Understanding primary school performance in Southern Africa (SACMEQ) Nicholas Spaull nicspaull.com/research [email protected].

Understanding primary school performance in

Southern Africa (SACMEQ)

Nicholas Spaullnicspaull.com/research

[email protected]

SACMEQ

Southern and Eastern African Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality

14 participating countries

SACMEQ II (2000), SACMEQ III (2007)

Background survey

Testing :

o Gr 6 Numeracy

o Gr 6 Literacy

o HIV/AIDS Health knowledge

SACMEQ: South Africa

9071 Grade 6 students

1163 Grade 6 teachers

392 primary schools

Background: Data

Distribution of student

performance

WCA

LIM

SA in regional context

Looking specifically at South Africa

South Africa: Socioeconomic breakdown

0.0

02.0

04.0

06.0

08

Den

sity

0 200 400 600 800 1000Learner Reading Score

Poorest 25% Second poorest 25%Second wealthiest 25% Wealthiest 25%

Language PIRLS Gr 5 (Shepherd, 2011)

0.0

01

.00

2.0

03

.00

4.0

05

kden

sity

re

ad

ing

te

st s

core

0 200 400 600 800reading test score

African language schools English/Afrikaans schools

0.0

05.0

1.0

15.0

2.0

25D

ensity

0 20 40 60 80 100Numeracy score 2008

Ex-DET/ Homelands schools Historically white schools

Ex-Department NSES Gr 4 (Taylor, 2011)

Socioeconomic statusSACMEQ Gr 6 (Spaull, 2011)

SA Bimodality – fact, no longer theory

Two education systems not one

Regional comparisons

CountryTotal population

(mil)

Adult literacy

rate

Net Enrolment

Rate (2008)

GNP/cap PPP

US$ (2008)

Public Current expenditure on

primary education per pupil (unit

cost) 2007 – [PPP constant 2006 US$]

Survival rate to

Grade 5: school year

ending 2007

Botswana 1.92 83% 87% 13100 1228 89%3

Mozambique 22.38 54% 80% 770 792 60%

Namibia 2.13 88% 89% 6270 668 87%3

South Africa 49.67 89% 87% 9780 1225 98%Source

(UNESCO, 2011) (UNESCO, 2011) (UNESCO, 2011) (UNESCO, 2011) (UIS, 2009) (UNESCO, 2011)

SACMEQ III (2007)

Self-reported teacher absenteeism

Proportion of Grade 6 students functionally

illiterate

Proportion of Grade 6 students functionally

innumerate

Proportion of students with own reading

textbook

Proportion of students with own mathematics

textbook

Botswana 10.6 days 10.62% 22.48% 63% 62%

Mozambique 6.4 days 21.51% 32.73% 53% 52%

Namibia 9.4 days 13.63% 47.69% 32% 32%

South Africa 19.4 days 27.26% 40.17% 45% 36%

SA in regional context

Textbooks

Resources the issue?

More maths textbooks

More reading textbooks

Questions, conclusions &

recommendations

1.How is it possible that more Mozambican students have access to their own textbooks than SA students, and this when SA spends 15 times as much per child than Mozambique? (workbook delivery?)

2.How is possible that Limpopo performs worse than all 40 other provinces in SA/Namibia/Botswana/Mozambique?

3.Why is it acceptable in South Africa for teachers to be absent (unjustifiably) for an entire month?

4.Do we really know what is wrong with our system? If so, why has it taken so long to fix it?

• LOLT? Unions? Teacher training?

Questions

• Speaking of a single education system in SA is a misnomer – the average South African student does not exist in any meaningful sense.

Bimodality is a fact.

• South Africa is not able to convert material advantage into cognitive skills Highly inefficient

• While the survey was conducted in 2007, and things may have changed, the outcomes certainly haven’t (see ANA’s, 2011; and (?) PIRLS/TIMSS 2012) More of the same?

Conclusions

Serious blight on the national conscience

Persistent patterns of poverty and privilege

1. Acknowledge the extent of the problem • Low quality education is one of the three largest crises facing our country

(along with HIV/AIDS and unemployment)

2. Experiment to figure out what works• More of the same hasn’t worked Need to try new things and rigorously

evaluate them to see what works. – Workbooks & ANA’s are a positive sign– Failed programmes provide useful information when acknowledged & disseminated.

3. Increase accountability, information & transparency• Where is the money going? • Deal ruthlessly with corruption – this is a social crime. • For at least one grade (Gr6?) get ANA externally validated by an

independent body like Umalusi and get this information to parents need to empower parents with information in an accessible format

Recommendations

Thank youwww.nicspaull.com/research

[email protected]@NicSpaull