1

University of Education, Winneba - Ghana

Comparative analysis of performance of eighth graders from six African countries

Professor Asabere-Ameyaw, A. Professor Asabere-Ameyaw, A. Vice Chancellor, University of Education, Winneba Vice Chancellor, University of Education, Winneba

P. O Box 25, Winneba GhanaP. O Box 25, Winneba GhanaTel. +233 24 4323186, Fax: +233 432 22361, Tel. +233 24 4323186, Fax: +233 432 22361,

Kofi D. Mereku (PhD)Dean, Faculty of Science Education, University of Education, Winneba

P. O Box 25, Winneba Ghana Tel. +233 (20) 6210229, Fax: +233 432 22361

E-mail: dkmereku@uew.edu.gh

&

By

2

Areas of coverageAreas of coverage

• What was TIMSS-2003?

• Which countries were involved?

• Achievement in mathematics and science

• Contextual factors

• Conclusion & Recommendations

3

What was TIMSS-2003?What was TIMSS-2003?• TIMSS-2003 was an international

study in science and mathematics achievement.

• Was designed to measure students’ achievement and trends in achievement;

• It also examined the contexts for learning mathematics and science.

4

Who carried out TIMSS-2003?Who carried out TIMSS-2003?• A National Research Coordinator

appointed by the Ministry of Education of each participating country was responsible for implementing the study in that country.

• Research Coordinators and their team worked with a number of foreign research organizations during the different phases of the study.

5

Countries participating in TIMSS-2003Countries participating in TIMSS-2003

• Forty-six countries around the world participated in the TIMSS-2003, with six of them from Africa.

• Those from Africa were - Botswana, Egypt, Ghana, Morocco, Tunisia, and South Africa

6

AFRICAAFRICA

Tunisia

Egypt

Morocco

Ghana

Botswana

South Africa

7

What did participation in TIMSS-2003 What did participation in TIMSS-2003 mean to African countries?mean to African countries?

• The opportunity to examine students’ (eighth graders) achievement in mathematics and science using an international yardstick i.e. what students know and can do.

• Opportunities for cross-cultural comparisons

• It also provided rich information on the context for the teaching and learning of mathematics and science in African schools which could be used to identify strengths and weaknesses in teaching and learning of these subjects.

8

Overview of African students’ Overview of African students’ achievementachievement

• The overall performance of the students from the participating African countries on the science and mathematics tests was very low.

• In science, the mean country score for all the African countries was 347.5 as compared to the international country mean of 467.

• In mathematics, the mean country score for all the African states was 353 as compared to the international country mean score of 474.

Summary of science and mathematics achievement scores by region

9

Overall science achievementMean Score

Overall mathematics achievementMean Score

North African States 407 404

Sub-Sahara African States

288 302

African States pooled 347.5 353

All participating States 467 474

10

Table 1(a). The overall mean SCIENCE ACHIEVEMENT SCORES

CountryOverall Mean Science Achievement (SE)

Overall Rank of country’s Science scale score

Singapore 578 (4.3) 1

Chinese Taipei 571 (3.5) 3

Korea 558 (1.6) 2

Japan 552 (1.7) 6

England 544 (4.1) **

USA 527 (3.1) 9

Malaysia 510 (3.7) 20

International Average

474 (0.6) -

Egypt 421 (3.9) 36

Tunisia 404 (2.1) 39

Morocco 396 (2.5) 41

Botswana 365 (2.8) 44

Ghana 255 (5.9) 45

South Africa 244 (6.7) 46

*Standard error in parenthesis. **Scale scores for England were not included in the ranking

11

Table 1(b). The overall mean MATHEMATICS ACHIEVEMENT SCORES

Country

Overall Mean Mathematics Achievement (SE*)

Overall Rank of country’s Mathematics scale score

Singapore 605 (3.6) 1

Korea 589 (2.2) 2

Chinese Taipei 585 (4.6) 4

Japan 570 (2.1) 5

Malaysia 508 (4.1) 10

England 498 (4.7) **

USA 498 (4.7) 15

International Average

467 (0.5) -

Tunisia 410 (2.2) 36

Egypt 406 (3.5) 37

Morocco 396 (2.5) 41

Botswana 366 (2.6) 43

Ghana 276 (4.7) 45

South Africa 264 (5.5) 46

*Standard error in parenthesis. **Scale scores for England were not included in the ranking

12

Overview of African students’ Overview of African students’ achievement (contd.)achievement (contd.)

• The performance of Ghana and South Africa were the lowest

• Egypt obtained the highest mean score in science while Tunisia got the highest mean in mathematics.

• North African countries performed significantly better than the Sub-Saharan African countries.

13

Overall mean achievement of Overall mean achievement of boys and girlsboys and girls

• There was no significant difference between boys and girls in Botswana, Egypt and South Africa.

• The 3 other countries – Ghana, Morocco and Tunisia - showed differences in favour of boys.

14

International Benchmarks (contd.)International Benchmarks (contd.)• Four points on the mathematics and science

scales were designated as International Benchmarks and defined as follows:

Advanced International Benchmark corresponds to a scale score of 625,

High International Benchmark corresponds to a scale score of 550,

Intermediate International Benchmark corresponds to a scale score of 475, and

Low International Benchmark corresponds to a scale score of 400.

15

Table 5 Percentages of Students Reaching International Benchmarks of Science Achievement

Countries

Percentage of students reaching international benchmark of science achievement

Advanced High Intermediate Low

International Average

6 25 54 78

Egypt 1 10 33 59

Morocco 0 1 13 48

Tunisia 0 1 12 52

Botswana 0 1 10 35

South Africa 1 3 6 13

Ghana 0 0 3 13

16

Table 5 Percentages of Students Reaching International Benchmarks of Science Achievement

Countries

Percentage of students reaching international benchmark of science achievement

Advanced High Intermediate Low

International Average

6 24 51 75

Egypt 1 6 24 52

Morocco 0 1 10 42

Tunisia 0 1 15 55

Botswana 0 1 7 32

South Africa 0 2 6 10

Ghana 0 0 2 9

17

Proportion of students reaching the TIMSS Proportion of students reaching the TIMSS 2003 International benchmarks for Science2003 International benchmarks for Science

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

GHANA SOUTH AFRICA BOTSWANA TUNISIA MOROCCO EGYPT INTERNATIONALAVERAGE

COUNTRY/INTERNATIONAL AVERAGE

PE

RC

EN

TA

GE

(%

)

ADVANCED INTERNATIONAL BENCHMARKHIGH INTERNATIONAL BENCHMARKINTERMEDIATE INTERNATIONAL BENCHMARKLOW INTERNATIONAL BENCHMARK

Proportion of students reaching the TIMSS 2003 Proportion of students reaching the TIMSS 2003 International benchmarks for MathematicsInternational benchmarks for Mathematics

18

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

GHANA SOUTH AFRICA BOTSWANA TUNISIA MOROCCO EGYPT INTERNATIONALAVERAGE

COUNTRIES/INTERNATIONAL AVERAGE

PE

RC

EN

TAG

E (%

)

ADVANCED INTERNATIONAL BENCHMARKHIGH INTERNATIONAL BENCHMARKINTERMEDIATE INTERNATIONAL BENCHMARKLOW INTERNATIONAL BENCHMARK

19

International Benchmarks (contd.)International Benchmarks (contd.)

• It was only in Egypt that 1% of the students reached the high or advanced international benchmarks in both science and mathematics.

• Generally about 75% of the students in sub-Saharan Africa and about 50% in the North African states did not reach the low international benchmark.

• The implication is that majority of our students do not have a good grasp of knowledge and conceptual understanding of basic mathematical principles and have poor knowledge and weak grasp of scientific concepts which are lower level cognitive competencies.

20

Contextual frameworkContextual framework for learning for learning

Science and Mathematics in African countriesScience and Mathematics in African countries • To provide a context for interpreting the

achievement results, detailed information were gathered from subject specialists national coordinators, students, teachers and head teachers on:– students’ backgrounds, attitudes towards

science and mathematics, resources for learning in their homes, and the activities they engage in after school,

– teachers’ background, – classroom and school characteristics.

21

Contextual factors considered in Contextual factors considered in presentation presentation

• In this presentation, only a few of the contextual factors are considered. These are– Students’ frequency of speaking language of test in the

home

– Index of good school and class attendance

– Head teachers’ reports on the percentages of students in their schools coming from Economically Disadvantaged Homes

– Teachers’ qualifications

– Differentiation of the curriculum

– Exposure to national and international exams

– Use technology in classrooms - computer and calculator usage.

22

Speaking Language of test in the home and Speaking Language of test in the home and economically disadvantaged students

Percentage of

students speaking language of test at home always or almost always

% of Students in

Schools with more than 50% Economically Disadvantaged Students (EDS)

Botswana 11 38

Egypt 75 42

Ghana 33 71

Morocco 53 79

South Africa 27 65

Tunisia 64 59

23

Teachers’ QualificationTeachers’ Qualification

  Percentage of Teachers whose highest educational level is INITIAL

UNIVERSITY DEGREE OR BEYOND

Mathematics Science

Botswana 8 38

Egypt 100 100

Ghana 8 9

Morocco 7 34

South Africa 34 28

Tunisia 83 98

Percentage of students at each level of the Index of Good School and Class Attendance in selected countries

24

Country

Levels of the Index

High Medium Low

International Averages 23 58 19Egypt 47 37 16Morocco 26 56 18Tunisia 17 60 23Botswana 5 62 33Ghana 8 69 23South Africa 6 50 44

Participation in national and international exams

25

CountryGrades Tested in National Exams

Grades Tested in TIMSS and PISA

Egypt 5, 8 10, 11 8

Morocco 12 4,8

Tunisia 9, 12 4,8,15

Botswana 7, 10, 12 8

Ghana 9, 12 8

South Africa 12 8

Use of Technology: Computers and calculatorsUse of Technology: Computers and calculators

26

Country

Science MathematicsNational Curriculum Contains Policies or Statements About the Use of Computers

Students (%) Whose Teachers Reported that Computers are not Available

National Curriculum Contains Policies or Statements About the Use of Calculators

Students (%) Whose Teachers Reported that Calculators are not Available

Botswana 95 (2.0) 87 (4.5)Egypt - 0 (0.0)Ghana 91 (2.9) 61 (5.0)Morocco 86 (3.4) 1 (1.1)

South Africa 87 (2.4) 6 (1.8)

Tunisia 65 (4.4) 44 (4.6)Singapore 21 (2.2) 0 (0.0)

( → No, → Yes)

27

Use of Technology: Computers and calculatorsUse of Technology: Computers and calculators • Though the national curricula of some of

the African countries contain policy statements about the use of computers and calculators in the science and mathematics curricula, over 85% of the teachers (except those in Tunisia) reported that computers were not available in their schools.

• African countries are among those that make the least use of the technology (i.e. calculators and computers) in their curricula.

28

Use of Technology: Computers and Use of Technology: Computers and calculators (contd.)calculators (contd.)

• It was observed that students’ performance in the two subjects were high in countries which encouraged the use of the technology.

• Singapore, for example, where the best results were reported in both subjects, practices the use of technology.

Contextual factors that influenced Contextual factors that influenced the poor performancethe poor performance

• Teachers with no university degree or its equivalent in teaching science and mathematics

• Students learning science and mathematics in environments with low indices of good school and class attendance

• Lack of provision for differentiation of the content of the science and mathematics curricula to meet the learning needs of groups of students

with different levels of abilities.

29

Contextual factors that influenced the Contextual factors that influenced the poor performance (contd.)poor performance (contd.)

• Students frequently speaking languages (local) other than the language of test in the home

• Head teachers’ reports on the percentages of students in their schools coming from Economically Disadvantaged Homes

• Low participation in public, national or international assessment exercises

• Little use of technology (i.e. computers and calculators) in the science and mathematics curricula.

30

31

ConclusionConclusion

• The foundation for training science and mathematics human resource in Africa is in general weak;

• African countries are among those that make the least use of technology in their science and mathematics curricula.

• That most students could not reach the low international benchmark implies most young students in Africa cannot apply scientific principles and systems to solve problems (advanced benchmark),

• In addition, they are not able to combine information and interpret data presented in tables and graphs to draw conclusions and to solve problems (high benchmark).

32

RecommendationRecommendation

• African countries should examine the contexts within which teaching and learning of mathematics and science take place (TIMSS can help);

• Provision of resources for teaching and learning science and maths;

• NEPAD to constitute a team to monitor and support learning of these subjects at pre-tertiary level.

33

To succeed Africa needs to do things differently

THANK YOU