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Directorate of National Examinations And Assessments (Website)

Visit the Directorate's website. This website was created to provide examination results, statistics and information about the national examinations for HIGCSE, IGCSE and JSC.

INTRODUCTION

The main functions of the Directorate of National Examinations and Assessment (DNEA) are to provide a national assessment and certification service for the school system, to assist in enhancing the quality of education and to monitor educational standards. The main objectives of the DNEA remained the same as for the previous years, that is:

· To successfully administer the examination and certification functions of the national school examinations (Junior Secondary Certificate (JSC), International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) and the Higher International General Certificate of Secondary Education (HIGCSE)), in addition to the semi-external end of primary (Grade 7) examination.

· To progressively take over from Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) the professional and administrative functions of the IGCSE and HIGCSE examinations and to continuously monitor and improve the security of examinations and the efficiency of regional examination offices, heads of examination centres and invigilators.

· To provide information and statistics for the monitoring of quality and standards in the education system in addition to ensuring equitable access to the national examinations for full-time, part-time and impaired candidates.

MAIN ACTIVITIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS

Administration of the National Examinations

A total of 72 393 JSC, IGCSE and HIGCSE full-time and part-time candidates were registered for the various 2005 national examinations at 629 centres countrywide. With the Grade 7 semi-external candidates added, the number of candidates examined nationally in 2005, were 125 599. The breakdown per examination is as follows:

· 30 059 full-time and 12 300 part-time candidates (42 359 in total) registered for the 2005 JSC examination. Compared with the 2004 figures, the number of full-time candidates increased by 4.1% (1 189) and the part-time candidates decreased by 2.1% (249).

· A total of 2 414 mainly part-time IGCSE candidates sat for the May/June 2005 examinations and 26 571 full-time and part-time IGCSE and HIGCSE candidates registered for the October/November 2005 examinations. The number of May/June candidates increased by 2.24% (441) and the October/November candidates increased by 6.3% (1 580) compared with the 2004 figures.

· 53 206 Grade 7 candidates from 991 schools registered for the end of primary semi-external examination. Compared with the 2004 figures, the candidates increased with 5.0% (2 550).

For the JSC examination 118 examiners and moderators and 1 076 markers were appointed to assist the DNEA with the examination which was written at 488 JSC centres by full-time, part-time and deaf and blind candidates. The number of subjects examined was 40 and the examination components were 98.

For the 37 IGCSE and 18 HIGCSE subjects where the marking of answer scripts was done in Namibia 719 markers were appointed from schools, regional offices and colleges of education. For the 26 IGCSE and HIGCSE subjects where the setting of the question papers is done in Namibia 103 examiners and moderators did the work. The IGCSE and HIGCSE examinations were written at 110 centres across the country. Of these schools, 51 offered HIGCSE subjects. In total 42 IGCSE and 24 HIGCSE subjects were examined for which 194 question papers had to be set. All the 2005 national examinations were successfully concluded and the results released on time. Please note, the examination statistics appear as Annexures to the report.

Localising of IGCSE and HIGCSE Examinations

Progress was made during 2005 with the localisation of the IGCSE and HIGCSE examinations and preparations for the first Namibian examinations to be written at the end of 2007 are on schedule. At the end of 2005 the situation was as follows regarding the most important functions currently being taken over from Cambridge Examinations.

· 89.9% of the examination components (papers) written by Namibian candidates were marked in Namibia , and for 91.7% of the subjects the components were marked in Namibia and 83 or 40% of question papers were set in Namibia

· localised question papers have been set for the first localised examinations to be conducted at the end of 2007. The capacity to take responsibility for most of the computerised examination processing functions has been established to enable the Directorate to process the new examinations.

· The Namibia Senior Secondary Certificate (NSSC) has been approved by the National Examination Assessment and Certification Board as the new qualification to replace the IGCSE and HIGCSE qualifications. Two types of NSSC qualifications will be available, namely the NSSC Group Certificate and the NSSC Subject Certificate.

Improving the Security of Examinations and Certificates

As in previous years, workshops were conducted in all educational regions for examination officers, heads of examination centres and chief invigilators on the registration of candidates, on invigilation and the secure keeping and despatching of examination materials. In most regions Regional Office staff did the abovementioned training, only a few regions were still assisted by the Directorate National Examinations and Assessment with training. There was no leakage of question papers of the national examinations for 2005 to unauthorized persons, but 25 malpractice cases were reported and investigated.

Monitoring of Quality and Standards in the Education System

Software was further developed to produce more types of examination statistics as needed by the various users. The following main types of statistics were provided to head office, regional offices, school staff and researchers: national, regional and school statistics on the performance of candidates. National and regional rank orders of schools to monitor the performance of schools.

Ensuring Equitable Access to National Examinations

Examination fees for 2005 were as usual based on real costs but the subsidy level for first time takers was lowered with a further 2.5% to 62.5% and for “re-sit” candidates the subsidy level remained at 40%. Realistic criteria, for the registration of part-time candidates were in place. Question papers of the national examinations were adapted to make them accessible to impaired candidates and allowances were made in the writing time of candidates with disabilities. For sight impaired candidates question papers with enlarged print were provided.

PROBLEMS AND CONSTRAINTS

The most important problems and constraints were restricted to the following areas:

· The workload associated with the increased number of candidates and the localisation of the IGCSE/HIGCSE examinations is too demanding to be handled by the current staff. The staffing structure of the Directorate needs to be reviewed.

· Some educational regions find it increasingly difficult to find appropriate venues to accommodate the increasing number of part-time candidates for the national examinations.

· The number of certificates which are not collected by candidates after the examinations every year is on the increase.

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The following conclusions formed the basis for the functioning of the Directorate National Examinations and Assessment and could also be taken as guidelines to further enhance the efficiency of the directorate:

· The security and integrity of the national examinations must be protected at all times.

· Systematic planning, thorough organisation and effective control is essential for the secure and successful conducting of the national examinations.

· The people involved in the conducting of the national examinations must be committed to the task and of the highest integrity.

· Communication and coordination, internally and with stakeholders, is very important.

· Adherence to deadline dates is a must at all times.

· Quality assurance measures are essential for all procedures.