Understanding primary school performance in Southern Africa (SACMEQ) Nicholas Spaull
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Understanding primary school performance in
Southern Africa (SACMEQ)
Nicholas Spaullnicspaull.com/research
30th AEAA Conference – Gaborone10 Aug 2012
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Full paper available at:
http://www.sacmeq.org/downloads/Working%20Papers/
08_Comparison_Final_18Oct2011.pdf
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SACMEQ
Southern and Eastern African Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality
14 participating countries 61,396 Grade 6 students
8,026 Grade 6 teachers
2,779 primary schools
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
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Research propositions
1. Students should be functionally literate and numerate by the 6th year of primary schooling.
2. Students cannot learn if their teachers are not present, in school, teaching (teacher absenteeism).
3. Teachers cannot teach what they do not know (teacher knowledge).
4. Hungry children have difficulty learning.
5. Textbooks are a fundamental pedagogical tool especially in poorer, text-deprived schools.
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Distribution of student
performance
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WCA
LIM
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Looking specifically at South Africa
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South Africa: Socioeconomic breakdown
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SA primary school: Gr6 Literacy – SACMEQ III (2007)
Never enrolled 2%
Functionally illiterate
25%
Basic skills46%
Higher order skills : 27%
17
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Grade 6 Literacy – SA & Kenya
SA Gr 6 Literacy Kenya Gr 6 Literacy25% 7%5%1%
46%49%
39%
27%
Public current expenditure
per pupil: $1225Public current expenditure
per pupil: $258 18
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Grade 6 Literacy – SA & Namibia
Public current expenditure
per pupil: $1225Public current expenditure
per pupil: $668
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Regional comparisons
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CountryTotal population
(mil)
Adult literacy
rate
Net Enrolment
Rate (2008)
GNP/cap PPP
US$ (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
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Teacher knowledge
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Maths teacher content knowledgeSACMEQ III
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Preschool incidence
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Grade repetition
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Free school meals
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Resources the issue?
More maths textbooks
More reading textbooks
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Accountability: teacher absenteeism(SACMEQ III – 2007 – 996 teachers)
4th/154th/15
29
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Accountability: teacher absenteeism(SACMEQ III – 2007 – 996 teachers)
15th/1515th/15
20 days (1 month)20 days
(1 month)30
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Conclusions, questions &
recommendations
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1. High provincial inequality in SA, NAM and MOZ2. Unacceptably high levels of functional illiteracy/innumeracy in
SA, NAM, and MOZ 3. Unacceptably high levels of teacher absenteeism in SA4. Unacceptably high levels of grade repetiton in MOZ5. Unacceptably low levels of textbook access in SA + NAM6. Very low levels of preschool access in Botswana (given its
education spend per pupil)7. Low access to free school meals in Namibia
Conclusions
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1.How is it possible that more Mozambican students have access to their own textbooks than SA /NAM students, and this when SA spends 15 times as much per child than Mozambique?
2.Why do Namibian students do much worse on numeracy tests than on literacy tests?
3.Why is it acceptable in South Africa for teachers to be absent (unjustifiably) for an entire month?
4.Why is preschool education so uncommon in Botswana? (especially given the international research showing cognitive benefits of ECE)
5.For each country, what is the low-hanging fruit?
Questions
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GET THE BASICS RIGHT• Get all schools in the country to minimum quality standards in both basic infrastructure
(water, electricity, desks, and so on) and in educational performance (numeracy and literacy milestones by certain grades); – Set clear and succinct goals that everyone must follow. For example, “Every child will read and write by the
age of eight”; also provide parents with feedback on how their children are performing
• All children should have access to a quality textbook – Textbook campaign + survey schools to check access & use
• All teachers should be in class teaching for the full school day– Teacher inspectorate
• Pupils who are mal-nourished should receive free school meals– Roll-out free school meals starting with most under-resourced communities
• All pupils should attend at least one year of quality preschool education– Define curriculum and resource requirements and train Reception teachers
• All teachers must have a minimum level of content knowledge in the subjects that they teach– Teacher board exam?
Recommendations
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