18 November 2014: CDE guidance for completing CDE research proposals
South Africa’s Education Crisis 1994-2011 Overview of new 2013 CDE report and focus on mathematics...
-
Upload
clinton-snow -
Category
Documents
-
view
217 -
download
0
Transcript of South Africa’s Education Crisis 1994-2011 Overview of new 2013 CDE report and focus on mathematics...
South Africa’s Education Crisis 1994-2011
Overview of new 2013 CDE report and focus on mathematics
NicSpaull.comCDE – 17 October 2013
2
Outline
1. Overview of CDE report2. Overview of SA education system3. SA students performance in maths4. Mathematics item analysis5. Teacher content knowledge6. Way forward…
3
2013 CDE report: “South Africa’s Education Crisis”
1. Overview of South African children’s performance on local and international assessments of educational achievement (1995-2011)
2. Grade 6 teacher content knowledge in South Africa3. National Senior Certificate performance: retention & subject
choice4. Inequality of educational opportunity5. Insurmountable learning deficits 6. Transitions from school to work and tertiary institutions 7. Policy suggestions & conclusions
Bird’s-eye view of the South African
education system
Attai
nmen
tQ
ualit
yTy
pe
5
High SES background
+ECDHigh quality primary school
High quality
secondaryschool
Low SES background
Low quality primary school
Low quality secondary
school
Unequal society17%
Semi-Skilled (31%)
Unskilled(19%)
Unemployed
(Broad - 33%)
Labour Market
High productivity jobs and incomes (17%)
• Mainly professional, managerial & skilled jobs
• Requires graduates, good quality matric or good vocational skills
• Historically mainly white
Low productivity jobs & incomes
• Often manual or low skill jobs
• Limited or low quality education
• Minimum wage can exceed productivity
University/FET
• Type of institution (FET or University)
• Quality of institution • Type of qualification
(diploma, degree etc.)• Field of study
(Engineering, Arts etc.)
• Vocational training• Affirmative action
Majority (80%)
Some motivated, lucky or talented students make the transition
Minority (20%)
- Big demand for good schools despite fees
- Some scholarships/bursaries
cf. Servaas van der Berg – QLFS 2011
6
SA Gr8/9 maths performance 1995201119
95
1999
2002
2002
2011
2011
1995
1999
2002
2002
2011
2011
Grade 8 Grade 9 TIMSS middle-income country
Gr8 mean
Grade 8 Grade 9 TIMSS middle-income country
Gr8 mean
TIMSS Mathematics TIMSS Science
0
80
160
240
320
400
480
276 275 264 285352
433
260 243 244 268332
443
TIM
SS sc
ore
• Between 1995 and 2002 there was no improvement in Gr8 mathematics achievement• Between 2002 and 2011 there was a substantial improvement (approx. 1.5 grade levels) in Gr9 mathematics
achievement• Post-improvement level is still very low; the average SA Grade 9 pupil is two years worth of learning behind the
average Grade 8 pupil from 21 other middle-income countries in mathematics, and 2,8 years behind in science.
7
Rus
sian
Fed
erati
on
Lith
uani
a
Kaz
akhs
tan
Ukr
aine
Arm
enia
Rom
ania
Tur
key
Leb
anon
Mal
aysi
a
Geo
rgia
Tha
iland
Mac
edon
ia, R
ep. o
f
Tun
isia
Chi
le
Iran
, Isl
amic
Rep
. of
Jord
an
Pal
estin
ian
Nat
'l A
uth.
Bot
swan
a (G
r9)
Indo
nesi
a
Syr
ian
Ara
b Re
publ
ic
Mor
occo
Sou
th A
fric
a (G
r9)
Hon
dura
s (G
r9)
Gha
na
Qui
ntile
1
Qui
ntile
2
Qui
ntile
3
Qui
ntile
4
Qui
ntile
5
Inde
pend
ent
Middle-income countries South Africa (Gr9)
200
240
280
320
360
400
440
480
520
560
TIM
SS 2
011
Mat
hem
atics
scor
eFigure 2: Average Grade Eight mathematics test scores for middle-income countries participating in TIMSS 2011 (+95% confidence intervals around the mean)
8
NSES question 42NSES followed about 15000 students (266 schools) and tested them in Grade 3 (2007), Grade 4 (2008)
and Grade 5 (2009).
Grade 3 maths curriculum: “Can perform calculations using appropriate symbols to solve problems involving: division of at least 2-digit by 1-digit numbers”
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5Question 42
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
16% 19% 17% 17%
39%13% 10% 12% 12%
14%
13% 14% 14% 15%
13%
59% 57% 57% 55%
35%
Still wrong in Gr5Correct in Gr5Correct in Gr4Correct in Gr3
Even at the end of Grade 5 most (55%+) quintile 1-4 students cannot answer this simple Grade-3-level problem.
“The powerful notions of ratio, rate and proportion are built upon the simpler concepts of whole number, multiplication and division, fraction and rational number, and are themselves the precursors to the development of yet more complex concepts such as triangle similarity, trigonometry, gradient and calculus” (Taylor & Reddi, 2013: 194)
(Spaull & Viljoen, forthcoming)
9
NSES question 37NSES followed about 15000 students (266 schools) and tested them in Grade 3 (2007), Grade 4 (2008)
and Grade 5 (2009).
Grade 3 maths curriculum: “Can perform calculations using approp symbols to solve problems involving: MULTIPLICATION of at least 2-digit by 1-digit numbers”
Even at the end of Grade 5 more than a third of quintile 1-4 students cannot answer this simple Grade-3-level problem.
“The powerful notions of ratio, rate and proportion are built upon the simpler concepts of whole number, multiplication and division, fraction and rational number, and are themselves the precursors to the development of yet more complex concepts such as triangle similarity, trigonometry, gradient and calculus” (Taylor & Reddi, 2013: 194)Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5
Question 37
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
23% 29% 25% 29%
54%22%
18% 20%19%
17%
17% 17% 18%18%
11%38% 37% 37% 33%
18%
Still wrong in Gr5Correct in Gr5Correct in Gr4Correct in Gr3
(Spaull & Viljoen, forthcoming)
10
TIMSS 2011 Gr9
Systemic 2007: Grade 3 tested in HL 41% correctNSES 2009: Grade 5 tested in English 43% correct
SACMEQ 2007: Grade 6 tested in English 21% correct (c)
TIMSS 2011: Grade 9 tested in Engl/Afr 27% correct (b)
On a 4-choice MCQ random guessing would produce 25% correct on average
Systemic 2007 Gr3 NSES 2009 Gr5
SACMEQ 2007 Gr6
South African teacher content knowledge
12
Teacher Content Knowledge• Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences (2001, ch.2) recommends that
mathematics teachers need: – “A thorough mastery of the mathematics in several grades beyond that
which they expect to teach, as well as of the mathematics in earlier grades” (2001 report ‘The Mathematical Education of Teachers’)
• Ball et al (2008, p. 409) – “Teachers who do not themselves know the subject well are not likely to
have the knowledge they need to help students learn this content. At the same time just knowing a subject may well not be sufficient for teaching.”
• Shulman (1986, p. 9)– “We expect that the subject matter content understanding of the teacher
be at least equal to that of his or her lay colleague, the mere subject matter major”
13
South Africa specifically…
• Taylor & Vinjevold’s (1999, p. 230) conclusion in their book “Getting Learning Right” is particularly explicit:
• “The most definite point of convergence across the [President’s Education Initiative] studies is the conclusion that teachers’ poor conceptual knowledge of the subjects they are teaching is a fundamental constraint on the quality of teaching and learning activities, and consequently on the quality of learning outcomes.”
14
Carnoy & Chisholm (2008: p. 22) conceptual framework
Teacher knowledge
Student understands & can calculate
fractions
PCK – how to teach
fractions
CK – How to do
fractions
“For every increment of performance I demand from you, I have an equal responsibility to provide you with the capacity to meet that expectation. Likewise, for every investment you make in my skill and knowledge, I have a reciprocal responsibility to demonstrate some new increment in performance”
(Elmore, 2004b, p. 93).
Teachers cannot teach what they do not know.
Demonizing teachers is popular, but unhelpful
16
South Afri
ca
Philippines
Portuga
l
Icelan
d
Engla
nd
New Ze
aland
Lithuan
ia
Cypru
s
Latvia
(LSS
)
ZANZIB
AR
Romania
TIMSS
Gr8 Avg
Irelan
d
Switz
erlan
d
SOUTH
AFRICA
MOZAMBIQ
UE
Austria
Russian
Federa
tion
Bulgaria
Slova
k Rep
ublic
Belgium (F
l)
Czech Rep
ublic
SACMEQ
AVG.
Hong Kong
Korea
TANZA
NIAKEN
YA0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
24%
48%
Aver
age
perc
enta
ge co
rrec
t on
16 co
mm
on m
athe
mati
cs it
ems
SACMEQ Grade 6 teachers’ average correct response (dark red) and TIMSS Grade 8 average correct response (light red) on 16 items common to Gr 8 TIMSS Mathematics test 1995 and SACMEQ Grade 6 mathematics teachers test 2007
SA Gr6 Teachers
17
18
Solutions?
20
Possible solution…
• The DBE cannot afford to be idealistic in its implementation of teacher training and testing– Aspirational planning approach: All primary school mathematics teachers
should be able to pass the matric mathematics exam (benchmark = desirable teacher CK)
– Realistic approach: (e.g.) minimum proficiency benchmark where teachers have to achieve at least 90% in the ANA of the grades in which they teach, and 70% in Grade 9 ANA
(benchmark = basic teacher CK)
• Pilot the system with one district. Imperative to evaluate which teacher training option (of hundreds) works best in urban/rural for example. Rigorous impact evaluations are needed before selecting a program and then rolling it out
• Tests are primarily for diagnostic purposes not punitive purposes
Accountability stages...
• SA is a few decades behind many OECD countries. Predictable outcomes as we move from stage to stage. Loveless (2005: 7) explains the historical sequence of accountability movements for students – similar movements for teachers?
– Stage 1 – Setting standards (defining what students should learn),
– CAPS– Stage 2 - Measuring achievement
(testing to see what students have learned),– ANA
– Stage 3 - Holding educators & students accountable (making results count).
– Western Cape performance agreements?
21
3) Holding accountable
2) Measuring achievement
1) Setting standards
Stages in accountability movements:
TRAINING
“For every increment of performance I demand from you, I have an equal responsibility to provide you with the capacity to meet that expectation. Likewise, for every investment you make in my skill and knowledge, I have a reciprocal responsibility to demonstrate some new increment in performance” (Elmore, 2004b, p. 93).
22
When faced with an exceedingly low and unequal quality of education do we….
A) Increase accountability {US model}• Create a fool-proof highly specified, sequenced curriculum (CAPS/workbooks)• Measure learning better and more frequently (ANA)• Increase choice/information in a variety of ways
B) Improve the quality of teachers {Finnish model}• Attract better candidates into teaching degrees draw candidates from the top
(rather than the bottom) of the matric distribution• Increase the competence of existing teachers (Capacitation)• Long term endeavor which requires sustained, committed, strategic, thoughtful
leadership (something we don’t have)
C) All of the above {Utopian model}
• Perhaps A while we set out on the costly and difficult journey of B??
23
3 biggest challenges - SA
1.Failure to get the basics right• Children who cannot read, write and compute properly (Functionally
illiterate/innumerate) after 6 years of formal full-time schooling• Often teachers lack even the most basic knowledge
2.Equity in education• 2 education systems – dysfunctional system operates at bottom of African
countries, functional system operates at bottom of developed countries.• More resources is NOT the silver bullet – we are not using existing resources
3.Lack of accountability • Little accountability to parents in majority of school system• Little accountability between teachers and Department • Teacher unions abusing power and acting unprofessionally
24
Decreasing proportion of matrics taking mathematics
Matric 2008 (Gr 10 2006)
Matric 2009 (Gr 10 2007)
Matric 2010 (Gr 10 2008)
Matric 2011 (Gr 10 2009)
0
200000
400000
600000
800000
1000000
1200000
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%Grade 10 (2 years earlier) Grade 12 Those who pass matric
Pass matric with maths Proportion of matrics taking mathematics
Num
ber o
f stu
dent
s
Prop
ortio
n of
mat
rics (
%)
Numbers wrote maths
Numbers passed maths Maths pass rate Proportion taking
mathsProportion passing maths
2008 298 821 136 503 45,7% 56,1% 25,6%2009 290 407 133 505 46,0% 52,6% 24,2%2010 263 034 124 749 47,4% 48,8% 23,2%2011 224 635 104 033 46,3% 45,3% 21,0%
Table 4: Mathematics outputs since 2008 (Source: Taylor, 2012, p. 4)
25
Way forward?
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). Need the political will and public support for widespread reform.
2. Focus on the basics• Every child MUST master the basics of foundational numeracy and literacy these are the
building blocks of further education – weak foundations = recipe for disaster• Teachers need to be in school teaching (re-introduce inspectorate?)• Every teacher needs a minimum competency (basic) in the subjects they teach• Every child (teacher) needs access to adequate learning (teaching) materials• Use every school day and every school period – maximise instructional time
3. Increase information, accountability & transparency• At ALL levels – DBE, district, school, classroom, learner• Strengthen ANA• Set realistic goals for improvement and hold people accountable