Enquiries

Also available on the GPG website:

Office of the Chief Executive Officer

Room 1009, 111 Commissioner Street, Johannesburg2001 P.O. Box 7710, Johannesburg, 2000

Tel: (011) 355-1511 Fax: (011) 333-5546 E-mail: OR

  1. PURPOSE

1.1.This circular replaces Circular 06 of 2005.

1.2.This circular describes the duty and responsibilities of all stakeholders in the implementation of CASS

1.3.A management plan with important dates for the implementation of CASS is included

1.4.All the necessary forms and information are supplied as annexures.

  1. LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK

2.1National Educational Policy Act, 1996 (Act No. 27 of 1996) and The South African Schools Act, 1996 (Act No.84 of 1996) as amended

2.2Government Notice No. 1081 17 September 2004. The National Policy on the Conduct, administration and management of the Assessment of the Senior Certificate as National Education Policy

3.THE IMPORTANCE OF THE CASS PORTFOLIO FOR SENIOR CERTIFICATE CANDIDATES

3.1.The CASS mark in every subject will constitute a 25% weighting of the final promotion mark for the Senior Certificate.

3.2.It is the responsibility of all principals to ensure that every candidate has a separate portfolio for the different subjects taken. This includes additional subjects taken privately or at another educational institution.

3.3.The CASS portfolio is compulsory for all full-time candidates in all their subjects.

3.4.A candidate who takes more than 6 subjects must satisfy the CASS requirements for those subjects as well. Candidates and their parents/guardians must be informed at the beginning of the year that they must engage a tutor for additional subjects in order to satisfy all CASS requirements, including the portfolio, tests and Preparatory Examinations. These will be subjected to school and departmental moderation. The school principal will have to ensure that all CASS marks, including those of additional subjects, are reliable and legitimate.

3.5.The National Educational Circular, Circular S3 of 2004, states that learners in Grade 11 and below may not enrol in any Senior Certificate subjects in 2005 onwards as has been the practice.

4.PORTFOLIO GUIDELINES AND CLUSTER GROUPS

4.1The Portfolio Guidelines for 2006 (English and Afrikaans) have been distributed to all schools. AnnexureI provides a summary of the changes that have been made to the portfolios.

4.2Please note that in the following subjects the CASS portfolio is treated differently and that separate documentation will be sent to schools to inform educators: Art 1 and 2, Jewish Studies, Italian and Spanish.

4.3A copy of any portfolio guideline may be printed from the GDE website at Click on Matric Grade 12 then,Portfolio Guidelines.

4.4Educators are requested to use the Generic Portfolio Guideline to produce a portfolio in those subjects where a portfolio guideline has not been developed.

4.5All schools must be part of the cluster meeting system and mustattend all meetings.

4.6District officials have clustered schools in subject groups in all districts. These cluster groups will meet 4 times to support one another. The dates of 4 meetings throughout the year are indicated below. Schools that have not yet been assigned to a cluster must contact their Subject Facilitator at the District Office.

4.7At the final cluster leader meeting, all schools must bring their sample portfolios as selected by the computer to the meeting. The best portfolio in each subject must also be included. The second best portfolio must be included, where the best portfolio has already been selected. At this meeting the cluster leader will facilitate the checking of the selected portfolios in preparation for provincial moderation.

IMPORTANT DATES FOR CASS IMPLEMENTATION FOR 2006:

Date / Function / Responsibility
January2006 / Mediation of CASS policy with Cluster Leaders. District subject facilitators willbe responsible for this and will meet early in 2006 / District Office (Curriculum)
08/02 to08/03/2006 / Road shows in all districts / Internal moderator
06/02 to 10/02/2006 / 1st Cluster meetings (By arrangement) / Subject Facilitators (Districts)
17/03/2006 / 1st Principal’s report (AnnexureA) / Principal to District Assessment Official
17/03/2006 / District Director’s permission to write examination / District Assessment Official
02/05 to 05/05/2006 / 2nd Cluster meetings (By arrangement) / Subject Facilitators
05/05/2006 / Reflection sheets (AnnexureD) / Principal to District Assessment Official
25/05/2006 / CASS Writers Forum / Head Office Curriculum/ CASS Writers
15/06/2006 / 2nd Principal’s report (AnnexureA) / Principal to District Assessment Official
22/07/2006 / De-registration forms sent to District Office / Principals
24/07 to 28/07/06 / 3rd Cluster meeting (By arrangement) / Subject Facilitators
04/09 to09/09/06 / 4th Cluster meeting (By arrangement) / Cluster Leaders, Subject Facilitators
17/08 to 16/09/2006 / Preparatory Examinations / Head Office
19/09 to 23/09/2006 / Completed Grade 12 CASS mark sheets (portfolio, tests and preparatory marks and identified sample portfolios to be sent to district offices.) / Principals, District Officials
14/09/2006 / Moderation Forum / Head Office Moderation/ Chief Moderators
05 to 08/10/2006 / Moderation of Grade 12 CASS portfolios / Grade 12 educators
11/10/2006 onwards / Return of portfolios to schools. Where a change in marks has been made, a copy of CASS mark sheets will be sent to schools / District Assessment Officials
12 to 20/10/2006 / Appeals against moderation / Principals and District Assessment Officials
  1. RESPONSIBILITY OF THE DISTRICT

5.1The District subject facilitator is responsible for the appointment of cluster leaders in his/her subject.

5.2The District subject facilitator will make recommendations to the District Director to appoint cluster leaders. These recommendations will be based on the following criteria:

  • Minimum 3 years’ experience in teaching the subject at Grade 12 level;
  • Should have produced at least an average pass rate of 70% at Grade 12 level over the past 3 years;

The following will be an advantage:

  • Experience in implementation and management of the portfolio process;
  • Being an accredited assessor or working towards being one; and
  • Willingness to perform the duties and play the role of leader as part of the “critical friends” concept.
  • The cluster leader will receive an official appointment from the District Director.
  • District subject facilitators will be responsible for the attendance of educators at cluster meetings for their specific subjects.
  • District Subject Facilitators must report the attendance at cluster meeting to the Provincial Subject Co-ordinator.
  1. RESPONSIBILITY OF THE CLUSTER LEADERS

6.1The cluster leader will be responsible for:

  • Attending the cluster leader information sharing meeting at thebeginning of the year;
  • Setting dates for the cluster meetings for the year;
  • Conducting the cluster meetings;
  • Recording the cluster moderation that takes place at each cluster

meeting;

  • Co-ordinating cluster groups using the “Critical Friends” concept;
  • Completing the “cluster leader form” (AnnexureB) after each cluster meeting and faxing the form to the district subject facilitator within 3 days of the cluster meeting; and
  • The final checking of the schools portfolios in his/her subject.

6.2The importance of cluster meetings cannot be overstated. They form an important link between the Department and schools as well as an inter-school link.

6.3Reflect on the CASS process at the first meeting for 2006.

  1. RESPONSIBILITY OF THE SUBJECT EDUCATOR

7.1The subject educator must develop an operational plan to implement the portfolio in his/her subject.

7.2The subject educator must participate in subject cluster meetings.

7.3The subject educator must assess learners’ work continuously.

7.4Subject educators must control, record and be responsible for the safekeeping of the portfolios, tests and preparatory examination.

7.5The subject educator must make the learners aware of plagiarism and that it must not occur in their portfolios.

7.6Educators are requested to fill in the reflection sheet (Annexure D)and send it to the District Assessment Official by 5th May 2006. (This is optional)

  1. RESPONSIBILITY OF THE PRINCIPAL

8.1The principal must ensure that all subjects in his/her school have an operational plan to implement the CASS portfolios to meet the final deadline for cluster / provincial moderation. The School Assessment Team (SAT) is the appropriate body to monitor and implement this process.

8.2Cluster leaders appointed by District Directors are responsible for the management of the entire CASS process in their clusters and should be relieved of some of their extramural activities/duties. This will enable them to plan, prepare for and attend cluster meetings.

8.3The principal must advise candidates that the results on their statement of symbols will reflect as “pending” if a CASS mark is not produced. A candidate will not be certificated if marks are still pending.

8.4The principal must complete the School Principal Report Form(AnnexureA) and hand the form to the District Directorone week before the end of both the first and second terms.

8.5The principal must ensure that the portfolios are marked and moderated within the school and the appropriate moderation form be filled in..

8.6The principal must ensure that the mark sheets containing the CASS mark (portfolio marks, Preparatory Examination marks and test marks) and the identified portfolios are handed in to the district according to district plans.

8.7The principal must make 2 copies of the CASS mark sheets. The school must keep one copy of the CASS mark sheets, place the originals with the portfolios and send the second copy to the District Assessment Official.

8.8The principal must ensure that all the candidates have a mark recorded next to their names.

8.9The principal must ensure that every full-time candidate has a portfolio for every subject that the candidate is registered for, as well as/including every additional subject in cases where a candidate is taking extra subjects.

NB: Mark sheets over the last two years show that marks in many circumstances are not recorded on the mark sheet or that the mark incorrectly exceeds the maximum mark. This caused serious problems during the capturing of the marks and it has resulted in candidates’ results reflecting as “pending.”

  1. MISSING CASS MARKS AT THE END OF THE YEAR

9.1In order to obviate the problem of having missing CASS marks, the following procedures must be followed:

  • Where a CASS portfolio mark cannot be allocated to a candidate for valid reasons, a “Missing Marks” form (AnnexureG) must be completed and the case must be referred to the District Assessment Official. The District Assessment Official will be responsible for placing 999 against the candidate’s name where appropriate.
  • The method of calculating CASS marks when one or more components are allocated a “0” is shown in AnnexureJ.
  1. THE DE-REGISTRATION OF A CANDIDATE IN A SUBJECT

10.1The process of de-registration should apply to candidates who fall under the following categories:

  • Candidates who have left the Province or Country;
  • Candidates who have since registration passed away;
  • Candidates who have left the school / examination centre to take up a job; and
  • Candidates who have missed more than 60 days since registration without a valid reason.
  • The school / centre must apply for de-registration through the District Office Examination Section.
  • It is important that the principal obtains the guardian's and / or the candidate's signature agreeing to the de-registration.
  • In the case where the guardian's or the candidate's signature cannot be obtained, the principal must supply the following information on the attached AnnexureGDE 430 (AnnexureK):
  • Why he or she was unable to obtain the guardian's or candidate’s signature;
  • Substantiated reasons for wishing to de-register the candidate.
  • The completed form (GDE 430) must be sent to the District Office.
  • The District Official Examinations, on behalf of the District Director, must investigate the case and make a recommendation to the District Director.
  • If the de-registration is approved, the District Director will send the forms to the Head Office to effect the changes.
  • All de-registration forms must reach the District Offices no later thanFriday 21st July 2006.
  1. STANDARDISATION OF MODERATION

11.1The provincial moderating team, which will consist of the Internal Moderator, subject examiners, subject facilitators and CASS Portfolio writers, will meet before the moderation day to ensure standardisation of moderation.

11.2The Chief Moderator and Senior Moderators will inform the cluster moderators of the standards of moderation agreed upon in the standardisation of moderation meeting.

  1. MODERATION

12.1Colour of moderation pens

  • Educator’s original assessment:Red
  • School moderation:Black
  • Cluster moderation:Black
  • Provincial moderation:Green
  • Senior moderator’s moderation:Purple

Moderators must sign and date the top right-hand side of the first pageof the learner’s task.

Moderators must place their ticks next to the original ticks.

School moderation

12.2The internal moderation by the school must take place continuously throughout the year. In those schools where there is only one educator for a subject, the internal school moderation will have to be part of the cluster moderation.

12.3The subject educator must complete the subject internal school moderation form(AnnexureM New form).

Cluster moderation

12.4The cluster moderation will take place during cluster moderation meetings and (Annexure N) must be completed and placed in the educators file.

12.5Educators are required to bring to the cluster meeting all theassessment tasks that have recently been completed and assessed by the educator. Colleagues will exchange 2 of their learners’ assessment tasks and will moderate one another’s work.

12.6The number of assessment tasks moderated must be recorded against the educator’s name on the attendance register.

12.7The moderation will be by consensus. If consensus cannot be reached the matter must be referred to the District subject facilitator for mediation. The marks will only be adjusted if agreed upon by the educators involved.

12.8There are only 4 cluster meetings during the year. It is therefore essential that thorough moderation takes place during the last 3 cluster meetings.

Provincial Moderation

12.9Departmental officials and cluster leaders will conduct the moderation as outlined below.

12.10Schools may appeal against the moderated marks as the portfolio and mark sheets will be returned to the schools. An appeal should be addressed to the District Assessment Officer immediately on receipt of the portfolios on Tuesday 10 October 2006. Appeals must be finalised before 20 October 2006. (Annexure L)

  1. MODERATION PROCESS

13.1The moderation process will take place on 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th October 2006. The 6th October must be used by the chief moderator and senior moderators to set standards.

13.2Application to moderate portfolios must be made on the application form that will be used to apply for marking at the end of the year.

13.3Only the following CS Educators will be qualified to mark:

  • Grade 12 educators who are currently assessing subject portfolios at schools or who assessed portfolios in 2001/2/3/4/5; and
  • Cluster leaders or examiners or moderators or subject CASS writers or District subject facilitators or educators with an Outcomes-Based Assessment qualification.
  • Please note: any one who has taken the VSP will not be paid for moderation.
  • All moderators will be paid for transport and the moderating hours as per the P.A.M. document.
  1. RECORDING MARKS

14.1The final marks for CASS subjects (excluding languages)will be out of 100. This will apply to both Higher Grade and Standard Grade.

The breakdown of the recording of the CASS mark for all subjects are shown

below:

Controlled tests and Preparatory Examination / Portfolio
mark / Total
All subjects except subjects listed below / 40 / 60 / 100
Mathematics / 50 / 50 / 100
Official Primary/ First language HG / 55 (Paper 5) / 65 (Paper 3) / 120
Official Primary/First language SG / 40 (Paper 5) / 40 (Paper 3) / 80
Official Additional/Second Language HG and SG / 30 (Paper 5) / 50 (Paper 3) / 80

The marks for all CASS subjects (excluding languages and Mathematics) will

be recorded on the computer mark sheets under four headings:

  • Controlled tests and Preparatory Examination (out of 40)
  • Portfolio mark (out of 60)
  • Total (out of 100)
  • Moderated total mark (out of 100)
  • The Standard Grade mark out of 100 will be converted to 75 by the mainframe computer system.

The transfer of marks

14.3All chief moderators reported that the transfer of marks as well as the calculation of the final marks was incorrectly done by a large percentage of schools in 2005.

14.4The transfer of marks from the educator’s mark sheet to the computer mark sheet as well as all calculations must be carefully done.

14.5Subject educators must work in pairs when transferring marks from the working mark sheet to the computer mark sheet. Once the mark has been transferred this must be checked by reading the marks back, while the marks are checked on the working mark sheet.

14.6Colour of mark sheets

  • Oral mark sheets:Yellow
  • Practical mark sheets:Blue
  • CASS mark sheets:Green
  1. PREPARATORY EXAMINATIONS FOR 2006

15.1The GDE will set papers for the major subjects for the 2006 Preparatory Examinations. These subjects are reflected on the Preparatory Examination timetable (AnnexureC). These papers will be printed and distributed to all schools that have full-time candidates, as is done for the Oct/Nov Senior Certificate Examinations.

15.2The following technical papers will be set by the internal moderators and will be printed and distributed by the Examination Directorate:

Building Construction SG, Electricians Work SG, Electronics SG, Fitting and Turning SG, Motor Mechanics SG, Technika Civil HG, Technika Electronics HG, Welding and Metalworking SG, Woodwork SG (Papers 1 & 2), Technika Mechanical HG and SG. These papers are scheduled to be written on Wednesday 13 September, 2006.

15.3Papers for the subjects not mentioned in 13.1 and 13.2 must be set by schools according to the rules that follow (see paragraph13.7).

15.4Schools must schedule examinations that are not on the Preparatory Examination timetable or not mentioned in 13.2 at a time best suited to the individual schools within the period, starting from the 16 August to 15 September 2006.

15.5Preparatory Examinations start on 16 August 2006 and end on 15 September 2006.

15.6Preparatory examination options:

15.6.1. All schools must write a preparatory examination.

15.6.2. Schools have the choice of writing: