Johannesburg - The Department of Basic Education presented the latest findings of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study 2019 (TIMSS) with the Human Science Research Council (HSRC) in Pretoria on Tuesday.
The report, which focuses on Grade 5 and Grade 9 learners, is a crossnational assessment of the maths and science levels of learners from participating countries to show how South African learners compared with the rest of the world.
Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said 520 South African schools made up the TIMSS 2019 sample.
Basic Education Deputy Minister Reginah Mhaule said it was important to point out that South Africa was one of only two African participants. The other was Morocco.
“A critical reason why we participate in these studies is not primarily to compare ourselves with more established education systems, but to gather evidence in a scientific way on achievement levels and to measure our progress,” she said.
Dr Vijay Reddy from the HSRC presented the highlights of the report and revealed that South Africa’s performance in maths and science was among the lowest of the participating countries.
On the TIMSS scale, learners who achieve above 400 TIMSS points are described as having acquired the basic maths or science knowledge for that grade. Higher achievements mean learners possess the ability to apply knowledge in simple or complex situations and to communicate understandings.
In the Grade 5 TIMSS, 64 countries participated and South African learners achieved an average score of 374 for maths and 324 for science.
In the Grade 9 TIMSS, 39 countries participated and South African learners achieved an average score of 389 for maths and 370 for science. The scores are an increase of 17 points for maths and 12 points for science from the 2015 TIMSS report.
“From 2003 to 2015 the improvement was 102 TIMSS points. The 25-year patterns is the improvement in one standard deviation, and that is quite a milestone,” Reddy said.
She added that the best improvement occurred with the lower scores of learners from lower-incomes houses or poorly resources schools.
The department’s set target for maths and science achievement is a score of 420 by 2023.
Motshekga said: “To meet these targets will require additional effort from all basic education role-players to accelerate the pace of TIMSS improvement. It is in our best interest, and our future generations to do so.”
According to the report, 37% of Grade 5 learners demonstrated that they acquired basic maths knowledge, and 28% had acquired basic science knowledge, while 41% of Grade 9 learners acquired basic maths knowledge, and 36% percent acquired basic science knowledge.
The report also revealed that regarding Grade 5 learners, Gauteng, the Western Cape and the Free State were among the top performing provinces; North West, Mpumalanga and Limpopo were lower achieving.
The Star