Looking ahead for educational booksellers

SA Bookseller Association’s submission on the Draft LTSM policy
At the SA Booksellers AGM in September, Mr Allan Subban, Director: Enhancement of Programmes and Evaluation of School Performance, DBE addressed Booksellers on the Governments future plans for Learner Teacher Support Materials (LTSM). The conference room was hushed and a nervous level of attention was tangible as a few key educational publishers stood at the back of the room, or sat where they could find a space.

Heavy questions sat in the air around the threat of the Draft National Policy For The Provision And Management Of Learning And Teaching Support Material, which was only to be posted for public comment the following week. It was not a surprise for most of the book trade. There have been various hints that it was coming, and yet, the policy certainly got the industry hopping as the actual possibility regarding the proposal that ‘each catalogue will list one book per subject per grade per language’ became a looming reality. That along with the detailing of a centralized procurement model, leveled a death knell to the hearts of many in the room.
However, Mr Subban did offer some words of support for the booksellers he was addressing. He said that there is a “role to play by booksellers”, he understood that “booksellers are able to get to the deep rural schools”, he mentioned that the focus areas of the SA Booksellers Association should be to “support Government, collect statistics and work with publishers”, he said that “booksellers do have a role at central procurement”, and he finished off his address by saying that “it is not the end of the book but there are chapters that will be closed”.
The draft policy was posted for public comment and a storm of submissions were sent to the department outlining the disastrous effects that this could have on the book creation industry as whole and the actual education of our children. The media has been awash with comments from educators and associations. The department is currently reviewing the submissions and we await their feedback.
The submission from the SA Booksellers Association, focussed first on the issues surrounding centralised procurement, which affect our educational members directly. The submission appealed to the DBE to permit schools that are capable, to procure books – both core and supplementary – from SA Booksellers Association members of their choice. The submission pointed out that members are required to comply with a Code of Ethics. Schools have built long standing relationships with their booksellers and know that they can trust their preferred bookseller to execute orders, expedite deliveries and render after sales service.
“Compelling all schools to purchase on the proposed centralised model will quickly destroy all stock holding educational bookshops in our country as they will have very few customers. Using a number of independent booksellers to service at least a part of your requirements will prevent significant job losses and will confirm Government’s commitment to economic growth by advancing the development of Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises and historically disadvantaged individuals,” it pointed out.
With reference to the Two Tier Procurement Model, there appears to be some uncertainty with regards to the implementation of a centralised versus decentralised procurement model and it is important that SA Bookseller Association members understand whether both models will be implemented and run at the same time.
“It is stipulated that the centralised procurement model will apply to ALL public schools and will be for the procurement of core LTSM and other essential LTSM such as Science apparatus, whilst the decentralised procurement model will allow schools to purchase supplementary material individually, using retailers of their choice.
The draft policy also stipulates that the decentralised procurement model will be adopted for the procurement of supplementary LTSM by Section 21.1.c schools at school level. It goes on to say that “This model may also be used by provinces for the procurement and distribution of certain categories of supplementary LTSM “, so removing the only area of procurement clearly left for independent retailers.”
In the SA Booksellers submission, it was suggested that the above procurement models be defined more clearly. It then went on to consider how SA Bookseller members can continue to serve the Department of Education in various ways:

• Booksellers can assist with the centralised procurement model in which provinces or the DBE procure Core and other essential LTSM such as Science, Technology, Mathematics, Biology Apparatus, particularly in view of the suggested Provincial, as well as individual school LTSM Committees. SABA can share their expertise to assist with LTSM Procurement and Distribution Plans.
• Whilst clarity/confirmation is still required in terms of the Two Tier Procurement Model, SABA members are certainly in a position to assist with a decentralised procurement model which allows for school-level procurement of supplementary LTSM for Section 21.1.c. schools based on the preference of an individual school and managed by the school’s LTSM Committee. Once again may we re-iterate that schools have built long lasting, trusted relationships with their preferred bookseller(s) over the years.
• The Draft Policy states under the heading ‘Ordering’ – ‘The consolidated orders will be placed with publishers/suppliers or delivered by the state’. Booksellers are specialist suppliers who are worthy of your support and we request that a mechanism for distribution of part of your orders through booksellers be devised.

Regarding the proposal that each catalogue will list one book per subject per grade per language, The SA Booksellers Association proposal drew the departments attention to a study conducted worldwide on a single textbook environment and quoted:
Sole source supply, unless professionally supervised, provides opportunities for corruption because large sums of money are available on the basis of a single national decision.
On balance, there are considerable advantages to a choice of textbooks over a single monopoly textbook, simply because it is extremely unlikely that a single textbook can meet the requirements of widely differing schools in the same country. A textbook which suits the needs of a well-funded, well-resourced, well-equipped urban school with relatively small classes, well-qualified teachers and good furniture which can easily be moved to support group work and pair work situations, will not easily fulfil the needs of an overcrowded, under-resourced rural classroom with untrained teachers where many students will be sitting on the ground and where desks and benches are at a premium and are not easily manipulated into different learning configurations. Multiple textbook choice can provide something for each of these extreme situations, which is not available in single choice textbook environments.
Also, there is evidence that schools have greater ownership of textbooks that they choose themselves. Finally in multiple choice situations, competitive pressures tend to force Publishers to upgrade their textbooks to meet the standards set by rival publications and also to compete actively on price.
In its simplest form centralised supply is associated with monopoly textbook provision systems (either commercial or state) and is based upon a central authority deciding how many titles and copies each school in the country requires. It is impossible for a centralised authority to know the current supply situation in every school in the country and thus centralised supply tends to be characterised by considerable inaccuracy and waste of scarce resources. Many EMIS systems attempt to collect data on school textbook stocks, but practical experience suggests that the data are rarely accurate and are open to considerable interpretation. Also, the cost and management stress of maintaining individual school stock records can be high.
As a general rule, decentralised ordering by individual schools tends to be a more accurate reflection of school needs and to be less wasteful of scare resources that in centralised systems. Decentralised ordering and supply requires accountable distribution systems where the distributors are paid on proven successful delivery.
Reference:

Learning and teaching materials: policy and practice for provision

SABA Submission on Draft LTSM Policy_6 October 2014