Understanding primary school performance in Southern Africa (SACMEQ) Nicholas Spaull nicspaull.com/research 30 th AEAA Conference – Gaborone 10 Aug 2012

Full paper available at: sacmeq.org/downl oads/Working%20Papers/08_Comparis on_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 6 th 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 skills 46% Higher order skills : 27% 17

Grade 6 Literacy – SA & Kenya SA Gr 6 Literacy Kenya Gr 6 Literacy 25% 7% 5%1% 46% 49% 39% 27% Public current expenditure per pupil: $1225 Public current expenditure per pupil: $258 18

Grade 6 Literacy – SA & Namibia Public current expenditure per pupil: $1225 Public current expenditure per pupil: $668

Regional comparisons

Country Total 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 %87% % 3 Mozambique %80% % Namibia %89% % 3 South Africa %87% % Source (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 Botswana10.6 days10.62%22.48%63%62% Mozambique6.4 days21.51%32.73%53%52% Namibia9.4 days13.63%47.69%32% South Africa19.4 days27.26%40.17%45%36% SA in regional context

Teacher knowledge

Maths teacher content knowledge SACMEQ 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) 4 th /15 29

Accountability: teacher absenteeism (SACMEQ III – 2007 – 996 teachers) 15 th /15 20 days (1 month) 20 days (1 month) 30

Conclusions, questions & recommendations

1.High provincial inequality in SA, NAM and MOZ 2.Unacceptably high levels of functional illiteracy/innumeracy in SA, NAM, and MOZ 3.Unacceptably high levels of teacher absenteeism in SA 4.Unacceptably high levels of grade repetiton in MOZ 5.Unacceptably low levels of textbook access in SA + NAM 6.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 you