Addition sums on a chalk board File Picture
EDUCATION experts are calling for a renewed focus on foundational teaching methods to address the decline in mathematics performance among Grade 5 and 9 pupils, as highlighted by the latest TIMSS results.
The mathematics experts were reacting to the results of the 2023 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), which is released every four years.
In the latest cycle, TIMSS measured mathematics and science achievements in the fourth and eighth grades in 64 countries. South Africa assessed students in their fifth and ninth years of schooling to better match curricula and maintain trend measurement.
The study found that South Africa’s Grade 5 pupils ranked last in the maths results while the Grade 9 pupils ranked in the bottom 10 countries. Most countries’ scores fell within the range of 400 to 600 points. The 400 benchmark relates to pupils who demonstrate basic mathematical understanding, while above 600, pupils can select and relate information to implement appropriate operations to solve problems.
Professor Nicky Roberts, who is the director of Kelello and extraordinary associate professor at the University of Stellenbosch, welcomed South Africa’s participation in TIMSS and said assessing at Grade 5 and Grade 9 was a better fit for us.
She noted that TIMSS participants are generally OECD (rich countries) while South Africa is one of the few middle-income countries that participates.
“Comparisons to Brazil, Chile, and Morocco are appropriate. There are 195 countries in the world. South Africa is placed as the 58th country in TIMSS (with 137 countries not participating). But our placement globally is really not the point of TIMSS.”
Roberts said that participating in TIMSS allows us to establish an international benchmark and monitor our progress or decline over time.
“In this regard, it is encouraging to see our improvement in mathematics (from a mean of 389 in 2019 to 397 in 2023) at Grade 9 level.”
However, Roberts said of serious concern is South Africa’s decline in mathematics (relative to ourselves) from 374 in 2019 to 362 at Grade 5 level.
“This shows that we are not yet improving the mathematical foundations. The declines in Physical Science were worse, and similarly concerning.”
Roberts added that the release of the TIMSS data was accompanied by South Africa’s first set of Systemic Evaluation results from the 2022 local study. This data also shows that the Foundation Phase (Grade 3 level) mathematics skills are particularly weak and negatively skewed.
While learning takes place between Grade 3 and Grade 6, there is less progress from Grade 6 to Grade 9, she said.
“We cannot escape our weak foundations. The (evaluation) data is revealing as to the causes of this, as this shows a decline in teacher knowledge relating to mathematics. The message is clear: A quality pass (>60%) in mathematics at matric starts at conception. We have to fix the foundations of our system – at Foundation and Intermediate Phases, and ensure that we improve our mathematics knowledge for teaching in South African primary schools,” said Roberts.
Education expert Professor Vimolan Mudaly, from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) School of Education, said South Africa’s results placement is a cause for much concern.
“More effective measures must be introduced to shake the system into working positively for our learners. The days of blaming learners and parents alone are now over. We must all accept blame for some part of this crisis and we should work together to resolve it,” said Mudaly.
Mudaly added researching the education systems of countries like Singapore would be useful.
“I reiterate my call for the establishment, within the Department of Basic Education, a research unit on pedagogy and practice. We need to train and retrain educators on the rapidly evolving philosophies and methodologies related to teaching.”
Professor Rituparno Goswami, director of the Astrophysics Research Centre School of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science at UKZN, said the poor results of Grade 5 pupils was a concern.
“There is a noticeable degree of misalignment between the intended national curriculum stipulated in the CAPS and the content included in learner textbooks and national assessments, especially for Grade 3; and in grade 3, only 2% of activities in the workbook require higher cognitive thinking levels,” said Goswami.
As a result, Goswami said pupils are pushed into mathematics with appropriate levels of challenges quite late, in grade 4 or 5, (instead of a gradual development) and many fail to cope effectively.
Related Topics: