The Decision Methods module establishes the logical criteria used by the system to determine whether a Learner is promoted, retained, or progressed. These rules are configured per educational phase and are essential for generating accurate year-end results and promotion schedules.
My School > Curriculum > Promotion Requirements: Decision Methods
The Decision Methods setup ensures that:
Statutory Compliance: Schools can implement official Department of Education (DOE) progression and promotion criteria.
Customised Academic Standards: Independent schools can define their own internal pass/fail logic.
Automated Results: The system automatically calculates verdicts (e.g., "Promoted") by comparing Learner marks against the defined calculation rules.
Standardised Reporting: Codes and descriptions are uniform across all report cards and schedules.
Select the Year and the Learning Phase (e.g., Senior Phase or FET).
Click the Add button at the top of the screen.
Names: Enter a descriptive name for the method in both English and Afrikaans.
Type: Select whether this method is for a Promotion result or an Endorsement (e.g., Bachelor’s Degree/Diploma).
Note: If your school uses internal criteria rather than standard DOE methods, it is recommended to copy an existing DOE method and modify the specific calculation rules to save time.
Navigate to the Decision tab and click Add.
Select a result from the Decision dropdown:
Promoted: Learner has met all requirements.
Retained: Learner has not met requirements and must repeat the grade.
Progression with Adjustment: Learner progressed based on adjusted marks.
Progressed due to Phase/Age: Learner progressed based on age or phase duration limits.
Codes and Descriptions: Fill in the short codes (e.g., P, R, PROG) and the full descriptions in both languages.
Click Save.
Navigate to the Calculation Rules tab.
Click Add to input the specific pass requirements or concessions.
Define the criteria (e.g., Must pass Home Language at 50% or Must pass any 3 subjects at 40%).
Repeat this process for all decisions required for the phase.
Click Save to commit the entire method to the database.
Rule-Based Engine: Once a method is saved and linked to a grade, the system evaluates every Learner's final marks against these rules to generate a verdict automatically.
Inheritance: The system sets the Learning Phase as a default based on your initial selection. This ensures that FET rules are not accidentally applied to Foundation Phase Learners.
Locked Phase Selection: The Learning Phase cannot be changed once the method creation has started.
Reason: This prevents data cross-contamination and ensures that specific phase logic remains isolated for reporting accuracy.
Sequential Logic: Calculation rules must be assigned to a specific decision (e.g., "Promoted").
Reason: The system requires a "container" for the logic to know which result to trigger when the criteria are met.