respondents of 18?years and older in February this year. According to the study ? which formed part of the HSRC's Omnibus Survey of Public Perception ? only 44% of the adult public indicated that they had confidence in the 1996 matric examination results. Of the African respondents involved in the survey, 56% had confidence in the validity of the results, while only 24% of Asian, 31% of coloured and 17% of white respondents believed that the1996 matric results were valid. The most affluent of the respondents had the least confidence in the 1996 matric examination results. The distrust in the validity of the results was the highest in the Northern Cape, where only 29% of the respondents believed that the results were generally valid. Confidence in the results was highest in the North West, where 57% of the respondents indicated that the 1996 matric examination results presented a true picture of scholastic achievement. According to Mr Andries van den Berg, chief research specialist at the HSRC's Educational Assessment Unit, the survey provided the education departments with useful information on the perceptions and expectations of the South African public. "The survey is especially important in view of the fears that were expressed in certain quarters that the standards of education outcomes have dropped as a result of educational reform, and the discomfort noted in certain news media about the general validity of the examinations. The results indicate that there are spheres where trust between the public and the providers of education needs to be improved," he added. As was expected, a relatively high percentage of respondents (33%) were not in a position to compare the general difficulty level of the 1996 matric examinations with that of previous years. Twenty-seven per cent of respondents nevertheless thought it had been the same, 24% easier and 17% more difficult. In contrast to the other population groups who were more or less evenly divided on this issue, more than half of the white respondents (52%) thought that the 1996 papers had been easier than previous years. Only 4% of them thought they had been generally more difficult. Forty-two per cent of Afrikaans respondents and 31% of English respondents felt the examination papers had been easier than previous years, while close to 9% of both these groups said they had been more difficult. On the other side of the scale were South Sotho and North Sotho-speaking respondents of whom 27% and 34% respectively found the 1996 matric examinations more difficult than previous years. As many as 64% of black respondents were optimistic that educational problems would be solved within the next five years. The expectations of other groups were much lower, with only 22% of whites expressing such optimism. Persons with a tertiary educational qualification and the more affluent respondents were generally more pessimistic about the imminent solution of educational problems. A significant majority (60%) of all the respondents believed that opportunities should be created for all pupils to be taught all their subjects in their home language. Afrikaans-speaking respondents (75%) by far constituted the language group to be most strongly in favour of this notion. The attitude of the different African language groups towards home language education in all subjects varied, with Xhosa-speaking respondents (63%) most strongly in favour, compared to slightly less than 50% of Swazi, Ndebele and Zulu respondents. Most respondents (64%) thought that school education did impart useful knowledge to pupils to cope with day-to-day challenges. A relatively smaller percentage of white respondents (47%) however shared this view. "Since 71% of the white respondents in the sample had a qualification of Grade 12 or higher, it would appear as if many of them mirrored their own experience when they indicated their doubt about the general value of school education," Mr Van den Berg said. In response to a question about the method by which final examination scores should be determined, external examination marks (36%) and a combination of teacher and external examination marks (39%) were almost equally favoured by black respondents. Only 21% of these respondents thought that the score allocated by the subject teacher would be sufficient for a final score. In contrast, 72%, 70% and 56% of white, Asian and coloured respondents respectively chose a combination of teacher and external examination scores as the most desired option. The current movement towards outcomes-based education will drastically change these assessment methods and, in Mr Van den Berg's opinion, the survey has proved that the perceptions of the general public with regard to fair scoring methods should not be ignored. An overwhelming percentage of respondents (77%) believed that an independent monitoring body was necessary to ensure equivalence in examination standards between the various education departments. The vast majority (71%) also thought that the planning and control of education should be done by one central department.
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