Understanding primary school performance in

Southern Africa (SACMEQ)

Nicholas Spaullnicspaull.com/research

nicholasspaull@gmail.com

30th AEAA Conference – Gaborone10 Aug 2012

Full paper available at:

http://www.sacmeq.org/downloads/Working%20Papers/

08_Comparison_Final_18Oct2011.pdf

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

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.

Distribution of student

performance

WCA

LIM

Looking specifically at South Africa

South Africa: Socioeconomic breakdown

SA primary school: Gr6 Literacy – SACMEQ III (2007)

Never enrolled 2%

Functionally illiterate

25%

Basic skills46%

Higher order skills : 27%

17

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

Grade 6 Literacy – SA & Namibia

Public current expenditure

per pupil: $1225Public current expenditure

per pupil: $668

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

Teacher knowledge

Maths teacher content knowledgeSACMEQ III

Preschool incidence

Grade repetition

Free school meals

Resources the issue?

More maths textbooks

More reading textbooks

Accountability: teacher absenteeism(SACMEQ III – 2007 – 996 teachers)

4th/154th/15

29

Accountability: teacher absenteeism(SACMEQ III – 2007 – 996 teachers)

15th/1515th/15

20 days (1 month)20 days

(1 month)30

Conclusions, questions &

recommendations

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

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

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

Thank youwww.nicspaull.com/research

nicholasspaull@gmail.com@NicSpaull