i

ASSESSMENT OF Teacher TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT NEEDS TO ENSURE

EDUCATION FOR ALL (EFA)







Needs Assessment Report




Ministry of Education (Republic of Namibia)
and
Section for Teacher Development and Education Policies (THE/TEP) Division
for Teacher Development and Higher Education (ED/THE), UNESCO
and
UNESCO office (Windhoek)





UNESCO
Paris, April 2013


Ministry of Education
Republic of Namibia
ii








ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The preparation of this report was the responsibility of a National Team consisting of Mr
Hannu Shipena, Deputy Permanent Secretary, Ms Sandra van Zyl, Director of Higher
Education, Dr Charmaine Villet, Dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Namibia,
Ms Edda Bohn, Director of Programmes and Quality Assurance, Ms Adelheid Awases, Director
of Planning and Development, Dr Marius Kudumo, Secretary General of the Namibia National
Commission for UNESCO, Dr John Nyambe, Director of the Continuous Professional
Development Unit at the University of Namibia, Ms Juanita Mller, Head of Department for
Early Childhood and Lower Primary Education, University of Namibia, and Mr Raymond
Simanga, Education Officer: Pre-service teacher education, National Institute for Educational
Development.

Funds for this investigation were provided by the Peoples Republic of China, through Funds-
in-Trust provided to UNESCO for the improvement of teacher education on the African
continent, in the spirit of South-South cooperation. Invaluable guidance and support was
provided by UNESCO staff members, including Mr Nyi Nyi Thaung, Ms Cecilia Barbieri, Ms
Jianhong Dong and Ms Melanie Seto.

Mr Raimo Dengeinge of the Education Management Information System was very helpful in
providing up-to-date data on the Namibian education system.

Technical support was provided to the National Team by Justin Ellis of Turning Points
Consultancy CC.

Many thanks are due to the Namibian education professionals and students who made
themselves available for interview or for discussions, or who provided information and
documents, as listed in Attachment 3.
iii


FOREWORD

Message from the Minister of Education, Government of the Republic of Namibia

In recent years we have developed a growing conviction and consensus that we must do
much more to improve the education of our young children. On the one hand, the scientific
community has been telling us how important these early years are for developing the
amazing capacities of our children, and for their health and happiness later in life. On the
other hand, the evidence has been mounting that not enough Namibian children are
participating in early childhood development programmes, and that poor levels of literacy and
numeracy are being achieved in the first few grades of primary education. We have all the
disquieting data from the Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for the Measurement of
Educational Quality (SACMEQ) and from our own National Standardised Achievement tests.
Because of these findings Government has introduced a new policy on Early Childhood
Development. Pre-school classes are being opened in our schools in a pro-poor sequence.
And the curriculum for the lower grades was revised.

But what about the teachers who are to provide the stimulation and guide the learning of our
young children? We realise now that most of the teachers who are deployed at this level of
the education system have not been adequately prepared for their demanding role, and
neither are they being provided with sufficient professional and material support.

This UNESCO Project, supported by Funds-in-Trust provided to UNESCO by the Peoples
Republic of China, therefore comes at a most opportune juncture. We enthusiastically
welcome this opportunity to improve the capacity of our teacher educators, especially those
at the University of Namibia who are concerned with early childhood and lower primary
education. We are also very glad that through this project we are collaborating with our
counterparts in eight other African countries. With the skilful facilitation of UNESCO we
expect to learn a great deal that will be to the benefit of Namibia and our Continent.

My thanks also go to the Namibian team who have produced this study in a short period of
time.


Hon Dr David Namwandi
Minister of Education


iv

CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................................... II
FOREWORD ..................................................................................................................... III
CONTENTS ....................................................................................................................... IV
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES ........................................................................................... V
ABBREVIATIONS .............................................................................................................. VI
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................... VII
INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 1
Background and rationale ................................................................................................................................. 1
Objectives .......................................................................................................................................................... 1
Scope ................................................................................................................................................................. 2
Methodology ..................................................................................................................................................... 2
1. ANALYSIS OF NATIONAL PRIORITIES FOR SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ........ 3
1.1 National Development Priorities ................................................................................................................. 3
1.2 Inequality ..................................................................................................................................................... 3
1.3 Some background on the Namibian education system............................................................................... 5
1.4 Education Priorities and Strategies ............................................................................................................. 7
2: CURRENT AND FUTURE TEACHER REQUIREMENTS ...................................................... 13
3: TEACHER WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT: RECRUITMENT, DEPLOYMENT, ABSENTEEISM
AND ATTRITION ........................................................................................................ 24
4: TEACHER MANAGEMENT: STATUS, PAY AND CAREER .................................................. 26
5: TEACHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING ......................................................................... 27
5.1 Policy ......................................................................................................................................................... 27
5.2 Provision .................................................................................................................................................... 28
5.3 In-Service Training ..................................................................................................................................... 31
5.4 ICTs in teacher education .......................................................................................................................... 33
6: FINDINGS .................................................................................................................... 35
7: RECOMMENDED PROJECT INTERVENTIONS ................................................................. 36
ANNEX 1: EMIS TABLE QUALIFICATIONS OF TEACHERS AND THE SUBJECTS THEY TAUGHT 37
ANNEX 2: TEACHER APPOINTMENT REQUIREMENTS, GRADES AND SALARIES ................. 41
ANNEX 3: LIST OF PERSONS CONSULTED ......................................................................... 44
ANNEX 4: REFERENCES.................................................................................................... 45
ANNEX 5: PERFORMANCE OF NAMIBIAN LEARNERS IN SACMEQ, SATS AND EGRA........... 47



v

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

TABLE 1: INDICATORS OF CHANGES IN POVERTY AND WEALTH IN NAMIBIA 1993 2010 ............... 4
TABLE 2: ENROLMENTS IN THE DIFFERENT SCHOOL PHASES IN EACH REGION 2012 ...................... 13
TABLE 3: CHANGES IN ENROLMENTS IN DIFFERENT GRADES BETWEEN 2006 AND 2012 ................ 14
TABLE 4: CHANGES IN ENROLMENT IN THE REGIONS BETWEEN 2006 AND 2012........................... 15
TABLE 5: NET AND GROSS ENROLMENT RATIOS 2011 .................................................................. 15
TABLE 6: PREDICTED SHORTFALL OF LOWER PRIMARY TEACHERS ................................................ 16
TABLE 7: PREDICTED SHORTFALL OF UPPER PRIMARY TEACHERS ................................................ 17
TABLE 8: PREDICTED SHORTFALL OF SECONDARY TEACHERS ...................................................... 17
TABLE 9: CHANGES IN THE NUMBERS OF TEACHERS AND THEIR PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS
BETWEEN 2006 AND 2012 .................................................................................................... 17
TABLE 10: NUMBERS OF TEACHERS PER REGION FROM 2006 TO 2012 ......................................... 18
TABLE 11: LEARNER:TEACHER RATIOS FROM 2006 TO 2012 ......................................................... 19
TABLE 12: AVERAGE CLASS SIZES IN THE DIFFERENT SCHOOL PHASES IN EACH REGION ................ 20
TABLE 13: AGES AND PROFESSIONAL AND ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS OF TEACHERS................. 21
TABLE 14: PROFESSIONAL AND ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS OF PRIMARY TEACHERS .................. 21
TABLE 15: PROFESSIONAL AND ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS OF SECONDARY TEACHERS ............. 22
TABLE 16: 2013 ENROLMENTS FOR THE BED AT UNAM, BY COURSE AND YEAR OF STUDY ............ 30

CHART 1: MAP SHOWING THE REGIONS AND TOWNS OF NAMIBIA ............................................... 4
CHART 2: SHOWING THE NUMBERS OF TEACHERS EMPLOYED BY YEAR AND THEIR
QUALIFICATIONS .................................................................................................................. 18
CHART 3: PRIMARY TEACHERS BY REGION AND QUALIFICATION ................................................. 22
CHART 4: 2013 ENROLMENTS FOR THE BED AT UNAM BY COURSE AND YEAR OF STUDY .............. 30


vi



ABBREVIATIONS

BETD Basic Education Teaching Diploma
CES Centre for External Studies at UNAM
CPD Continuous Professional Development
ECD Early Childhood Development
EFA Education for All
EGRA Early Grades Reading Assessment
ELP English Language Proficiency
ETSIP Education and Training Sector Improvement Programme
GRN Government of the Republic of Namibia
ICT Information and Communication Technology
NAMCOL Namibian College of Open Learning
NDP4 Fourth National Development Plan
NOLNet Namibia Open Learning Network
NHIES Namibia Household Income and Expenditure Survey
NIED National Institute for Educational Development
OVC Orphans and Vulnerable Children
PQA Programmes and Quality Assurance
PRC People's Republic of China
SACMEQ Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for the Measurement of Educational Quality
SAT Standardised Achievement Tests
TTI Teacher Training Institution
UNAM University of Namibia









vii


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This study is part of a UNESCO Project, funded by Chinese Funds-in-Trust, to improve
teacher education and training in selected African countries. South-south collaboration is
foreseen. The purpose of the study is to identify capacity development needs in Namibian
teacher education and training so that these can be addressed through a three to four year
project. The study was guided by a Namibian team and made use of previous studies,
analysis of Namibian education data, interviews and discussions.

Namibia is an arid but resource-rich country with a small population of 2.1 million people
living in a vast territory of 824 000 square kilometres. Annual economic growth of over 4%
per annum has made Namibia a middle-income country, and poverty has been reduced to
some extent, but unemployment has also grown; high levels of inequality are a threat to the
countrys social fabric. Since independence from South Africa in 1990 the country has
invested roughly 22% of its annual budget in education, but there is disappointment with
the results; learners are not achieving high levels of performance compared to neighbouring
countries, and a skills gap persists, constraining growth.

The recently announced Fourth National Development Plan gives priority to improving the
quality of Namibian education, particularly through improvement of early childhood
development services, expansion of senior secondary education and vocational training, and
improved quality of teacher education and training.

On the basis of a thorough analysis of the Namibian education system, including teacher
education and training, the following findings are reported:

One of the main challenges affecting the quality of education in Namibia is that
many learners in the first few grades of primary education are not achieving the
desired levels of literacy and numeracy, despite some recent encouraging
improvements. This affects the performance of learners higher up in the education
system, and perhaps for life.

Namibia has made significant strides in training most of its teachers. However, the
most under-qualified teachers are still to be found teaching the lower grades of
primary education. Insufficient numbers of teachers specializing in this phase of
education have been trained, and some of those trained have been deployed at
higher levels.

In general, Namibia is experiencing challenges in equitably managing teacher supply
and demand, and also in managing the recruitment and deployment of teachers. A
policy on teachers is lacking. There is no professional body for teachers. NIED has
inadequate capacity to support the development of lower primary education.

The demand for pre-school and lower primary education teachers is increasing. The
government is introducing pre-school classes in a phased, pro-poor sequence. Free
viii

primary education was introduced in 2013 and indications are that this will
significantly increase demand for pre-primary and lower primary education.

Namibia has good telecommunications infrastructure and some expertise in the use
of ICTs for education, including open and distance learning, e-learning, educational
broadcasting and blended learning. This opportunity has, however, not yet been
extensively used for teacher education and training.

There is therefore an urgent need to increase the number and skills of teachers
engaged in pre-school and lower primary education, using both pre-service and in-
service education and training. Some teacher-educators engaged at this level also
need support. ICTs should be used as appropriate to make this process as effective
and economical as possible.

It is therefore recommended that UNESCO should work with the Ministry of Education, the
University of Namibia (UNAM), and other stakeholders to develop a project, the strategic
objective of which would be to improve the quality of pre-school and lower primary
education through enhanced teacher education and training.

The following are proposed as the objectives of this project:

1. A comprehensive policy on teachers is in place by the end of 2014.
2. The Ministry of Education (including the Directorate of Planning and Development,
the National Institute for Educational Development (NIED), and Regional Education
Offices) have improved systems to manage the supply and demand, recruitment
and deployment of teachers.
3. The capacity of NIED and the Regional Education Offices to support teachers in the
lower primary phase has been increased by the end of 2014.
4. The Ministry of Education and UNAM have instituted measures to ensure that an
increased and adequate number of students are enrolled for the B Ed (early
childhood and lower primary) course in 2014 2016.
5. The Department of Early Childhood and Lower Primary Education at UNAM has
carried out participatory action research at selected schools around the country
(including small schools) to accurately describe and analyse teaching practices and
circumstances concerning the acquisition of literacy and numeracy by the end of
2014.
6. Lecturers and students of the Department of Early Childhood and Lower Primary
Education have collaborated with teachers in selected schools to produce learning
materials/resources that can be easily reproduced and used in the acquisition of
literacy and numeracy skills in Namibian languages in these schools and beyond. A
range of ICTS have been used in the process and participants have improved their
skills in using ICTS to produce such materials.
7. Lecturers of the Department of Early Childhood and Lower Primary Education have
produced relevant, short, interactive e-learning courses for use in continuous
professional development of serving lower primary teachers. Such courses are
accessible from a suitable Namibian platform (or platforms), and some teachers in
selected schools have been able to access them and give feedback on the courses.
ix

8. A sustainable virtual forum of Namibian lower primary teachers and lecturers has
been established by the end of 2014. The forum is facilitated by staff members of
UNAM, NIED and regional offices of the Ministry of Education, who have been
trained for the purpose. At least one thousand members participate in the forum.
The forum makes use of group mailing lists, a dedicated website, and (bulk) SMS
systems to engender communication.
9. All activities of the project are professionally documented and archived. There is
regular monitoring and evaluation. Adjustments are made to ensure the
effectiveness and efficiency of the project.

Needs Assessment Report (Namibia)
1


INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE
Educational quality hinges, most fundamentally, on student access to professional teachers.
While it is widely known that educational access, quality and equity depend on teachers, the
world is facing an acute shortage of qualified teachers. This shortage represents one of the
biggest challenges to achieving the Education for All (EFA) targets. According to the latest
UNESCO Institute for Statistics projections on demand for primary teachers to reach
universal primary education by 2015, nearly four thousands (3 882) new primary teachers
need to be recruited in Namibia which is approximately 30% of the 2010 teaching force.
1

According to UNESCOs experience, addressing the shortage of qualified teachers requires a
multi-pronged approach whereas teacher education institutions play a critical role in
preparing teachers through both pre-service and in-service training. A number of studies
suggest that the capacity challenges in many developing countries relate mostly to
institutional and organizational issues.

The current project, prepared within the framework of UNESCOs South-South cooperation
and drawing on a Funds-in-Trust contribution by the Peoples Republic of China (PRC), will
address the capacity development needs of Namibia in relation to teachers education and
professional development. The project will focus on enhancing the capacities of teacher
education institutions to prepare an adequate number of qualified teachers to achieve EFA.
It will address capacity development in the following four areas, namely capacities
embedded in: (i) relevant institutions; (ii) organizational structures of line ministries and key
teacher education and training institutions; (iii) staff skills and competencies; and (iv)
capacities as a supporting resource, such as the knowledge base. The time frame for
implementation is 4 years.

OBJECTIVES
The objective of this report is to identify needs and areas of appropriate interventions to
design project activities and country work plans in Namibia. Findings and recommendations
of this report will be further complemented and validated by expert reviews of the key
interventions areas. The report shall:

provide a focused assessment of the education system particularly on teacher
education and teacher training institutions, which will be a reference for further
project development including an action plan;
provide a collaborative framework among UNESCO Head Quarters, Field Offices,
national governments and country project teams for effective and efficient
implementation of the project activities in Namibia;
Strengthen national capacity and accompany the national authorities through the
process of analysing the past, current and emerging issues and challenges as well as
opportunities for the provision of qualified teachers to meet EFA goals and beyond;
and

1
UNESCO Institute for Statistics. (2012). The global demand for primary teachers 2012 update. UIS Information Bulletin
No 10.
2

Identify the opportunity of collaboration with other developmental partners and
private sector to create synergy in implementing the suggested project action plan.

SCOPE
There is a wide-range of policy domains and issues to be addressed and assessed for teacher
challenges within the context of holistic educational development. Within such broad
context, this study mainly sought to identify and assess the issues relevant to the project
objectives especially in strengthening institutional capacity of the TTIs of Namibia with the
aim to provide sufficient qualified teachers in effective and efficient ways to meet EFA and
national education development goals.

METHODOLOGY
The needs assessment intends to identify and propose possible areas of intervention where
the project can provide significant added-value by improving the quality of teacher
education in Namibia while fully exploiting information and findings from previous works.
The assessment will focus on the areas where the project proposes to contribute as per the
objectives. They are:
improving the capacity of existing key teacher education institutions to provide
quality pre-service programmes that increase the supply of qualified teachers
particularly through ICT-supported distance training programmes;
strengthening the capacity of key teacher education/training institutions in
supporting in-service teachers continuous professional development, particularly
through blended learning modalities and programmes scaling up successful ICT-
support innovations in this domain;
enhancing the capacity of key teacher education/training institutions to equip
teacher trainers and teachers with the competency of using ICT to improve the
quality of teaching and learning;
supporting networks of teacher education/training institutions for knowledge
sharing among policy makers, institutional leaders and other stakeholders on
effective strategies and practices.

Under the guidance of the Minister of Education, the study was guided by a national team
composed of relevant officials from the concerned departments and institutions from the
Ministry of Education in particular the Teacher Training Institutions (TTIs) and UNESCO, with
the support of a local expert.

The following methods were used to gather the information for the assessment:
Desk reviews study a review of studies, policies and other documents relating to
teacher education, deployment and management.
Quantitative data collection data on the Namibian education system, mostly from
the EMIS, the Directorate of National Examinations and UNAM, was gathered and
analysed.
Interviews and group discussions These were conducted as appropriate with key
informants including policy makers, institutional heads, relevant technical staff and
some student teachers. (See attachment 3.)


3


1. ANALYSIS OF NATIONAL PRIORITIES FOR SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT

1.1 NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PRIORITIES
Namibia is often referred to as a land of contrasts. The phrase Contrasting beautiful
Namibia is even found in the national anthem that has been sung since independence from
South Africa in 1990.

Contrast is to be found in the people, who are of diverse cultures, languages and colours.
Namibias small population of 2 104 900
2
is however spread over a vast territory of 824 000
square kilometres, with about half the population living in the northern part of the country
where rainfall makes crop production feasible in good years. The country also has a long
Atlantic coastline, and shares borders with South Africa, Botswana, Zambia and Angola.
Contrast is also to be found in the geography of the country. Namibia can be described as
an arid country, with three different desert systems found within its borders.

The name of the country, of course, comes from the western Namib Desert, but there is also
the Kalahari in the east and the Karoo in the south. Nevertheless, there is enough rain and
vegetation, more particularly in the central and northern areas, to support extensive
livestock production. In the extreme northern areas seasonal rainfall is usually high enough
for rain-fed crops, and there is a further influx of water through drainage systems
originating in Angola. The northern parts of the country experience recurrent floods. With
global warming, it is expected that Namibia will continue to suffer from extreme weather
conditions.

1.2 INEQUALITY
Even though classified by the World Bank in 2010 as an upper middle income country, with a
per capita gross national income of US$6 420,
3
Namibia still has extreme inequality to
contend with. The most recent calculation of the Gini coefficient for Namibia is 0.5971,
according to the 2009/10 National Household Income and Expenditure Survey (NHIES).
4


While slightly down on the 2003/4 figure of 0.6, and 0.7 in 1993/4, this coefficient remains
one of the highest in the world. Similar rates are, however, to be found in several southern
African countries. It appears that there has been some progress in reducing poverty in
Namibia in recent years, but the rate of change has been slow. Based on the NHIES data, 20
percent of households were poor and 10 percent severely poor in 2009/10, compared to 37
percent poor and 9 percent severely poor in 1993/4.







2
According to the 2011 population census
3
www.worldbank.org
4
Namibia Statistics Agency. (2012). Namibia Household Income and Expenditure Survey (NHIES)
2009/2010
4

Chart 1: Map Showing the Regions and Towns of Namibia







Table 1: Indicators of changes in poverty and wealth in Namibia 1993 2010
Indicator 1993/4 2003/4 2009/10
Total GDP US$ million 3 945 5 763 7 357
Poorest 20% per capita income (US$) 167 413 1 012
Second poorest 20% per capita income (US$) 359 783 1 508
Middle 20% per capita income (US$) 646 1 242 2 023
Second-richest 20% per capita income (US$) 1 347 2 299 3 329
Richest 20% per capita income (US$) 9 396 10 411 10 557
Source: NHIES and NDP4, 2012.

The Fourth National Development Plan (NDP4) 2012/13 2016/17 promises a fresh
approach to Namibian development, recognising that while Namibias economy has grown
by 3.6 percent annually over the past five years, this has been accompanied by growing
unemployment. In pursuit of Vision 2030, that foresees Namibia becoming an industrialised
country, there will therefore be a shift to growth and employment creation through
5

enhanced services, manufacturing, and agriculture. Among the enablers specified in the
new plan are education, health, and poverty reduction.

NDP4 points to two overarching challenges in education: quality throughout the system, and
the mismatch between the demand for and the supply of skills. The beginning of the lack of
quality in the education system is traced to poor provision of early childhood development
services, including the shortage of qualified teachers at this level. The number of learners
leaving school with a good grade 12 qualification is also seen as a problem, requiring a
further expansion of places at this level and an upgrading of achievement in junior
secondary schools. NDP4 further provides for an increase in the quality and number of
vocational training and skills centres, and for increased investment in research and
development. One of the main strategies foreseen to improve the quality of education is
stringent standards for teachers, and their enforcement. Career paths for teachers, and
incentives for their retention should be instituted. Entry requirements for teacher training
should be raised.

1.3 SOME BACKGROUND ON THE NAMIBIAN EDUCATION SYSTEM
The political and educational history of Namibia has made education a national
preoccupation.
5
Education policy has been intertwined with colonial rule, first by Germany
from 1885 to 1915, and then by South Africa, until independence in 1990. Since both
colonial powers sought to limit the education of the indigenous black population, the
striving for education became part of the national liberation struggle, going back to the
beginning of the 20
th
Century when Missions were the main providers of education. (African
cultures, of course, include traditional forms of education, some of which still exist today,
but these are not the subject of this article, for want of space.)

The independence constitution of 1990, in article 20, guarantees the right to education,
compulsory and free primary education, and the right to establish private schools at own
cost. This has been reinforced through legislation, notably the Education Act of 2001, and
other Acts dealing with open and distance learning, higher education and vocational
education and training. Government expenditure on education has varied between 20 and
25 per cent of the national budget since independence.
The goals of the Namibian education system were defined in the influential 1993 policy
document Toward Education for All as access, equity, quality, democracy, and using
resources well.

Namibia has a ten-level National Qualifications Framework administered by the Namibia
Qualifications Authority. The national system for schools covers twelve years. Children must
be six years old in the year before starting grade 1. The school year is from January to
December and the three terms provide for 195 - 200 school days.

The Lower Primary Phase consists of grades 1 4, Upper Primary grades 5 7, Junior
Secondary grades 8 10 and Senior Secondary grades 11 and 12. In the first three years of
schooling twelve local languages are the medium of instruction. English, the official

5
This section is largely derived from Ellis, J. (2010). The National Education System: Namibia. Chapter in Baker, E., Peterson
P. and McGaw, B. International Encyclopedia of Education 3
rd
Edition. Oxford: Elsevier.
6

language, is a subject from grade one and becomes the medium of instruction from grade 4
onwards.

Soon after independence Namibia decided to jettison the South African curriculum. The
University of Cambridge provided the school leaving examination at grade 12. By 2006 this
had been localized, with Cambridge still certifying the standard. A national examination is
also conducted at Junior Secondary (grade 10) level. About forty-five percent of grade 10
learners in the formal school system cannot currently be accommodated in grade 11 classes.
However, the Namibian College of Open Leaning caters for most of those wishing to
improve their grade 10 symbols in some subjects (and thus gain re-admission to the formal
stream) or pursue grade 12 subject examinations.

Grade 10 also provides the usual entry point for vocational education, which is now being
re-organised with heavy involvement of the private sector, around occupations and
competencies. A training levy will be introduced in 2013. Access to vocational education
without grade 10 is also possible through a system of Community Skills Development
Centres (COSDECs). (Pre-vocational subjects are part of the school curriculum. However,
from 2006 onwards, specialised technical training was taken out of the curriculum and
replaced by generic subjects such as entrepreneurship and design and technology. In 2013
it was announced that some vocational subjects will be re-introduced.)
In 2008 the Government established a one-year pre-primary year in schools, starting in
disadvantaged communities. The 2011 Census found that only 13.3% (13.8% female) of
children aged 0 4 were attending ECD Centres.
6


At tertiary level Namibia has the University of Namibia, the Polytechnic of Namibia and the
private International University of Management. Many students also study at a distance,
particularly with the University of South Africa (UNISA). Namibia probably has about 30 000
students at tertiary level.

The total number of learners in formal schools (pre-primary and grades 1 12) was 615 971
in 2012, of whom 50.3 % were female.
7
In the same year there were 24 660 teachers, of
whom 62.9% were female. There were 1 703 school schools, of which 112 were private.
Due to sparse population pattern, Namibia has many small schools of less than 100 learners.
The average repetition rate in 2012 was 16%, a longstanding and controversial problem in
Namibia. In 2011, the survival rate for learners to grade 4 (end of lower primary phase) was
96.3% (94.8% female), to grade 7 (end of primary phase) 88.5% (88.8% female), grade 10
(end of junior secondary phase) 65.9% (66.8% female) and grade 12 (end of senior
secondary phase) 39.7% (40% female).

One of the main changes in education since independence has been the attention paid to
teacher education. In 1993 (three years after independence) only 12.6% (13.8% for females)
of teachers were qualified to teach at primary level, and 40.7% (47% for females) were
qualified to teach at secondary level. Overall the percentage of qualified primary teachers
grew to 41.1% in 2001 and to 77.8% (76.7% female) in 2012, while at secondary level it grew
to 73.2% in 2001 and to 93.2% (93.2% female) in 2012. The increase in qualified teachers is

6
Namibia Statistics Agency. (2012). Namibia 2011 population and housing census basic report.
7
Data in this section from Ministry of Education. (2012). EMIS 2012.
7

therefore due to both pre-service and in-service training programmes. The current
minimum requirement for appointment as a teacher is the Basic Education Teachers
Diploma (BETD), a three-year qualification (or equivalent.) Teachers at senior secondary
schools should have a four-year Bachlor degree in education. As from 2010 all teachers are
being trained through a four-year Bachelor degree.

At independence Namibia inherited a number of separate and unequal education
departments, for whites, coloureds (or people of mixed race) and various African ethnic
groups, each with its own structures and even different curricula. The incoming
government rapidly established one integrated system. Drawing on its experience of setting
up schools in exile, the SWAPO government changed secondary education first. The
National Institute for Educational Development (NIED) was created to work on curricula. At
first seven regional education offices were established, and these were later increased to
thirteen in accordance with the administrative regions that were determined for the
country in the meantime. In 2008 the education system began a move to decentralized
administration with most functions, staff and funds being decentralized to the regional
councils. The Head Office (in general terms) remains responsible for policy, curricula,
standards, and monitoring and evaluation. At sub-regional level Namibian schools are
organized into inspection circuits of about thirty schools, and at the next level clusters of 5
8 schools.

A national inspectorate administers the National Standards for Schools. These standards
(introduced in 2005) have indicators which have been described in some detail and four
levels determined for each. Each school does an internal self-evaluation each year, and the
national inspectorate arranges for a limited number of schools (about thirty at present) to
be evaluated and rated by a national evaluation team. A schools evaluation in terms of the
national standards should result in the drafting a strategic plan for the development of the
whole school. A subject advisory service provides support for lower primary education and
for the various subjects. Its deployment is complicated by the large number of subjects on
the curriculum and limited human resources. In a country the size of Namibia,
communication and transport are a constant headache, not to say expense.

A major structural reform is currently being contemplated for schools in Namibia. It is
proposed that the current structure of three years junior secondary education and two
years senior secondary education be replaced. In the new system there will no longer be a
national examination at grade 10 (which is associated with the loss of many learners from
the system.) Instead learners would sit the National Senior Secondary Certificate Ordinary
Level at grade 11 (currently this examination is written at both Ordinary and Higher levels at
grade 12) while those wishing to study in South Africa or elsewhere abroad would continue
to do the National Senior Secondary Certificate Higher Level in grade 12. The debate on this
proposal and its many implications has not been concluded at the time of writing.

1.4 EDUCATION PRIORITIES AND STRATEGIES
The Ministry of Education is currently formulating a medium-term strategic plan in
accordance with NDP4 and the requirements of the Office of the Prime Minister for
performance management.

8

Free primary education was introduced in January 2013. This major change is expected to
increase access to primary education and further to improve retention. The NHIES of
2009/2010 suggested that over 11% of children aged 6 13 (some 43 000 children by 2012)
have never been to school.
8
Similarly, the 2011 National Census found that 87% (88.1%
female) of children aged 7-13 were enrolled in schools, implying that 43 639 children (20
037female) aged 7 -13 were not in school.
9


A significant national education conference took place in June/July 2011. The conference
was attended by over one thousand delegates against a background of disappointment in
the results of the education system despite massive investments of some 22 per cent of
national budgets since independence.
10
The conference covered a wide spectrum of issues
and has not yet been fully reported on. However, at a press conference on 31 August 2011,
the late Minister of Education, Dr Abraham Iyambo announced certain decisions that had
been taken by Cabinet on the basis of the report that had been presented.
11
Among the
decisions announced, the following are of relevance to the current study:
Improved accountability of education leaders, including performance agreements
Disciplinary measures to address indiscipline by teachers and limit teacher
absenteeism
System-wide in-service training for teachers, linked to more detailed career paths for
teachers
Greater allocations within the education budget to learning materials and capital
expenditure, including construction of teachers housing to attract teachers to rural
areas
Expansion of pre-school classes and early childhood development
Training of school principals in management skills
Introduction of free primary education
Revisit the language policy to ensure that the Namibian child optimally benefits from
its provisions regarding the medium of instruction especially in the lower primary
phase
Improve pre-service and in-service training of teachers in national languages
Review and strengthen the teaching of English from grade 1 onwards by providing in-
service training to teachers and fully implementing the English Language Proficiency
Programme
12

Ensure that each learner achieves Minimum Levels of Learning Achievement before
being promoted to the next grade

8
Ellis, J and Du Vivier, E. (2012). Free Primary Education in Namibia. UNESCO. When the 2011 Census results are released,
probably in April 2013, it will be possible to provide more accurate data.
9
Namibia Statistics Agency. (2012). Namibia 2011: population & housing census basic report.
10
Probably the most influential factor in discontent about the performance of the Namibian education system has been
the results of the periodic testing of grade 6 learners done through the Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for the
Measurement of Educational Quality (SACMEQ). These have shown that Namibia does not perform well in comparison
to fifteen of its neighbours in reading comprehension and mathematics. Further details are given in section 2 of this
paper and attachment 5. Youth unemployment is another major factor affecting public concern about the results of
education (although education is not the only factor determining the labour market.)
11
Ministry of Education. (2011). Press Release by the Minister of Education, Honourable Dr Abraham Iyambo, on the
Decisions by Cabinet on the outcome of the National Conference on Education, 31 August 2011, Windhoek.
12
In terms of the English Language Proficiency Programme all teachers were tested and their level of English assessed in
terms of three grades. Distance Education courses are currently being prepared for teachers on the lower two grades.
9

Provide support to repeaters and learners who have not acquired the necessary skills
and competencies and develop strategies to be announced at a later stage
Strengthen teacher training and development in relation to primary and secondary
education
Provide more in-service teacher education and more teaching and learning materials
for mathematics, science, technology lower primary and languages (English and
Namibian languages)
Assess and review national curricula more regularly than the current 7-year cycle to
cater for emerging needs and ensure the curriculum remains relevant to the
challenges Namibia and the learner face
Continue funding the roll-out of computers to schools and make the use of ICT in
classrooms more flexible by deploying mobile computer labs rather than having one
room that is used as a fixed computing resource
Make the measurement of learning an integral part of school accountability.

Following a Presidential Commission of Enquiry into Education, Culture and Training in
1999,
13
and a study of the Namibian Education System by the World Bank,
14
the
Government of the Republic of Namibia (GRN) in 2005 adopted a fifteen-year sector-wide
strategic plan for education known as the Education and Training Sector Improvement
Programme (ETSIP).
15
The fifteen-year plan notes that, notwithstanding certain
achievements since 1990, and despite the high levels of investment, the education and
training system has not managed to produce the required threshold of adequately educated
and skilled human resources required for the economy. Key weaknesses of the system
pertain to poor quality and ineffectiveness which translates into low learning outcomes as
manifested in high failure rates and low productivity; high levels of wastage in terms of
school dropouts; repetition; and low throughput. Inequalities also persist in terms of
resource inputs and learning outcomes and their consequent inequality of employment
opportunities and earning power. Critical policy choices made in terms of the fifteen year
ETSIP strategic plan include:
16

Update the policy, legal and institutional framework for the provision of ECD and
pre-primary education
Effectively implement school staffing norms,
17
so as to redirect resources
Improve provision and distribution of textbooks
Rebalance the budget so that less is spent on salaries and more on goods and
services
Learning should be regularly and reliably assessed at grades 5, 7, 10 and 12
Implement per capita funding
Implement regional quotas for admission to grade 11
Revise teacher salary structures
Introduce teacher licensing

13
Ministry of Education. (2000). Report of the Presidential Commission on Education, Culture and Training, Towards a
Learning Nation, Meeting the Challenge of Change.
14
Marope, M T. (2005). Namibia Human Capital and Knowledge Development for Economic Growth with Equity. World
Bank.
15
Ministry of Education. (2005). The Strategic Plan for the Education and Training Sector Improvement Programme
(ETSIP): 2005 2020: Planning for a Learning Nation.
16
Summarised from the original
17
This should be interpreted as an increase in the learner-teacher ratio.
10

Introduce performance contracts for managers in the education sector
Introduce efficiency bars at institutions of higher learning
Introduce formula-based funding of higher education institutions
Develop a knowledge and innovation System

Accordingly the Ministry of Education developed an implementation plan for the first phase
of ETSIP implementation (subsequently extended) from 2006 2012.
18
The focus of the first
phase was strengthening of the immediate supply of middle to high level skilled labour to
meet labour market demands and support overall national development goals. The
intention was further that a pro-poor expansion of the skill base will also contribute to the
reduction of capability poverty, income poverty, and social inequalities. This would entail
expansion of opportunities for secondary education, vocational education and access to
tertiary education, while also strengthening the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of the
general education and training system. Accordingly nine programmes were developed to
cover the sector from early childhood development to tertiary education. ETSIP attracted
substantial support not just from the Namibian Government and Namibian institutions, but
also from the European Union and the United States Millennium Challenge Corporation.
Part of the first phase of ETSIP, that was implemented, was to reform teacher education. As
a first step, National Professional Standards for Teachers were introduced.
19


In 2008 a consultancy by Crebbin and others provided guidelines for teacher education
reform.
20
The report acknowledged public concern about the high numbers of learners who
do not progress beyond grade 10 because of both poor performance and lack of available
school places. The consultancy also found strong criticism that learners in both the upper
primary and junior secondary phases had poor skills in numeracy and literacy. Such
problems in schooling had led to strong criticism of teachers and the training of teachers.
The study considered the management of teacher education institutions, the effectiveness
of teacher educators, and curricula for teacher education.

The major recommendation of the consultancy was that the four teacher education
colleges, which had previously been administered by the Ministry of Education, should be
merged with the University of Namibia (UNAM), and should concentrate on training
teachers for primary education. (The Basic Education Teacher Diploma offered by the
Colleges allowed for students to choose between lower primary, upper primary and junior
secondary phases, while senior secondary teachers were trained at bachelor degree level at
UNAM.) It was hoped that improved management, funding, qualifications of teacher-
educators, and quality assurance could thus be achieved. Based on the concerns already
mentioned, and the national standards for teachers, a number of recommendations were
made for reform of teacher education curricula, especially in relation to lower primary
education and preschool education.
21
Measures were also proposed to ensure that

18
Following derived from the ETSIP project document, available in sections from www.etsip.na. The highly complex design
is difficult to summarise with due justice given the limited scope of this study.
19
Ministry of Education. (2006). National Professional Standards for Teachers in Namibia. Namibia Qualifications Authority
20
Crebbin, W, Villet, C, Keyter, C, Engelbrecht, F and van der Mescht, H. 2008. Consultancy to Develop Guidelines on
Teacher Education Reform. Advisory Council on Teacher Education and Training.
21 A good explanation for the design of the BETD curriculum, and the tensions generated by its focus on the modelling of a
learner-centred approach is to be found in Storeng, M. (2001). Giving learners a chance: Learner-Centredness in the
reform of Namibian Teaching. Institute of International Education, Stockholm University.
11

teaches, especially at the secondary level, had both content knowledge and pedagogical
skills. The entry standard for teacher trainees should be raised, if need be through a
foundation programme, and attention should be given to the quality of assessment of
teacher trainees.

A second consultancy in 2008, by Bennell and others, focused on teacher supply and
demand.
22
The study looked into access and enrolments, teacher supply, teacher utilization
and deployment, and future teacher requirements. The study found that 3-4% of children
had never attended school and one-third of children enrolling in grade 1 dropped out before
grade 10. The reasons for much lower enrolment and completion rates among boys should
be clearly identified and addressed. Enrolment rates for orphans and vulnerable children
were roughly the same as those for non-disadvantaged children.
23
It was noted that no
systematic human resource planning was undertaken by MoE in order to establish annual
student intake targets for the main areas of specialization at the Colleges of Education and
the Faculty of Education at UNAM. It was found that in the previous decade one-half of
students at the Colleges of Education had opted for a junior secondary subject as their
major area of specialization and one-third for upper primary subject area, while barely one
in six students had trained as class teachers for the lower primary phase. At the Colleges of
Education two-thirds of lecturers had a university degree of one kind or another, but barely
one in five had a post-graduate training qualification. The Faculty of Education had 32
lecturers in post, 14 of whom had doctorates. The report also found that teacher pay in
Namibia was inadequate both in absolute terms and in relation to other equivalent
occupations in the private sector. However, given acute fiscal constraints, large, across the
board pay increases for teachers were simply not feasible, at least for the foreseeable
future. There was, however, scope for some improvements in grade and pay structures.

Alarmingly, a tracer survey carried out as part of the study found that only three percent of
BETD graduates were employed at lower primary schools and only one-third in two-phase
primary schools. It was recommended that Namibia should move quickly towards an all-
graduate teaching profession, i e that all teachers should have a four-year degree. Based on
an examination of various scenarios it was found that it would not be possible to increase
learner-teacher ratios (as proposed in ETSIP) without doing damage to learning outcomes.
Current staffing levels were therefore retained for the projections made. It was thus project
that the cumulative annual recruitment demand would be for 14 060 teachers between
2008 and 2020 (assuming also that 2 500 unqualified teachers would be replaced.) The
2008 output of 125 teachers for lower primary would have to increase four or five fold,
while the provision of teachers for upper primary could remain at the same levels as in
2008. Annual intakes for junior secondary schooling would have to be adjusted sharply
downwards (from around 400 to 250-300) whereas intakes of trainees for senior secondary
schooling would need to increase from around 150 to 240 students.

Following these two studies, the government decided to merge the Colleges of Education
with UNAM, which was accomplished by 2010. A new curriculum for a four-year B Ed was
also devised and introduced for all teachers, striving for a better balance between subject

22
Bennell, P and Sayed, Y, with Hailombe, O. (2008). Teacher Supply and Demand for Primary and Secondary Schooling in
Namibia.
23
It seems that this is at least partly because of government grants made to OVC.
12

knowledge and teaching skills.
24
The provision of full scholarships for teachers (and the
public announcement of this concession) led to a more qualified intake of student teachers
in 2013.



24
Obtainable from the Faculty of Education at the University of Namibia. Whether the optimum balance between content
and methods has been achieved is still a matter of debate as was apparent when the matter was discussed with teacher
educators at the Khomasdal campus of UNAM.
13

2: CURRENT AND FUTURE TEACHER REQUIREMENTS

The conventional division between primary and secondary education cannot be properly
made in Namibia as the country has a system of combined schools, according to which
certain schools include both primary and secondary phases. In 2012, Namibia had 498
combined schools out of a total of 1 723 schools.
25
No distinction is made here between
state and private schools. Of the 617 827 learners in Namibian schools, 37 339 were in
private schools in 2012.
26

In 2012 there were 617 827 learners in the Namibian school system, 17 572 at pre-primary
level, 415 454 at primary level and 182 945 at secondary level, as shown in table 3 below.

Table 2: Enrolments in the different school phases in each region 2012
Region Pre-
Primary
Primary Secondary
Total Pre-
Primary
Subtotal
Primary
Lower
Primary
Upper
Primary
Subtotal
Secondary
Junior
Secondary
Senior
Secondary
Other
National 617
827
17 572 415 454 245
060
170
394
182 945 143 189 39 756 1 856
Region
Caprivi 29 808 1 154 19 361 11 276 8 085 9 281 6 971 2 310 12
Erongo 32 114 932 21 256 12 648 8 608 9 796 7 521 2 275 130
Hardap 21 886 1 050 14 765 8 769 5 996 5 803 4 711 1 092 268
Karas 20 110 931 13 465 7 786 5 679 5 668 4 540 1 128 46
Kavango 77 314 1 931 57 575 36 939 20 636 17 647 14 572 3 075 161
Khomas 73 302 2 055 46 566 27 207 19 359 23 850 17 414 6 436 831
Kunene 20 332 902 15 175 10 057 5 118 4 192 3 539 653 63
Ohangwena 90 703 1 562 61 474 34 648 26 826 27 667 22 645 5 022 -
Omaheke 18 365 927 13 595 8 695 4 900 3 806 3 238 568 37
Omusati 86 430 1 584 56 077 31 632 24 445 28 628 22 465 6 163 141
Oshana 50 740 1 569 30 862 16 811 14 051 18 287 13 134 5 153 22
Oshikoto 60 439 1 624 39 570 22 695 16 875 19 229 14 871 4 358 16
Otjozondjupa 36 284 1 351 25 713 15 897 9 816 9 091 7 568 1 523 129
Source: EMIS 2012, table 7

The average annual growth rate in the enrolments in the various grades was 1.7% for the
seven years 2006 2012, as shown in table 4 below. Pre-primary education was re-
introduced in 2008 and is being expanded in phases. It is significant that expansion in the
primary grades (grades 1 7) has been very slow (at an average of 0.5%) whereas the
expansion of secondary education (grades 8 -12) has been at a much higher rate (an average
of 3.16%). It is presumed that the near-stagnation in primary enrolments was partly as a
result of school fees, and the distances that schools are from where people live. With
primary school fees having been abolished in 2013 it is to be expected that primary
enrolments will expand, perhaps by 5% initially. As previously noted, it was a policy in the
first phase of ETSIP implementation to expand secondary education.


25
Ministry of Education. (2013). EMIS 2012, table 2
26
Ditto, table 13. It should be noted that most private schools are subsidised by the state. There is insufficient space here
to go into the complexities of private schools.
14

Table 3: Changes in enrolments in different grades between 2006 and 2012
Grade Year
Average
annual
growth rate
2006 - 2012
Percentage
change
2011 - 2012
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Total 557 873 570 623 577 290 585 471 591 356 605 627 617 827 1.7% 2.0%
Pre Primary 1 080 1 172 3 756 6 141 8 475 13 459 17 572 59.2% 30.6%
Grade 1 65 993 68 861 66 819 65 276 65 386 67 071 71 074 1.2% 6.0%
Grade 2 58 059 58 910 60 256 59 343 58 175 58 397 60 086 0.6% 2.9%
Grade 3 55 469 57 148 57 130 58 236 58 160 56 230 56 693 0.4% 0.8%
Grade 4 58 252 56 697 56 536 56 784 57 508 58 364 57 207 -0.3% -2.0%
Grade 5 62 411 64 552 63 240 62 768 62 975 62 755 63 987 0.4% 2.0%
Grade 6 51 608 51 932 53 877 53 307 54 677 55 533 55 422 1.2% -0.2%
Grade 7 50 737 51 408 49 588 51 206 49 654 50 454 50 985 0.1% 1.1%
Grade 8 49 019 50 575 52 304 53 105 55 917 60 596 62 545 4.1% 3.2%
Grade 9 40 673 41 582 41 514 42 126 43 381 44 241 46 389 2.2% 4.9%
Grade 10 31 385 32 291 36 660 36 220 33 959 36 194 34 255 1.5% -5.4%
Grade 11 17 226 16 977 17 376 20 690 21 054 20 057 20 674 3.1% 3.1%
Grade 12 14 334 16 737 16 025 17 249 19 949 20 319 19 082 4.9% -6.1%
Grade 13 31 22 12 41 9 10 19 -7.8% 90.0%
Special Cl. 833 860 1 049 1 059 1 052 1 027 1 155 5.6% 12.5%
Vocational 34 55 77 38 42 53 34 - -35.8%
Special Grades 651 677 888 1 391 749 743 515 -3.8% -30.7%
Handicapped 78 167 183 491 234 124 133 9.3% 7.3%
Source: EMIS 2012, table 20

The changes in enrolments in the Regions of the country are shown in table 3 below. The
Erongo Region is perhaps experiencing high growth in enrolments due to the economic
growth being experienced in this region and the good performance of its schools. Other
Regions with high growth include those with low levels of literacy.
27

The 2011 national census shows that Namibia grew by 1.4 percent per annum in the ten
years since the census of 2001.
28




27
Literacy rates in Kavango 80.9%, Kunene 67.8%, Omaheke 68.7%, compared to the national rate of 87.7%, according to
the National Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2009/10.
28
Namibia Statistics Agency. (2012). Namibia 2011 population and housing census basic report.
15

Table 4: Changes in enrolment in the regions between 2006 and 2012
Region Year
Average
annual
growth
rate 2006 -
2012
Percentage
change 2011 -
2012
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
National 557 873 570 623 577 290 585 471 591 356 605 627 617 827 1.7%
2.0%
Regions
Caprivi 25 759 26 277 26 850 27 610 28 141 28 974 29 808 2.5% 2.9%
Erongo 24 754 26 131 27 154 28 312 29 259 30 643 32 114 4.4% 4.8%
Hardap 20 032 19 973 20 470 20 654 20 985 21 560 21 886 1.5% 1.5%
Head Office 1 470 1 524 1 576 - - - - - -
Karas 18 241 18 450 18 595 18 430 18 907 19 614 20 110 1.6% 2.5%
Kavango 67 538 69 534 69 689 70 567 71 422 73 033 77 314 2.3% 5.9%
Khomas 59 876 62 613 63 701 67 780 68 678 71 899 73 302 3.4% 2.0%
Kunene 15 002 16 491 16 774 17 749 18 684 19 250 20 332 5.2% 5.6%
Ohangwena 85 208 86 475 87 898 88 073 88 304 90 379 90 703 1.0% 0.4%
Omaheke 14 448 14 541 14 661 15 582 16 138 16 986 18 365 4.1% 8.1%
Omusati 87 497 87 030 87 221 86 679 86 400 86 635 86 430 -0.2% -0.2%
Oshana 52 282 52 880 52 077 52 308 51 586 51 326 50 740 -0.5% -1.1%
Oshikoto 55 263 57 035 57 402 58 410 58 674 59 677 60 439 1.5% 1.3%
Otjozondjupa 30 503 31 669 33 222 33 317 34 178 35 651 36 284 2.9% 1.8%

According to EMIS 2011 data, Namibia had gross enrolment ratios of over 100% for school-
aged children, and a net enrolment ratio of near to 100% for primary education, as shown in
table 6 below. These data, however, were based on population projections from the 2011
census. The NHIES survey, as previously mentioned, cast doubt on these projections and
ratios. Calculations of the GER and NER have not yet been made in respect of the 2012
school data.

Table 5: Net and Gross Enrolment Ratios 2011
Age
group
7 - 13 7 - 16 7 - 18 14 - 18
Grades Gd 1 - 7 Gd 1 - 10 Gd 1 - 12 Gd 8 - 12
Net Enrolment Ratio Total 99.8% 97.6% 94.2% 57.1%
Female 101.3% 99.4% 95.7% 62.8%
Males 98.4% 95.8% 92.8% 51.3%
Gross Enrolment Ratio Total 124.4% 115.6% 103.0% 74.1%
Female 122.5% 115.9% 103.6% 78.4%
Males 126.3% 115.3% 102.3% 69.8%
Source: EMIS 2012, table 28

At the present time, therefore, projection of enrolments in primary and secondary
education by the year 2015 must be regarded as speculative. Assuming an average annual
increase of 3% in both primary and secondary education enrolment over the next three
years, and a 30% per annum increase in pre-primary education enrolment, would suggest
the following enrolments of learners in 2015:
16


Pre-primary: 38 600 learners
Primary: 454 000 learners
Secondary: 200 000 learners
29

Total: 692 600 learners.

Assuming that the relevant official staffing norms were applied (25 per teacher in pre-
primary, 35 per teacher in primary and 28 per teacher in secondary), this would require a
teaching force (in 2015) of:

Pre-primary: 1 544 teachers
Primary: 12 971 teachers
Secondary: 7 142 teachers
Total: 21 657 teachers.
30


However, as we shall see below, there is reason to doubt that the current teaching norms
can be attained. The teaching force is already above 24 600. It therefore appears that more
than 2 000 teachers in excess of the official staffing norms are being employed by the
Ministry. It is not clear if this has been noticed or condoned by the Public Service
Commission and Treasury.

Projecting the levels of staffing reported by EMIS for 2012, 27 594 teachers would be
needed in 2015, that is 2 933 more teaching posts than in 2012. (This, however, is based on
the assumption that current levels of staffing are appropriate, and can be sustained, and
that the Public Service Commission can be persuaded to accept them!)
There does therefore not currently appear to be a consistent basis on which to predict
teacher needs.

Although the Ministry of Education does not have a model to predict teacher demand and
supply, rough calculations were made by the Ministry in 2012, as summarized in the
following tables.
31
These show clearly that the greatest need is for the training of more
teachers for pre-primary and lower primary.

Table 6: Predicted shortfall of Lower Primary teachers
Year Additional Lower
Primary Teachers
Needed
Likely number of
graduates from UNAM
Shortfall
2012 650 130 520
2013 650 0 650
2014 650 164 486
32

2015 650 80 570
Total 2 600 374 2 226
Source: Ministry of Education

29
Own calculation, based on 2012 data, rounded to the nearest 100.
30
After allowing for the additional 2% provided for in the staffing norms document, the total number of teaching posts
would be 22 090.
31
Ministry of Education internal discussion document, tables re-organised
32
Since no teachers had been supplied the year before, one would have expected this number to be higher.
17


(There will be no graduates available from UNAM in 2013 due to the changeover from a
three-year diploma to a four-year bachelors degree. It seems unlikely that the intended
expansion of pre-primary education currently 300 new teachers per year - has been
included in these figures.)

Table 7: Predicted shortfall of Upper Primary teachers
Year Additional Upper
Primary Teachers
Needed
Likely number of
graduates from UNAM
Shortfall
2012 470 336 134
2013 490 0 490
2014 510 529 -19
2015 530 520 10
Total 2 000 1 385 615
Source: Ministry of Education

Table 8: Predicted shortfall of Secondary teachers
Year Additional Secondary
Teachers Needed
Likely number of
graduates from UNAM
Shortfall
2012 540 135 405
2013 560 192 368
2014 580 220 360
2015 600 220 380
Total 2 280 767 1513

Contrary to the intention stated in the ETSIP strategic plan (see page 18), the number of
teachers employed has not been constrained so as to have more funds available for goods
and services and for capital projects such as the building and maintenance of schools and
teacher housing. School administrators say that the current official norms are not
compatible with the learner-centred approach of the curriculum, that they must staff many
small rural schools, and that the number of subjects to be covered is too large. However,
while the school population over the past seven years has been growing at an average
annual rate of 1.7%, the growth rate for the number of teachers employed has been 4% per
annum. In fact, the increase between 2011 and 2012 was 7%. At the same time the
proportion of qualified teachers increased from 73% in 2006 to 83% in 2012. (See table 10,
and the associated graph.)

Table 9: Changes in the numbers of teachers and their professional qualifications between
2006 and 2012
Year Average
annual
growth
rate 2006
- 2012
Qualification 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Total - all teachers
Total
19 480 20 333 20 830 21 607 22 072 23 039 24 660
4.0%
Less than Gd 12 1 724 1 480 1 316 1 094 919 774 724 -13.5%
18

Year Average
annual
growth
rate 2006
- 2012
Qualification 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Gd 12 or Gd 12 plus 1 or 2 years' tertiary 3 587 3 285 3 320 3 255 2 919 2 884 3 365 -1.1%
Gd 12 plus 3 or more years' tertiary 14
169
15
568
16
194
17
258
18
234
19
381
20
571
6.4%
Source: EMIS 2012, table 47

Chart 2: showing the numbers of teachers employed by year and their qualifications


The growth in the number of teachers per region has not always been commensurate with
the growth in the number of learners, as can be seen by comparing table 11 below with
table 5 above.

Table 10: Numbers of teachers per region from 2006 to 2012
Region Year Average
annual
growth rate
2005 - 2011
Percentage
change
2010 - 2011
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
National 19 480 20 333 20 830 21 607 22 072 23 039 24 660 4.0% 7.0%
Region
Caprivi 975 995 1 044 1 071 1 144 1 271 1 394 6.1% 9.7%
Erongo 886 937 978 1 037 1 087 1 181 1 280 6.3% 8.4%
Hardap 691 707 736 767 786 808 845 3.4% 4.6%
Head Office 174 176 174 - - - - - -
Karas 653 699 713 729 732 770 826 4.0% 7.3%
Kavango 2 336 2 409 2 472 2 539 2 589 2 629 2 876 3.5% 9.4%
Khomas 2 131 2 279 2 384 2 653 2 713 2 856 2 983 5.8% 4.4%
Kunene 600 620 649 689 695 746 838 5.7% 12.3%
Ohangwena 2 813 2 951 3 024 3 058 3 103 3 202 3 421 3.3% 6.8%
0
5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
25,000
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Less than Gd 12
Gd 12 or Gd 12 plus 1
or 2 years' tertiary
Gd 12 plus 3 or more
years' tertiary
19

Region Year Average
annual
growth rate
2005 - 2011
Percentage
change
2010 - 2011
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Omaheke 516 535 540 561 589 610 706 5.4% 15.7%
Omusati 3 004 3 119 3 119 3 298 3 347 3 472 3 632 3.2% 4.6%
Oshana 1 772 1 819 1 815 1 938 1 970 2 039 2 137 3.2% 4.8%
Oshikoto 1 926 1 994 2 057 2 108 2 128 2 203 2 407 3.8% 9.3%
Otjozondjupa 1 003 1 093 1 125 1 159 1 189 1 252 1 315 4.6% 5.0%
Source: EMIS 2012, table 49

(It should be noted that in the table above, Head Office refers to special schools. In terms
of an inclusive approach these schools were in 2009 decentralised to the regions as resource
schools.)
It is therefore not surprising to find that there has been a steady decrease in the learner
teacher ratio, from 29.2 in 2006 to 25.1 in 2012, as shown in table 7 below.

Table 11: Learner:teacher ratios from 2006 to 2012
Region 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
National 29.2 28.8 28.1 27.8 25.4 24.8 25.1
Region
Caprivi 25.7 26.2 26.4 25.7 23.9 23.9 21.4
Erongo 27.3 27.6 27.9 27.9 23.9 23.9 25.1
Hardap 28.7 28.7 28.3 27.8 24.8 24.8 25.9
Head Office 8.4 8.7 9.1 - - - -
Karas 28.2 27.8 26.4 26.1 22.0 22.0 24.3
Kavango 30.0 29.8 28.9 28.5 27.2 27.2 26.9
Khomas 28.7 28.0 27.5 26.7 21.8 21.8 24.6
Kunene 28.0 27.7 26.6 25.8 25.7 25.7 24.3
Ohangwena 31.5 30.6 29.3 29.1 28.1 28.1 26.5
Omaheke 28.1 27.6 27.2 27.2 23.2 23.2 26.0
Omusati 29.6 29.1 27.9 28.2 25.5 25.5 23.8
Oshana 30.4 29.9 29.1 28.7 25.4 25.4 23.7
Oshikoto 29.3 28.4 28.6 27.6 26.5 26.5 25.1
Otjozondjupa 30.1 29.6 29.0 29.5 26.1 26.1 27.6
Source: EMIS 2012.table 49

It is, however, doubtful that the national budget can continue to sustain the cost of
employing additional teachers at this level. The just-announced budget for Education in the
appropriation for 2013/14 amounts to N$10.7 billion, out of a total budget of N$47.6 billion,
i.e. 23.7% of the total national budget.
33
An eight percent pay increase was awarded in
2012, nearly two percent above inflation. Of the total education budget for the 2013/14
financial year, 60.3% was allocated for personnel expenditure.


33
The Budget speech can be downloaded from www.mof.gov.na.
20

Despite the low learner-teacher ratio of 25.1, it transpires that the average class size is 29.7
learners, as shown in table 13 below. This suggest that in grades 4 - 12, where class-
teaching no longer applies, there is less than optimal utilization of teachers and that school
principals are struggling to construct timetables that both fully utilize the time of teachers at
school and cover all the subjects of the curriculum. In short, some teachers apparently have
more free periods than is desirable for efficiency. It should be noted that, in a drive for
better performance, school teachers are being required by regional authorities to be at
school, for instance, from 7.00 to 16.00, thus working an eight hour day as other public
servants are required to do.

Table 12: Average class sizes in the different school phases in each region
Region Primary Secondary Other
Total Pre-
primary
Primary Lower
Primary
Upper
Primary
Secondary Junior
Secondary
Senior
Secondary
Other
Grades
National 29.7 22.5 29.5 28.6 30.8 31.5 31.3 32.5 12.1
Regions
Caprivi 28.1 19.2 27.6 26.4 29.5 31.1 30.7 32.5 12.0
Erongo 30.8 21.7 31.2 31.2 31.2 31.9 32.3 30.7 10.0
Hardap 28.5 21.9 28.9 29.2 28.4 31.0 31.2 30.3 12.2
Karas 28.2 20.7 28.5 28.3 28.7 29.7 29.7 29.7 15.3
Kavango 29.6 24.4 28.6 26.6 33.0 34.5 34.9 32.7 13.4
Khomas 31.3 23.6 33.2 33.5 32.7 30.5 31.3 28.6 12.2
Kunene 26.9 18.4 26.7 26.5 27.1 31.3 31.6 29.7 10.5
Ohangwena 30.8 23.3 30.4 29.5 31.6 32.4 31.5 37.2 -
Omaheke 30.7 22.6 32.0 32.8 30.6 29.3 29.7 27.0 12.3
Omusati 28.5 23.6 27.4 26.4 28.9 31.4 30.1 37.1 15.7
Oshana 28.8 21.8 28.8 27.3 30.7 29.7 28.9 32.0 7.3
Oshikoto 29.2 24.2 28.5 27.4 30.0 31.5 30.8 34.0 4.0
Otjozondjupa 32.2 24.1 32.6 32.3 33.1 33.5 34.4 29.9 12.9
Source: EMIS 2012, table 10

The age profile of teachers (table 13 below) shows few teachers in their 40s and 50s. This
probably reflects the large numbers of young teachers who have been trained in the past
twenty years. It may be that this phenomenon also has to do with the fact that many
teachers over forty years of age will have reached the top of their salary scale. Those not
serving in school management would have no further opportunity to receive increases
beyond general salary increases.








21

Table 13: Ages and professional and academic qualifications of teachers
24 660 Total - all
teachers

Age group Total Less
than
Gd 12
Gd 12 or 1-2
yrs' tertiary
More
than 2
yrs'
tertiary
Total
Total 24 660 724 3 365 20 571 1 207
Less than 20 4 757 62 766 3 929 619
20 - 24 4 120 28 293 3 799 164
25 - 29 3 273 26 235 3 012 101
30 - 34 3 327 49 338 2 940 91
35 - 39 4 017 147 780 3 090 78
40 - 44 3 108 191 595 2 322 76
45 - 49 1 609 181 299 1 129 70
50 - 54 363 37 46 280 7
55 - 59 74 3 11 60 1
60 or older 12 0 2 10 0
Average Age 31.5 40.0 32.9 31.0 23.4
Source: EMIS 2012, table 44

Turning to the deployment of teachers, we find that 79% of primary school teachers are
qualified, but that the variation between regions can be quite large. (See table 14 below.)

Table 14: Professional and academic qualifications of primary teachers
Region Total - all
teachers

Total Less
than
Gd 12
Gd 12 or 1-2
yrs' tertiary
More
than 2
yrs'
tertiary
Proportion
qualified
%
National 15 283 610 2 641 12 031 79
Regions
Caprivi 821 29 110 682 83
Erongo 781 13 97 671 86
Hardap 524 14 84 426 81
Karas 506 26 113 367 73
Kavango 1 987 189 406 1 392 70
Khomas 1 668 35 125 1 509 90
Kunene 583 24 132 427 73
Ohangwena 2 194 52 401 1 742 79
Omaheke 483 23 97 364 75
Omusati 2 223 87 474 1 661 75
Oshana 1 179 36 210 934 79
Oshikoto 1 475 45 261 1 168 79
Otjozondjupa 859 38 132 689 80
Source: EMIS 2012, table 41, percentages added.

22

Chart 3: Primary teachers by region and qualification



Similar data for secondary teachers shows that 94% have more than two years tertiary
education, with less variation between regions. The proportion of teachers with more than
two years tertiary education is also much higher than for primary education.

Table 15: Professional and academic qualifications of secondary teachers
Region Total - all
teachers

Total Less
than
Gd 12
Gd 12 or 1-2
yrs' tertiary
More
than 2
yrs'
tertiary
Percentage
with more
than 2
years
tertiary
National 8 306 34 452 7 819 94
Regions
Caprivi 509 2 31 476 93
Erongo 431 2 14 415 96
Hardap 254 1 8 246 97
Karas 263 4 13 246 94
Kavango 780 6 44 730 94
Khomas 1 125 2 45 1 079 96
Kunene 196 2 13 181 92
Ohangwena 1 153 7 67 1 079 94
Omaheke 172 1 5 166 96
Omusati 1 321 5 92 1 224 93
Oshana 874 1 41 831 95
Oshikoto 849 2 50 797 94
Otjozondjupa 379 - 29 350 92
Source: EMIS 2012, table 42

Annexure 1 shows the qualifications of teachers in the subjects that they taught. From this
it is interesting to note that the 724 teachers in the system who had less than grade 12 were
almost all deployed to teach at lower primary level, especially for class teaching (grades 1
3) and for the subjects of grade 4. It is probable that these teachers are retained because of
0
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More than 2 years
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23

their linguistic abilities
34
and because qualified teachers do not wish to teach at remote
schools despite the availability of hardship allowances for teachers in rural schools.

EMIS was asked to provide a table of all teachers teaching grade 1. (Grade 1 is, of course,
critical for the acquisition of literacy and numeracy skills and can affect the future progress
of the child in higher grades. It is also in grade1 that a repetition rate of 20.3 percent is to
be found.
35
) Analysis of the data showed that:

90% of the 2 314 grade 1 teachers were female,
508 or 22% had less than grade 12,
only 161 or 7% had a qualification requiring more than two years tertiary level
study.
The average age of grade 1 teachers was 44 (they were therefore, on average, more
than ten years older than the average age for all teachers), and
the average teaching experience was 17 years.

In these circumstances it is perhaps not surprising that Namibia has shown very worrying
levels of achievement in various tests of literacy and numeracy, including those of SACMEQ,
its own Standardized Achievement Tests (SATs) at grade 5 and 7 levels, and the recently
piloted EGRA. Information on these tests and their results is made available in Attachment
5. It can be noted with gratification and optimism that the performance of Namibian
learners has tended to improve during the past decade. However, a substantial proportion
of primary learners (perhaps a third) are still not gaining the literacy and numeracy skills
that are expected. Learners in the lower grades of primary education seem to be struggling
more than those in the higher grades. Differences between regions seem also to be more
pronounced at lower primary level.


34
For instance, teachers have not been trained for some minority languages such as Ju//hoansi or Setswana. Although the
author could not find hard data, there seems to be a shortage of teachers trained in the teaching of all Namibias African
languages.
35
EMIS 2012, table 30
24

3: TEACHER WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT: RECRUITMENT, DEPLOYMENT,
ABSENTEEISM AND ATTRITION

Namibia does not have a teacher policy, but a process has been started to develop one.
36

The main means for the appointment of teachers is an annual Vacancy List Circular,
published nationally mid-year, that makes known all the vacancies available, and the
process for application. Applications go to regional education offices, and from there to
schools. The application form used is the one that is used for all government employment
and certified copies of qualifications and a national identity document must be provided.

It is the prerogative of the school board (in terms of the Education Act of 2001) to make a
recommendation to the Regional Director of Education. The authority to appoint (or
promote) a teacher is delegated by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education
and the Public Service Commission to the Regional Director of Education. (Namibia does not
have a separate Teaching Service Commission, but a committee of the Public Service
Commission specialises in matters of the teaching profession.) The process of teacher
recruitment has therefore been decentralized (though teachers remain on a central payroll.)
Namibia does not have a policy of posting teachers to particular schools selected by the
Ministry, even when they are in receipt of scholarships from the government. All
prospective teachers must therefore apply for a vacant post in accordance with the above
procedure. Only those appointed in accordance with this procedure, and who have the
minimum requirements, can be appointed permanently, albeit on one year probation
initially. The Regional Director may, however, appoint teachers on a one-year contract if
they do not have the required qualifications, or did not apply for a particular post.

The reason for not deploying teachers to particular schools is that such teachers are more
likely to be restive; no sooner have they arrived (if they arrive on time, or at all) than they
are searching for a more agreeable post. Teacher housing is usually not available at rural
schools and it is therefore difficult to oblige a teacher to move there or take up a post there
if he or she is not already resident there or somehow connected to the local community.
Should there be no applicant for a particular post the school inspector will probably
approach a teacher who was not successful in his or her application for another post and try
to negotiate with the teacher and the school board to secure an appointment. As a last
resort the school board might be asked to identify a suitable local person, whether qualified
or not, for appointment (on a one-year contract). Transfers of teachers, at the discretion of
the Regional Director of Education, are also possible.

The attrition rate for teachers between 2011 and 2012 was 7.3%.
37
A breakdown of this
figure shows that the attrition rate for those with less than grade 12 was 15.1%, 10.6% for
those with grade 12 and one or two years tertiary education, and 6.5% for those with more
than two years tertiary education, reflecting the fact that unqualified teachers are being
reduced in the system, while qualified teachers are staying in the profession. The attrition
rate for 2012 is more accurate than the figure for previous years as EMIS took particular

36
The process is supported by the Finnish Government.
37
EMIS 2012, table 45.
25

care in this year to obtain the national identity numbers of all teachers. (This made it easier
to trace teachers who had been transferred as opposed to those who had left the system.)
It has proved extremely difficult to measure teacher absenteeism in Namibia with any
degree of accuracy or certainty. Leave records are kept manually and the data is not
collated at a regional or national level. (Inspectors do, however, receive reports from
schools each term.) Teachers can take six days vacation leave during term time in any one
year, and are also entitled to five days compassionate leave. Up to 87 days paid sick leave
can be taken, followed by 87 days sick leave on half pay, in a three-year leave cycle.
Teachers can also be absent for official purposes, such as training, although attempts are
made to limit such absences. Many absences, however, are not recorded at all. A 2007
study by Castro and others of the UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning
observed nine schools in the Kavango and Caprivi Regions of Namibia.
38
Three of the
schools were found to show high absences per year:

School 1 (7 teachers) 110 absences
School 2 (6 teachers) 35 absences of heads of department
School 3 (3 teachers) 45 absences.

Such absences are, of course, highly disruptive of learning for the whole school. There
were, however also three schools with low levels of absences in a given year:

School 4 (3 teachers) 14 absences
School 5 (5 teachers) 6 absences
School 6 (2 teachers) 10 absences.

The reason for the difference was largely to be found in the quality of management and
supervision at the schools.
Namibia does have a system of relief teachers, but which is not fully implemented due to a
shortage of funds. Usually the system only becomes effective when a teacher is absent for
two or three months, such as for maternity leave. For shorter absences classes are likely to
be allocated to another teacher or teachers. Better-off schools may employ a temporary
substitute teacher paid on a daily rate from the school development fund.




38
Castro, V, Duthilleul, Y and Caillods, F. (2007). Teacher absences in an HIV and AIDS context: evidence from nine schools
in Kavango and Caprivi (Namibia). IIEP/UNESCO.
26

4: TEACHER MANAGEMENT: STATUS, PAY AND CAREER

Appointment requirements and salaries of teachers applicable in the 2012/2013 financial
year are set out in Attachment 2. Among the details it can be noted that a teacher with a
three-year teaching qualification will earn an annual base salary of between N$88 152 and
N$125 112, while a teacher with a four-year teaching qualification will earn between
N$129 354 and N$174 357. Additional benefits include pension contributions, medical aid,
and transport and housing allowances. Teachers at rural schools are paid an additional
allowance. An 8% increase on base salaries was agreed at the end of 2012 and will be
backdated to April 2012. (Currently one US dollar equals about N$9.00, but the exchange
rate is volatile.)

It should be noted that teachers are paid according to their qualifications, and not according
to the phase of education that they are working in. A teacher with a B-degree working in a
lower primary school would thus be paid the same as a teacher with the same qualification
working in a senior secondary school. However, it would seem that the social status of
secondary teachers is still higher than those working at primary level. Secondary schools
also tend to be in more accessible places, and to have boarding facilities, due to the
dispersed nature of the population.

Currently a teacher would exhaust additional notches within twelve years (unless he or she
upgraded a three-year qualification to a four-year one.) The only option for additional
earnings would then be to seek promotion to head of department, and subsequently to
principal.

The Namibian Public Service is about to restructure all occupations, job evaluation and pay
policy. Fifteen grades will be introduced, with 10 14 notches in each grade. Progression
will be performance related. It will be possible to pay recruitment and retention allowances
of 10 30% for scarce skills. It seems that, in the process of introduction, slight
improvements will accrue to teachers.
Whether teachers are under- or over-paid is currently a contentious issue, with 2012 having
seen a controversial illegal strike by some teachers. The availability or cost of housing was
one of the notable issues.

According to NHIES 2009/10, average consumption for a household when headed by a
person with tertiary education was N$201 158 per annum. (There might be more than one
member of the household earning a salary.) (Information on the earnings of other
professions in Namibia was not available to the author.)



27

5: TEACHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING
5.1 POLICY
The only teacher education policy current in Namibia dates back to 1998, at a time when
Namibia had two Ministries of Education, the Ministry of Basic Education and Culture and
the Ministry of Higher Education, Vocational Training, Science and Technology.
39
The policy
calls for an integrated and learner-centred approach to teacher education.

Due to the complications of coordinating two Ministries, UNAM, four Colleges of Education,
NIED, and others, the policy called for the creation of an Advisory Council on Teachers
Education and Training. Such a body was created by Act 25 of 2003 but was abolished on
the 2008 decision to amalgamate the Colleges with UNAM. Achieving a balance between
content knowledge and pedagogical skills is repeated several times, but as we have already
noted it proved difficult in practice to achieve this through the three-year BETD.

A number of items that teacher education should strive for are listed, as quoted below:
Develop teachers who respect and foster the values of our Constitution, contribute
to nation building and respond positively to the changing needs of Namibian society;
Develop understanding and respect for diverse cultural values and beliefs, especially
those of the Namibian people;
Enhance respect for human dignity, sensitivity and commitment to the needs of
learners;
Develop a reflective attitude and creative, analytical and critical thinking
Develop the ability to participate actively in collaborative decision making;
Develop social responsibility towards learners, colleagues, the community and the
nation as a whole;
Promote gender awareness and equity to enable all Namibians to participate fully in
all spheres of society;
Enable the teacher to promote environmental awareness and sustainable
management of natural resources in the school and community;
Develop awareness of the varying roles and functions of a teacher and a
commitment to the teaching profession;
Develop an understanding of learning as an interactive, shared and productive
process;
Enable teachers to meet the needs and abilities of the individual learner through
organization, management and assessment of teaching and learning processes;
Prepare teachers to strengthen the partnership between school and community;
Develop adequate command of English and another language of Namibia to be able
to use them as media of instruction;
Prepare teachers to be able to develop and use the creative and expressive abilities
and skills of the learners;
Develop the ability to create learning opportunities which will enable learners to
explore different ways of knowing and develop the whole range of their thinking
abilities;

39
Ministry of Higher Education, Vocational Training, Science and Technology. (1999). Investing in People, Developing a
Country. Gamsberg Macmillan.
28

Equip teachers with sufficient breadth of curriculum content and depth in selected
subject areas to b able to identify and select basic knowledge content for learners
and to organize and sequence content and learning situations appropriately;
Enable teachers to understand and utilize current knowledge of childrens
intellectual, emotional, social, physical, aesthetic, moral and spiritual development;
Develop a positive attitude towards individual differences and enable teachers to
utilize them to meet social and individual needs; and
Enable teachers to take responsibility for their own learning and to be aware of ways
to develop themselves professionally, both through their own initiatives as well as
through formal education opportunities.

Interestingly, the very last paragraph of this policy contains the following forward-looking
observation: Over time we must reinforce the professionalization of our basic education
teaching corps. Research has shown conclusively that the most important and most
enduring education occurs at the youngest ages. Hence, we must entrust our youngest
children to competent, sensitive and well-prepared teachers. Currently we assign our
university-educated teachers to senior-secondary and post-secondary instruction. As we
look toward the next century, we must find appropriate roles and rewards for university-
educated teachers in our basic education programme and appropriate courses of study to
prepare them for that.

Another document of the same time (1999) set out a ten-year plan for educator
development and support in Namibia.
40
Educator development and support was seen as a
single continuum of competency development including both pre-service and in-service
teacher education and training. It was estimated that at the time some 4 500 serving
teachers were upgrading to diploma level qualifications. A three-phase plan was proposed,
a planning phase (2000 2003), a second phase (2000 2007) of emphasis on qualifications
upgrading, and a third phase (2004 2010) of implementing a coherent and sustainable
continuous professional development programme. It does not seem that implementation of
this plan was consistently pursued or evaluated. It may have been overtaken by events such
as ETSIP.

5.2 PROVISION
As already noted, the University of Namibia (UNAM) is the main institution for teacher
education and training, following the merger of the Teacher Education Colleges with UNAM
in 2010. In concept, the Faculty of Education courses are available in three modes: full time,
part-time (through afternoon or evening classes at a campus), and by distance learning
through the UNAM Centre for External Studies. In practice, most UNAM education students
are making use of the full-time mode. The B Ed courses are not available by part-time study;
this mode is mainly utilized by postgraduate students.

The four former Colleges of Education, located at Khomasdal (a suburb of Windhoek, in
Khomas Region), Ongwediva (Oshana Region), Rundu (Kavango Region) and Katima Mulilo

40
Coombe, C, Bennell, P, Uugwanga, P and Wrighton,T. (1999). Ten-year plan for educator development and support in
Namibia. Ministry of Basic Education and Culture. Windhoek
29

(Caprivi Region), have become campuses of UNAM. The campuses now offer other courses,
in addition to teacher education and training.

Each campus is run by a Director appointed by the university. In addition, each campus has
a Deputy Dean, a Head of Department, a Course Coordinator and a number of lecturers
appointed by the Faculty of Education. A Head of Department, for instance for Early
Chidhood and Lower Primary Education, will have a responsibility for that specialization or
course across all campuses. The Course Coordinator is responsible for a particular course at
the campus where he or she is appointed. Only the B Ed courses for primary education are
offered at the new campuses.

The Faculty of Education is based at the Main Campus of UNAM in Windhoek, and is headed
by a Dean. Lectures at the UNAM main campus offer the B Ed for secondary education, as
well as a number of other courses, at graduate and postgraduate level.
41
The Faculty has
Departments for Lifelong Learning and Community Education; Curriculum Studies,
Instruction and Assessment; Educational Foundations and Management; Mathematics,
Science and Sports Education; Educational Psychology and Inclusive Education; Education in
Languages, Humanities and Commerce; and Early Childhood and Lower Primary Education.
An analysis of the academic personnel listed in the 2013 prospectus of the Faculty of
Education shows that at the end of 2012 it had 179 academic personnel, 29 (or 16%) of
whom had Doctoral degrees while 79 (or 44%) had Masters degrees.
42
In the Department of
Early Childhood and Lower Primary Education there were 29 academic personnel, 2 (or 7%)
with Doctoral degrees and 12 (or 41%) with Masters degrees. Consideration of these staff
members profiles would be necessary to determine their expertise in early childhood
education, literacy, numeracy, linguistics, etc, but it would appear that a number of the
lecturers in this department actually qualified and have experience in other fields of
education (though they have no doubt diligently applied themselves to their current
responsibilities.)

In 2011 there were 3 102 students enrolled with the Education Faculty of UNAM, 1 322 (821
female) for Diplomas 1 645 (1 007 female) for Bachelors Degrees, 123 (77 female) for
Masters Degrees and 12 (6 female) for Doctoral studies.
43
In 2011 there were 1 017
graduates from the Education Faculty, 77 (56 female) with Diplomas, 99 (71female) with
Bachelors degrees, 3 (2 female) with porstgraduate diplomas, 4 (4 female) with Masters
degrees, and 834 (536 female) with the BETD.

The 2013 enrolments at UNAM for the B Ed and its three courses are shown in table 17, and
the Chart 17a, below. The increase in first year enrolments in 2013 is attributed to the
advertisement placed in the media by the Ministry of Education to inform prospective
students that scholarships were available for this degree. (For most other courses students
would only be eligible for study loans.) There are no fourth-year students for the B Ed
primary education options as these courses were offered for the first time in 2011. It is
significant that only 14.2% of B Ed students have opted for the Early Childhood and Lower
Primary course.

41
As explained to the author by the Dean of the Faculty, 18 March 2013
42
Faculty of Education. (2012). Faculty prospectus 2013. UNAM.
43
UNAM. (2011). Annual Report 2011.
30


Table 16: 2013 Enrolments for the BEd at UNAM, by course and year of study
Course Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Total Percentage
Secondary 428 201 164 160 953 29.7
Upper Primary 805 521 471 0 1 797 56.1
EC and Lower Primary 227 87 142 0 456 14.2
Total 1 460 809 777 160 3 206 100.0
Source: Faculty to Education, UNAM, and own calculation

Chart 4: 2013 enrolments for the BEd at UNAM by course and year of study


The requirement for enrolment in a degree programme at UNAM is at least 25 points in five
grade 12 (Namibia Senior Secondary Certificate) subjects. A grade C in English as a Second
Language is also required.
44
Students wishing to enter the B Ed course in early childhood
and lower primary education are required, in addition, to have a C in any other Namibian
language and a D in Mathematics.
45


As was the case with the former BETD at the Colleges, it would seem that UNAM is also
having difficulty in attracting students to the pre-school and lower primary option, which is
actually where the biggest needs are in terms of demand for qualified teachers, and
improvement of literacy and numeracy levels. However, in 2013 UNAM did manage to
enroll 227 first year students for the early childhood and lower primary B Ed course.
46
A
larger enrolment in the early childhood and lower primary course might also make it more
cost effective for the campuses of UNAM to have specialist lecturers in all the local
languages.

School Based Studies are an important part of the B Ed curriculum. In their second year
students spend two weeks each semester in a school; in the third year four weeks in the

44
www.unam.na
45
Faculty of Education. (2010). Bachelor of Education (Pre-Primary and Lower Primary)
46
Information provided by Ms J Moller of UNAM in an email dated 4 April 2013.
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4
Secondary
Upper Primary
EC and Lower Primary
31

first semester and two weeks in the second semester; and in the fourth year twelve weeks
in the first semester.
47


As indicated above, UNAM has the capacity to graduate about 900 teachers per year with
effect from 2014 onwards. UNAM also has a mature age entry scheme that allows for entry
to their programmes by students who do not have the requisite 25 points in grade 12, with a
C in English. Given a student lecturer ratio of about 17:1, it would seem that (with
accurate gauging of the specializations to be offered) UNAM probably has the capacity to
train more teachers.

5.3 IN-SERVICE TRAINING
In-service training for formal qualifications was one of the means used in Namibia since
independence to push the number of qualified teachers up to its present level. The BETD-
INSET, for instance, was offered by NIED until such time as the number of students became
too low to make it viable, due to economies of scale. (Most teachers had become qualified,
as explained earlier, and the remainder perhaps considered that due to their age or lack of
entry qualifications it would not be a good investment on their part to obtain a qualification
that would take them four years of distance study to acquire.) The collapse of the private
Azaliah college also resulted in UNAM offering the BETD-INSET for a number of years. The
privately owned Institute of Open Learning currently offers a number of courses for
teachers by distance learning, but details on its student numbers are not available. The
Business School of Excellence, offering courses of the North-West University in South Africa,
has recently entered the market.

The Centre for External Studies (CES) at UNAM currently offers all the B Ed courses through
distance learning, and had enrolled 515 students in 2012.
48
CES works through ten CES
study centres around the country, and also through 49 NOLNet
49
centres, to provide
support to its students, but the approach is the traditional one of print materials and
written assignments that are centrally marked. Full-time staff of the Faculty of Education
are under obligation to assist CES with the writing of materials, and the setting and marking
of assignments, but this work is not necessarily their first priority. The annual pass rate of
CES students was 37% in 2012 (compared to 68% for full-time students.)
50
CES is currently
undergoing an audit in terms of UNAMs periodic quality assurance procedures.
The Namibian College of Open Learning (NAMCOL)
51
mainly serves some 30 000 learners at
secondary level. However, it does also offer some professional programmes at tertiary
level. Among these is the Certificate in Early Childhood Development, which is offered
through short residential courses, printed materials and assignments. The course is
intended for the many private early childhood development centres around the country,
and attracted 380 registrations in 2012.
52
A number of these students are ECD practitioners
who have gained access to tertiary education through NAMCOLs policy on the recognition

47
Faculty of Education. (2010). Bachelor of Education (Pre-Primary and Lower Primary).
48
Data provided by CES.
49
The Namibia Open Learning Network Trust is a collaborative arrangement between publicly funded institutions engaged
in open and distance learning in terms of which the regional facilities of each institution also provide services to all the
institutions in the network.
50
Annual Pass Rates. Document provided by UNAM.
51
The writer declares an interest in NAMCOL in that he is chairperson of the Governing Board.
52
NAMCOL Statistical Digest 2011/2012
32

of prior learning. It seems that, for lack of qualified pre-school teachers, holders of this
certificate are being recruited by schools. In the near future NAMCOL will offer a Diploma in
ECD, graduates of which would be eligible for permanent appointment as pre-school
teachers.

UNAM is host to two important outsourced in-service training activities of the Ministry of
Education, the English Language Proficiency Programme and the Continuous Professional
Development Unit.
The English Language Proficiency Programme (ELPP) is a national scheme to improve the
English of teachers. All teachers in the country were tested in 2012 and placed on three
levels. The intention is that in 2013 courses will be offered to teachers on the lower two
levels to enable them to improve and re-take the test. There is discussion about distributing
these courses in electronic format, for instance on CDs or memory sticks. Unfortunately
results of the tests were leaked to the media and sensationalized, which caused the Ministry
to withhold the data. However, some information is available from a pilot test carried out in
2011, involving 3 300 teachers from 333 schools across all regions (about 16% of the target
population.)
53
Findings of the survey relevant to this study include the following:

Reading comprehension remains the weakest area of English language
proficiency amongst Namibian teachers
Many lower primary and upper primary teachers still do not have sufficient
English language proficiency to teach in their respective phases
The northern regions performed poorly in the test
Teachers from the rural areas struggled the most
Lower primary teachers performed the poorest in all sections of the test
The performance of Not Fully Trained teachers was noticeably poorer than that
of their colleagues
Three-year diploma holders did not do as well as expected
Teachers were very positive about the ELP Programme.
The intention stated in ETSIP is that there should be a similar programme to upgrade the
mathematics knowledge of all teachers, but this has not yet been programmed.

UNAM is also host to the Continuous Professional Development unit established in 2010.
54

The purpose of the unit is to ensure coordination and collaboration between all the parties
involved in CPD, including NIED, PQA, the UNAM Faculty of Education, the Teacher Unions
and NGOs. The unit has a strong emphasis on monitoring and evaluation as it is felt that
much of the CPD that was done in the past had little impact, if the impact is known at all.
The model is a decentralized one to ensure that CPD is as relevant as possible to locally
identified needs. Committees have been established at national and regional levels, but the
intention is that there should be school-based committees to ensure relevance to school-
level practice. ICT skills of teachers is one current interest, as is management and use of
textbooks, and analysis of the SAT results at school level. It is the intention that short
courses will be developed for particular needs and that with adequate quality control
teachers successfully completing such courses might receive credit points towards a

53
Wolfaardt, D, Schier, C. (2011). English Language Proficiency Programme (ELPP): Report on the findings of the needs
assessment survey. Ministry of Education.
54
Interview with Dr John Nyambe, director of CPD unit, 13 February 2012
33

particular qualification or as part of a future system of teacher licensing. Although courses
will take place under the auspices of the CPD Unit, they will not necessarily be the
implementing entity.

One of the implications of the change-over from a diploma to a bachelor degree for teacher-
education is that a large number of teachers may wish to improve their qualifications, not
least because of the salary implications. It would not seem that teacher-education
institutions other than the privately owned Institute of Open Learning and the Business
School of Excellence (in partnership with South Africas North West University) are geared
up for this prospect at the moment.
55

5.4 ICTS IN TEACHER EDUCATION
None of the open and distance learning institutions engaged in teacher education is
currently making use of ICTs to deliver courses for teachers. However, NAMCOL and the
Polytechnic of Namibia are currently developing their capacity to develop and deliver
interactive on-line learning, while UNAM has recently purchased an on-line education
platform. NAMCOL has a new facility for producing of radio and video programmes. Given
that many Namibian teachers do not have high levels of literacy in English, or adequate
computer skills, it would probably be necessary to contemplate blended forms of learning,
with study through various media (as appropriate), and the infusion of motivation and
support through face-to-face contact, email, audio and video recordings, and SMSs.
Namibias ICT Policy for Education defines five levels of development for the development
of information communication technologies in education.
56
The desired level for various
educational institutions to achieve is also stated. The priorities for the deployment of
equipment and training were:
1. Colleges of Education and related in-service programmes
2. Schools with secondary grades
3. Teacher education programmes at tertiary institutions
4. Vocational training
5. Primary schools, libraries and community centres, adult education centres, and
special needs education.
The following services were foreseen as essential for the development of ICTs in education:
Maintenance and support
Networking
Digital Library
Digital Content Creation and Evaluation
E-mail
Security
Web access
Training and Support
Improved Management System
Curriculum
Management and Evaluation of ICT in education.

55
See www.iol.na. As part of a financial institution, IOL is able to offer loans to serving teachers and has an arrangement
with the Ministry of Finance to deduct monthly repayments from the salaries of teachers.
56
Ministry of Basic Education, Sport and Culture and Ministry of Higher Education, Training and Employment Creation.
(2005?). ICT Policy for Education
34


An ICT in Education Steering Committee was created to bring together the many
stakeholders, including those in the private sector and the telecommunications industry.
To implement the Policy, the Tech/Na! initiative was developed and implemented from
2006 onwards as one of the programmes of ETSIP.
57
Its main activities have been the
procurement and installation of computer laboratories and other ICTs at schools and other
educational institutions, providing cheap connectivity for the education sector, training of
teachers and other staff members in computer literacy, and improved school administration
using ICTs. A 2009 review of implementation progress
58
found that a bottleneck in the
deployment of computers to schools had developed at the technical centre established,
inter alia, to inventory, test, install approved content and software, dispatch and install
computers at educational institutions. Most of the curricula needed for the training of
educators had been completed, and training was being done by a number of providers,
although concern was expressed about completion rates. The e-Learning Centre was
established and operating on a platform administered by the Namibia Open Learning
Network (NOLNet). Further, suggestions were made to improve the management of
Tech/Na! Since that time problems at the technical centre have been resolved and
deployment stepped up.
59


Connectivity for schools and other educational bodies is provided through the XNet
Development Trust established in 2004. XNet is a partnership with telecommunications
operators that makes possible subsidized pricing to educational institutions. It is also an
internet service provider.

Internet connectivity is possible in almost all parts of Namibia. For instance, 4G is currently
being rolled out by the largest mobile phone company, MTC. Telecom Namibia connected
Namibia to a new international undersea cable (West Africa Cable System) in 2012 and is
currently developing infrastructure that will make much more bandwidth available to
Namibia for international communication. The 2011 Census found that 8.8% of the
population three years and above had at least weekly access to the internet (5.4% with daily
access.)

Finally, teachers are engaged in much informal learning, through peer groups, professional
associations, subject networks (some internet-based), school based professional
development, and a host of other activities. One thinks, for instance, of the Mathematics
Association, and some groups interested in particular languages. Although difficult to
quantify, such learning can be very significant for the individuals involved, particularly
because of the voluntary nature of their participation. As Namibias development brief for
education pointed out in 1993, teachers need to be exemplary in lifelong learning.
60



57
See www.tech.na/index.htm
58
Swarts, P, Bassi, R. and Wachira, E. (2009). Final Report: Review of Tech/Na! implementation progress. GESCI
59
An up-to-date report on Tech/na could unfortunately not be found in time for this study.
60
Ministry of Education and Culture. (1993). Toward Education for All. Gamsberg Macmillan.
Windhoek. p12.
35

6: FINDINGS

The main findings of this study are as follows:

Teachers are the most critical factor for improving the quality of education. Namibia is
struggling to improve the quality of its education system, despite heavy investment in
the sector since independence in 1990.

One of the main challenges affecting the quality of education in Namibia is that many
learners in the first few grades of primary education are not achieving the desired levels
of literacy and numeracy, despite some recent encouraging improvements. This affects
the performance of learners higher up in the education system, and perhaps for life.

Namibia has made significant strides in training most of its teachers. However, the most
poorly trained teachers are still to be found teaching the lower grades of primary
education. Insufficient numbers of teachers specializing in this phase of education have
been trained, and some of those trained have been deployed at higher levels.

In general, Namibia is experiencing challenges in equitably managing teacher supply and
demand, and also in managing the recruitment and deployment of teachers. A policy on
teachers is lacking. There is no professional body for teachers. NIED and the regional
education offices have inadequate capacity to support the development of lower
primary education.

The demand for pre-school and lower primary education teachers is increasing. The
government is introducing pre-school classes in a phased, pro-poor sequence. Free
primary education was introduced in 2013 and indications are that this will significantly
increase demand for pre-primary and lower primary education.

Namibia has good telecommunications infrastructure and some expertise in the use of
ICTs for education, including open and distance learning, e-learning, educational
broadcasting and blended learning. This opportunity has, however, not yet been
extensively used for teacher education and training.

There is therefore an urgent need to increase the number and skills of teachers engaged
in pre-school and lower primary education, using both pre-service and in-service
education and training. Some teacher-educators engaged at this level also need
support. ICTs should be used as appropriate to make this process as effective and
economical as possible.
36


7: RECOMMENDED PROJECT INTERVENTIONS

Based on the Findings of this study it is proposed that UNESCO work with the Ministry of
Education, UNAM, and other stakeholders to develop a 3-4 year project with the following
objectives:

1. Strategic Objective: the quality of pre-school and lower primary education is
improved through enhanced teacher education and training.
2. A comprehensive policy on teachers is in place by the end of 2014.
3. The Ministry of Education (including the Directorate of Planning and Development ,
NIED, and Regional Education Offices) have improved systems to manage the supply
and demand, recruitment and deployment of teachers.
4. The capacity of NIED and the Regional Education Offices to support teachers in the
lower primary phase has been increased by the end of 2014.
5. The Ministry of Education and UNAM have instituted measures to ensure that an
increased and adequate number of students are enrolled for the B Ed (early
childhood and lower primary) course in 2014 2016.
6. The Department of Early Childhood and Lower Primary Education at UNAM has
carried out participatory action research at selected schools around the country
(including small schools) to accurately describe and analyse teaching practices and
circumstances concerning the acquisition of literacy and numeracy by the end of
2014.
7. Lecturers and students of the Department of Early Childhood and Lower Primary
Education have collaborated with teachers in selected schools to produce learning
materials/resources that can be easily reproduced and used in the acquisition of
literacy and numeracy skills in Namibian languages in these schools and beyond. A
range of ICTS have been used in the process and participants have improved their
skills in using ICTS to produce such materials.
8. Lecturers of the Department of Early Childhood and Lower Primary Education have
produced relevant, short, interactive e-learning courses for use in continuous
professional development of serving lower primary teachers. Such courses are
accessible from a suitable Namibian platform (or platforms), and some teachers in
selected schools have been able to access them and give feedback on the courses.
9. A sustainable virtual forum of Namibian lower primary teachers and lecturers has
been established by the end of 2014. The forum is facilitated by staff members of
UNAM, NIED and regional offices of the Ministry of Education, who have been
trained for the purpose. At least one thousand members participate in the forum.
The forum makes use of group mailing lists, a dedicated website, and (bulk) SMS
systems to engender communication.
10. All activities of the project are professionally documented and archived. There is
regular monitoring and evaluation. Adjustments are made to ensure the
effectiveness and efficiency of the project.


Needs Assessment Report (Namibia)
37

ANNEX 1: EMIS TABLE QUALIFICATIONS OF TEACHERS AND THE SUBJECTS THEY TAUGHT


Primary Primary and Secondary Secondary
Subject Total
Less
than
Gd 12
Gd 12
Gd 12 +
1 or 2
years
Gd
12+3
or
more
years
Total
Less
than
Gd 12
Gd 12
Gd 12 +
1 or 2
years
Gd 12+3
or more
years
Total
Less
than
Gd 12
Gd 12
Gd 12 +
1 or 2
years
Gd 12+3
or more
years
Accounting

478 77 20 38 343
Afrikaans 1st lang. 140 22 11 23 84 11 3 0 0 8 71 18 1 14 38
Afrikaans 2nd lang. 337 69 53 42 173 18 4 2 1 11 243 35 28 35 145
Agriculture

965 219 86 36 624
Art and Design

13 4 0 1 8
Art of Entertainment

36 12 3 1 20
Arts (non-pr.) 1971 629 193 221 928 1 1 0 0 0

Arts in Culture

795 282 75 71 367
Basic Information Sc 1235 474 165 129 467 183 64 23 16 80 666 258 81 67 260
Biology

329 52 6 15 256
Bricklaying and Plast.

1 1 0 0 0
Business Accounting

3 1 0 1 1
Business Economics

5 1 0 0 4
Business Methods

2 0 0 1 1
Business Studies

165 25 4 11 125
Catering

2 1 0 0 1
Chemistry

1 0 0 0 1
Comb.Sc./Co-ord.Sc.

1 0 0 0 1
Comm. and Deportment

4 2 0 0 2
Computer Literacy 100 30 7 17 46 43 10 3 11 19 106 28 3 27 48
Computer Practice

2 0 0 1 1
Computer Studies

91 14 2 22 53
Craft and Technology 5 2 0 3 0

Design and Technology 205 77 29 29 70 8 3 0 1 4 57 15 4 4 34
Development Studies

208 39 12 12 145
Economics

113 19 2 10 82
Elementary Agricult. 1641 554 226 125 736


Needs Assessment Report (Namibia)
38



Primary Primary and Secondary Secondary
Subject Total
Less
than
Gd 12
Gd 12
Gd 12 +
1 or 2
years
Gd
12+3
or
more
years
Total
Less
than
Gd 12
Gd 12
Gd 12 +
1 or 2
years
Gd 12+3
or more
years
Total
Less
than
Gd 12
Gd 12
Gd 12 +
1 or 2
years
Gd 12+3
or more
years
Engineering Maths

1 1 0 0 0
Engineering Science

4 3 0 1 0
English 1st Language 142 29 6 9 98 10 5 0 0 5 55 9 0 3 43
English 2nd Language 2041 357 163 139 1382 238 44 20 13 161 1439 257 57 63 1062
Enterpreneurship

1 1 0 0 0 1056 259 96 80 621
Environmental Stud. 153 43 8 7 95

Extraordinary Subj. 1 1 0 0 0

2 0 0 0 2
Fashion and Fabrics

5 2 0 0 3
French Foreign Lang. 7 3 0 2 2 3 1 0 0 2 22 4 0 2 16
General Science 7 1 0 0 6
Geography 5 1 0 1 3 3 1 0 0 2 1239 245 52 44 898
German 1st Language 33 10 3 2 18 3 1 1 0 1 21 4 1 1 15
German Foreign Lang. 12 1 1 2 8 6 2 0 0 4 47 9 5 3 30
Grade 1 class 2313 700 126 116 1371
Grade 2 class 2108 646 125 110 1227
Grade 3 class 2024 554 153 112 1205
Grade 4 class 1845 494 126 72 1153
Grade 5 class 31 19 0 1 11
Grade 6 class 12 1 0 1 10
Grade 7 class 10 3 0 0 7
Hairdressing

6 1 0 0 5
Handicraft/Art 4 0 0 0 4
Handwriting 13 5 1 2 5
History 7 1 0 1 5 7 2 0 0 5 1203 243 47 83 830
Home Ecology 301 91 48 28 134
Home Economics

60 18 3 2 37
Individual Learning 1 0 0 0 1
Integr. Perform. Art

12 4 0 1 7
Ju/'hoasi 1 0 0 0 1
Keyboard and Word Proc

79 13 9 11 46

Needs Assessment Report (Namibia)
39



Primary Primary and Secondary Secondary
Subject Total
Less
than
Gd 12
Gd 12
Gd 12 +
1 or 2
years
Gd
12+3
or
more
years
Total
Less
than
Gd 12
Gd 12
Gd 12 +
1 or 2
years
Gd 12+3
or more
years
Total
Less
than
Gd 12
Gd 12
Gd 12 +
1 or 2
years
Gd 12+3
or more
years
Khoekhoegowab 1st L. 139 38 9 13 79 5 2 1 0 2 61 6 5 2 48
Life Science 3 1 0 0 2 1 1 0 0 0 1316 228 76 68 944
Life Skills (non-pr) 914 383 142 95 294 342 94 55 41 152 462 149 73 42 198
Literature (English)

1 0 0 0 1
Literature (German)

1 1 0 0 0
Mathematics 2138 388 102 164 1484 230 44 9 5 172 1388 227 36 65 1060
Metalwork

1 0 0 0 1
Motor Mechanics

1 0 0 0 1
Natural Sc. and Health 2240 439 165 160 1476
Needlework (Basic T) 2 1 0 0 1
Needlework, Clothing

23 3 2 1 17
Office Adm.andKeyboard

14 3 4 1 6
Office Practice

2 0 0 0 2
Oshikwanyama 1st L. 378 79 58 35 206 76 15 11 6 44 261 43 23 19 176
Oshindonga 1st Lang. 557 111 78 59 309 122 27 11 12 72 418 69 20 24 305
Otjiherero 1st Lang. 109 20 11 14 64 7 0 1 0 6 70 15 5 8 42
Phys Ed and Health Aw 44 20 5 2 17
Physical Education 1672 446 181 166 879 171 47 14 15 95 946 248 107 82 509
Physical Science

1326 235 46 63 982
Physics

1 0 0 0 1
Plumbing and Sheet-Met

2 2 0 0 0
Portuguese 1st Lang. 3 2 0 0 1 3 0 0 1 2 5 0 2 0 3
Religious and Moral Ed 1494 577 231 170 516 140 61 18 13 48 719 303 96 67 253
Religious Education 41 16 3 2 20
Religious Studies

1 1 0 0 0
Remedial Teaching 13 3 0 1 9
Rukwangali 1st Lang. 130 26 14 7 83 16 4 1 0 11 55 15 3 2 35
Rumanyo 1st Language 59 11 8 2 38 14 3 0 1 10 27 10 1 1 15
Salon Science

1 1 0 0 0
School Art 1 1 0 0 0

1 1 0 0 0
School Music (non-p) 5 2 0 0 3 3 0 0 0 3


Needs Assessment Report (Namibia)
40



Primary Primary and Secondary Secondary
Subject Total
Less
than
Gd 12
Gd 12
Gd 12 +
1 or 2
years
Gd
12+3
or
more
years
Total
Less
than
Gd 12
Gd 12
Gd 12 +
1 or 2
years
Gd 12+3
or more
years
Total
Less
than
Gd 12
Gd 12
Gd 12 +
1 or 2
years
Gd 12+3
or more
years
Setswana 1st Lang. 4 2 1 1 0

6 2 3 0 1
Sign Language 3 2 0 0 1 2 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 1 1
Silozi 1st Language 107 15 13 13 66 14 0 2 1 11 80 8 6 12 54
Social Studies 1989 468 164 145 1212



Needs Assessment Report (Namibia)
41

ANNEX 2: TEACHER APPOINTMENT REQUIREMENTS, GRADES AND SALARIES

POST DESCRIPTION GRADING SALARY SCALE (N$) MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS JOB DECSCRIPTION,
PERFORMANCE CRITERIA,
DEFINITION
School Management
i) Principal: Senior
Secondary School (i.e.
schools providing classes up
to Grade 12).
T4C 210,099 x P 232,770 A recognized 4-year tertiary
teaching qualification (or
equivalent) plus 6 years
teaching experience.
Responsibilities relative to
grade: implementing and
evaluation of teaching
programmes, teaching,
overhead supervision and
management and
administration of the school.

In-service development,
inspection and guidance of
staff members at the school.
ii) Principal: Combined /
Junior Secondary School (i.e.
schools providing classes up
to Grade 10).
T4C 210,099 x P 232,770 A recognized 3-year tertiary
teaching qualification (or
equivalent) plus 7 years
teaching experience.
As above
iii) Principal: Primary School
(formerly PI PIV).
T4C 210,099 x P 232,770 As above As above

School Management (continued)
iv) Deputy Principal: Senior
Secondary School.
T4A 179,463 x P 204,993 A recognized 4-year tertiary
teaching qualification (or
equivalent) plus 5 years
teaching experience.
Responsibilities relative to
grade: implementing and
evaluation of teaching
programmes, teaching,
supervision and management
and administration of the
school.

In-service development,
inspection and guidance of
staff members at the school.

Needs Assessment Report (Namibia)
42

School Management (continued)
v) Deputy Principal:
Primary/Junior Secondary
School.
T4A 179,463 x P 204,993 A recognized 3-year tertiary
teaching qualification (or
equivalent) plus 6 years
teaching experience.
As above
vi) Head of Department:
Senior Secondary School.
T4A 179,463 x P 204,993 A recognized 4-year tertiary
teaching qualification (or
equivalent) plus 5 years
teaching experience.
As above
vii) Head of Department:
Primary/Junior Secondary
School.
T4A 179,463 x P 204,993 A recognized 3-year tertiary
teaching qualification (or
equivalent) plus 6 years
teaching experience.
As above

Professionally Qualified Teachers
i) Teacher. T3B 129,354x P 174,357 A recognized 4-year
tertiary teaching
qualification.
Teaching.
ii) Teacher. T3A 88,152x P 125,112 A recognized 3-year
tertiary teaching
qualification.
As above

Professionally Un-qualified Teachers (appointed on contract and in a temporary capacity)
i) Teacher. T3B 129,354x P 174,357 A recognized 4-year
tertiary qualification.
Teaching
ii) Teacher. T3A 88,152x P 125,112 A recognized 3-year
tertiary qualification.
As above

Un-qualified and Professionally Under-Qualified Teachers (appointed on contract and in a temporary capacity)
i) Teacher. T2B 64,197 x P 75,372 A Grade 12 Certificate (or
equivalent) plus 2 years
teachers` training.
Teaching
ii) Teacher. T2A 58,275 xP 66,192 A Grade 12 Certificate (or
equivalent) plus 1 years
As above

Needs Assessment Report (Namibia)
43

Un-qualified and Professionally Under-Qualified Teachers (appointed on contract and in a temporary capacity)
teachers` training.
iii) Teacher. T1B 47,703 x P 54,147 A Grade 12 Certificate (or
equivalent).
As above
iv) Teacher. T1A 40,809 x P 46,569 A Grade 10 Certificate (or
equivalent).
As above
Source: MoE VACANCY LIST CIRCULAR (TEACHING POSTS FOR 2013)



Needs Assessment Report (Namibia)
44

ANNEX 3: LIST OF PERSONS CONSULTED

Title Initials/Name Surname Position Organisation
Ms Cecilia Barbieri Education Specialist UNESCO, Windhoek Office
Ms Maggie Beukes-Amiss

UNAM
Ms Bernice Boer

UNAM
Ms Edda Bohn Director: PQA Ministry of Education
Dr Fayking Chung Adviser to the Minister Ministry of Education HO
Mr Raimo Dengeinge Deputy Director: EMIS Ministry of Education
Ms Nathalie Houlou Education Officer EU Delegation to Namibia
Mr Erik Kemanya
Project Coordinator
UCCB UNAM
Dr Marius Kudumo Secretary General NN Commission for UNESCO
Mr Wilfred Kuria

Xnet Alliannce Trust
Dr Nchindo Mbukusa Deputy Director: CES UNAM
Ms Juanita Mller Head of Dept: EC&LPE UNAM
Ms Alina Nghipara Education Officer: LP NIED
Mr Jan Nitschke Deputy Director NAMCOL
Dr John Nyambe Director, CPD unit UNAM
Dr Hertha Pomuti Director: NIED Ministry of Education
Mr Raymond Simanga
Education Officer: pre-
service teacher ed. NIED
Dr Patti Swarts

GESCI
Mr Nyi Nyi Thaung Programme Specialist UNESCO HQ
Ms Sandra van Zyl
Director: Higher
Education Ministry of Education HO
Dr Charmaine Villet
Dean, Faculty of
Education UNAM


On 21 February 2013 there was a lively discussion with some 12 students and academic staff
of the Department of Early Childhood and Lower Primary Education at the Khomasdal
Campus of UNAM.

On 26 March the consultant made a presentation on the draft findings and
recommendations of the study to the UNAM Faculty of Education Board, followed by a
discussion. Some 60 of the 87 members were present.


Needs Assessment Report (Namibia)
45

ANNEX 4: REFERENCES

1. Bennell, P and Sayed, Y, with Hailombe, O. (2008). Teacher Supply and Demand for
Primary and Secondary Schooling in Namibia.
2. Castro, V, Duthilleul, Y and Caillods, F. (2007). Teacher absences in an HIV and AIDS
context: evidence from nine schools in Kavango and Caprivi (Namibia). IIEP/UNESCO.
3. Coombe, C, Bennell, P, Uugwanga, P and Wrighton,T. (1999). Ten-year plan for educator
development and support in Namibia. Ministry of Basic Education and Culture.
Windhoek.
4. Crebbin, W, Villet, C, Keyter, C, Engelbrecht, F and van der Mescht, H. (2008).
Consultancy to Develop Guidelines on Teacher Education Reform. Advisory Council on
Teacher Education and Training.
5. Makuwa, D. (2010). What are the levels and trends in reading and mathematics
achievement? SACMEQ.
6. Ellis, J and Du Vivier, E. (2012). Free Primary Education in Namibia. UNESCO.
7. Ellis, J. (2010). The National Education System: Namibia. Chapter in Baker, E., Peterson P.
and McGaw, B. International Encyclopedia of Education 3
rd
Edition. Oxford: Elsevier.
Faculty of Education. (2012). Faculty prospectus 2013. UNAM.
8. Gaines, P and Parkes A. (2012). Report on the development, implementation and
findings of the EGRA pilot in Hardap, Kavango and Oshikoto Regions: November 2011
May 2012. CfBT/EU.
9. Marope, M T. (2005). Namibia Human Capital and Knowledge Development for
Economic Growth with Equity. World Bank.
10. Ministry of Basic Education, Sport and Culture and Ministry of Higher Education, Training
and Employment Creation. (2005?). ICT Policy for Education.
11. Ministry of Education. (2012). EMIS 2012.
12. Ministry of Education. (2011). Press Release by the Minister of Education, Honourable Dr
Abraham Iyambo, on the Decisions by Cabinet on the outcome of the National
Conference on Education, 31 August 2011, Windhoek.
13. Ministry of Education. (2006). National Professional Standards for Teachers in Namibia.
Namibia Qualifications Authority.
14. Ministry of Education. (2005). The Strategic Plan for the Education and Training Sector
Improvement Programme (ETSIP): 2005 2020: Planning for a Learning Nation.
15. Ministry of Education. (2000). Report of the presidential commission on education,
culture and training: towards a learning nation, meeting the challenge of change.
16. Ministry of Education and Culture. (1993). Toward Education for All. Gamsberg
Macmillan. Windhoek.
17. Ministry of Higher Education, Vocational Training, Science and Technology. (1999).
Investing in People, Developing a Country. Gamsberg Macmillan.
18. NAMCOL. (2012). Statistical Digest 2011/2012
19. Namibia Statistics Agency. (2012). Namibia Household Income and Expenditure Survey
(NHIES) 2009/2010.
20. Namibia Statistics Agency. (2012). Namibia 2011 population and housing census basic
report.
21. National Planning Commission. (2012). Namibia 2011 population and housing census
preliminary results.

Needs Assessment Report (Namibia)
46

22. Storeng, M. (2001). Giving learners a chance: Learner-Centredness in the reform of
Namibian Teaching. Institute of International Education, Stockholm University.
23. Swarts, P, Bassi, R. and Wachira, E. (2009). Final Report: Review of Tech/Na!
implementation progress. GESCI.
24. UNAM. (2011). Annual Report 2011.
25. UNESCO Institute for Statistics. (2012). The global demand for primary teachers 2012
update. UIS Information Bulletin No 10.
26. Voigts. F. (1998). The quality of education: some policy suggestions based on a survey of
Schools: Namibia. IIEP/UNESCO.
27. Wolfaardt, D, Schier, C. (2011). English Language Proficiency Programme (ELPP): Report
on the findings of the needs assessment survey. Ministry of Education.

Needs Assessment Report (Namibia)
47

ANNEX 5: PERFORMANCE OF NAMIBIAN LEARNERS IN SACMEQ, SATS AND
EGRA

SACMEQ
In the first round of SACMEQ, in 1995, only 25.9% of grade 6 learners reached the minimum
level of mastery in reading literacy and a meagre 7.6% reached the desirable level.
61
The
northern regions of the country performed the poorest by a wide margin. Of the seven
countries participating in SACMEQ I at the time, Namibia was second from last with 472.9
points, just ahead of Malawi.
62
In the SACMEQ II project of 2000, Namibias grade 6 learners
scored 448.8 points for reading and 430.9 points for mathematics, again near the bottom of
the (by now) fifteen member league. In SACMEQ III of 2007, however, Namibia showed an
improvement in reading, with 496.9 points, while mathematics also showed improvement
at 471 points.
63
(SACMEQ scores are one of the high level result indicators in ETSIP.)
SACMEQ IV results are awaited.

SATs
In 2009 Namibia introduced a system of diagnostic testing of grade 5 and grade 7 learners,
in English and Mathematics, the Namibia National Standardized Achievement Test. The
result is a report for each school detailing how well learners have done on a long list of
topics. The grade 5 mathematics report for one school is nine pages long, for instance.
Grade 5 and grade 7 learners are tested in alternate years. The following tables show how
learners were categorised according to their performance levels.
Table 19: Categorization of grade 5 learners in mathematics in Namibian Standardised
Achievement Tests in 2009 and 2011, percentages

Category 2009 (% of
learners)
2011 (% of
learners)
Below basic achievement 46 43
Basic achievement 44 47
Above basic achievement 8 8
Excellent achievement 2 2
Source: Directorate of National Examinations and Assessment
Table 20: Categorization of grade 5 learners in English in Namibian Standardised

Achievement Tests in 2009 and 2011
Category 2009 (% of
learners)
2011 (% of
learners)
Below basic achievement 55 39
Basic achievement 30 39
Above basic achievement 10 16
Excellent achievement 5 6
Source: Directorate of National Examinations and Assessment

61
Voigts. F. (1998). The quality of education: some policy suggestions based on a survey of Schools: Namibia.
IIEP
62
Indcators table from www.sacmeq.org.
63
Makuwa, D. (2010). What are the levels and trends in reading and mathematics achievement? SACMEQ.

Needs Assessment Report (Namibia)
48

Table 21: Categorization of grade 7 learners in mathematics in Namibian Standardised

Achievement Tests in 2010 and 2012
Category 2010 (% of
learners)
2012 (% of
learners)
Below basic achievement 41 23
Basic achievement 45 60
Above basic achievement 11 14
Excellent achievement 3 2
Source: Directorate of National Examinations and Assessment
Table 22: Categorization of grade 7 learners in English in Namibian Standardised

Achievement Tests in 2010 and 2012
Category 2010 (% of
learners)
2012 (% of
learners)
Below basic achievement 36 27
Basic achievement 50 56
Above basic achievement 11 13
Excellent achievement 3 3
Source: Directorate of National Examinations and Assessment
EGRA

In 2012 the Ministry of Education piloted an Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) in
English and two Namibian languages (Oshindonga and Khoekhoegowab) in three regions
(Hardap, Kavango and Oshikoto). 984 learners in grades 2, 3 and 4 were tested. One cannot
draw conclusions for the whole country from this pilot. However, according to the report:
64


The findings show varied levels of performance, with the oral reading fluency subtask
yielding overall average scores of 13 correct words per minute (CWPM) in Khoekhoegowab
in Hardap, 29 CWPM in English in Kavango and 34 CWPM in Oshindonga in Oshikoto. No
standards yet exist for optimal performance in these tasks however accepted standards for
fluency rates for English first language reading are about 60 words per minute. Whilst it is
not appropriate to make direct comparisons between English and these languages, it is
probable that a rate below 30 words per minute will impede comprehension.



64
Gaines, P and Parkes A. (2012). Report on the development, implementation and findings of the EGRA pilot in Hardap,
Kavango and Oshikoto Regions: November 2011 May 2012. CfBT/EU.