Framework: Levels and Purposes of Use of Performance Indicators

Table 9 very roughly sketches the main purposes and/or uses of performance indicators by different actors at different levels across the education system in South Africa today. The roughness of this portrayal should be emphasised, as well as the fact that it is a

current picture; no doubt, many nuances at each level will be missed; and no doubt,

over time, many of the boxes left blank will be ticked, as further responsibilities are undertaken at different levels. Nonetheless, the matrix does represent the slightly blurred snapshot taken in April 1997, albeit with somewhat artificial divisions of responsibility.12 _{For instance, of course the national Department of Education is}

involved in planning. The provincialisation of responsibility, however, sets out a division of labour that accords the national Department the responsibility for

monitoring and evaluating the provision of education, whereas the provincial Ministries are accorded the management and implementation of the programmes according to norms and standards developed at national level. Indeed, a recurrent theme raised during interviews was the "unfairness" of the provincial governments being held accountable for attaining standards, the prerequisites of which are not similarly mandated by the national government.

Thus, working from the top row down, according to the National Education Policy Act, 1996, the Minister of Education is responsible for the monitoring and evaluation of "the standards of education provision, delivery and performance...with the object of

assessing progress in complying with the provisions of the Constitution and with

national education policy." The directive principles of national education policy are set out in Section 4 of the Act and, among many other things, include:

• achieving equitable education opportunities;

• achieving the redress of past inequality in education provision;

• enhancing the quality of education;

• ensuring broad public participation in the development of education policy;

• achieving the cost-effective use of education resources; and

• achieving close co-operation between the national and provincial governments, including the development of management capacity.

(National Education Policy Act, 1996: 8)

As noted during discussions, this broad national responsibility for monitoring and evaluating the norms and standards of education was challenged in the courts. The national Department won, setting the momentum for carrying out this role. Following this first legislation, the South African Schools Act, 1996 provides for "a uniform system for the organisation, governance and funding of schools". As will be detailed below, a new Annual Survey for Schools was carried out on the 22nd April 1997, thus providing the baseline for monitoring and evaluating national education policy. The norms and standards for funding schools in line with the South African Schools Act. 1996 are still under discussion by the Heads of Education Departments Committee (HEDCOM).

Table 9: Matrix of Actors and Purposes of Performance Indicators in Education in South Africa

Actors/Purposes Monitoring Formative Evaluation

Planning Management Accountability National Department of Education X X Provincial Ministries of Education X X X X X NGOs, Research Organisations X

Schools, Heads, Teachers and Governing Bodies X X X X Parents, Students, Communities X

Section 8 of the National Education Policy Act, 1996 makes clear that the nine provincial Ministries of Education and Culture are accountable to the national

Department of Education for the provision, delivery and performance of educational standards. It is their responsibility to remedy the situation if they do not comply with the Constitution or national policy. Thus, the provincial ministries must be engaged in monitoring, formative evaluation, planning and the management of education, falling short of the summative evaluation function left to the national department except with respect to their own constituencies.

It is worth mentioning at this point the 'sea-change' that was expressed as being

necessary to begin to use performance indicators as tools of planning and management, to take two of the four functions designated at this level. With the exception of the matriculation pass rates in the past, indicators had not been published, and only direct input controls had been used. It is argued, there had been no 'need' for indicators to see what was happening in the system. The amount of education and training necessary to modernise educational management was not underestimated by anyone but, as with the development of performance indicators, where data collection has taken precedence, so is the placement and training of education officers required before a 'climate' of

indicator use can be created.

In the next row, which is NGOs and Research Organisations, a variety of institutions are included, from education policy units, to university departments, to non-

governmental organisations involved either in school improvement activities or school effectiveness research. A lot of activity in this area is donor-funded, whether from within South Africa, for instance, through the National Business Initiative or the

Independent Development Trust, or from outside, through DFID, CIDA, USAID or the many other donor agencies involved in educational aid programmes.

Formative evaluation is identified as comprising the main use of performance indicators for this level of activity. Of course, if one is talking about specific projects, all of the different purposes will be carried out. The focus of analysis here is, however, with the interplay not within the project, but between any projects and national or provincial educational development plans. Thus, the key linkage is what can be fed back, in particular, to improve the quality of educational programmes. Monitoring to ensure

equitable distribution of resources is relatively simple. Evaluating the use to which different types and levels of resource are put brings us into the realm of school

effectiveness and different notions of school quality, as it is understood and evaluated in different contexts.

The next category of 'actors' is at the level of the school. Putting heads, teachers, and governing bodies together in this category, however, does not necessarily mean that there is a uniformity of perspectives, despite the hope that all are cooperating in

achieving the educational interests of the school. All but planning has been included in the use of performance indicators at the school level. This is because, at present, school- based management is not the reality that it might become. Thus, whilst everyday

management is carried out, there is not widespread school development planning

encompassing at the school level the sort of prioritisation of investments that are having to be done at the provincial or district levels. As per Section 20 of the South African

Schools Act. 1996 governing bodies are entrusted with the provision of quality

education and are ultimately accountable both to the parents, students and the

communities they serve, as well as being accountable to the provincial ministry and the national department. Thus, there is the need to use information (namely, performance indicators) for this purpose.

Finally, whilst parents, students and community members may sit on the governing bodies of schools and thus play wider roles in the school's development, their use of performance indicators outside such alternative roles, is judging the quality of the school. Thus, accountability is highlighted, whether from the perspective of the student's own evaluation of his/her performance or the parents' or the community's evaluation of the school's performance as a whole.

This matrix represents a range of very different perspectives and very different

purposes of the use of performance indicators in education. Not all perspectives were canvassed in the limited time available in South Africa for this case study, nor were all purposes of performance indicators addressed. Nor is this matrix immutable. On the contrary, it is more than likely to change, particularly as data are collected, performance indicators created, and the management, planning and evaluation capacity developed across these levels in the many uses of performance indicators. Against this backdrop, the next section describes some of the actors and their functions in the matrix as defined by several new initiatives in education in South Africa today.