Analyzing teaching quality in Botswana and South Africa

This study focuses on quantifying the quality of mathematics teaching in 183 randomly selected sixth grade classrooms: 100 from the North West province of South Africa and 83 from South East Botswana. The teaching quality is measured by coding videotaped lessons for three different components: mathematical proficiency, level of cognitive demand, and observed teacher knowledge. Results suggest that the overall teaching quality is about the same in both regions. Some variation was observed at the level of each component. For example, in the South Africa sample the students engage more in tasks that just involve “memorization” and less in tasks that involve “procedures without connections” in comparison with the Botswana students. Teachers in Botswana implement the official curriculum more faithfully than do those in North West. In both countries most of the learners engaged only in low-level tasks (very little activity involved “procedures with connections”) and teachers demonstrated a lack of knowledge about how to integrate mathematical content with effective pedagogical techniques.     

Contexts of educational policy change in Botswana and South Africa

This article examines how different histories and contexts of political and educational change in Botswana and South Africa have shaped the more regular classroom practice observed in Botswana. It does this through an interpretive synthesis and comparison of four key moments of educational change in Botswana and South Africa during the twentieth century, followed by an examination of more recent curriculum and assessment, teacher education, supervision, and evaluation policy in each country. The article highlights differences in decolonization processes and similarities in economic conditions and spending on education. It shows that processes of educational change have been and continue to be marked by the respectively different histories of gradual and incremental change on the one hand, and rapid, disruptive change on the other. And while recent curriculum and assessment policies show convergence with one another, this is less the case with teacher policies and processes.     

Teacher labour markets in South Africa and Botswana: A comparative analysis

This article compares key features of the labour markets for teachers across Botswana and South Africa in order to seek possible explanations for the apparently larger teacher shortages in South Africa. It is argued that South African teachers earn relatively lower wages when compared to professionals with comparable qualifications; they have also been subject to a more haphazard series of reforms in teacher training, and are the product of a teaching culture shaped heavily by powerful trade unions. The impact of these factors on both the quantity and quality of teachers is considered.     

Explaining the gender gaps in mathematics achievement and attitudes: The role of societal gender equality

The gender stratification hypothesis maintains that higher levels of societal gender equity predict smaller gender gaps in mathematics achievement and attitudes. Using data from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) across 56 countries, this study aims to provide a thorough empirical test of the gender stratification hypothesis. We employ a novel two-stage empirical strategy to investigate the link between societal gender equities and gender differences in mathematics achievement and attitudes. In the first stage, we use a semiparametric Oaxaca-Blinder (OB) method to decompose the gender gaps in each country into a part that is explained by gender differences in observable characteristics and a part that remains unexplained. In the second stage, we examine the relationships between the unexplained parts of the gender gaps and country-specific gender equity measures. The results highlight the importance of gender equity in the labor market in explaining cross-country variation in the gender math gap. We find that lower gender wage gap is significantly associated with a smaller unexplained part of the gender math gap favoring boys. In terms of the gender gaps in math attitudes, the results yield mixed support for the gender stratification hypothesis.     

Explaining mathematics achievement of mature internal and external students at the University of Papua New Guinea

This paper explains the variance in matriculation mathematics achievement of mature internal and external students at the University of Papua New Guinea. The 1984 and 1985 intakes of the Preliminary Year and Matriculation Studies were taken as samples. Six instruments were developed and administered. Data were analysed using path analysis. Over 40% variance in mathematics achievement was explained both for internal and external students. Background variables seem to be more important in the learning of mathematics compared to mediatory variables for external students than the internal students.The author conducted the research for this Short Communication, when he was holding a position of Senior Lecturer at the University of Papua New Guinea, Waigani, Papua New Guinea.     

Universals and specifics in learning strategies: Explaining adolescent mathematics, science, and reading achievement across 34 countries

We examined whether strategies of memorization, transfer through elaboration, and metacognition accounted for reading, science, and mathematics achievement across 34 countries. 158,848 fifteen-year-olds completed a reading literacy test and a questionnaire. Of these students, 88,401 completed a science test, and 88,590 completed a mathematics test. We analyzed the data using multi-level regressions of Rasch-estimated test scores and modeled differences across countries and across schools. Students who reported using memorization strategies often scored lower in all subjects. Transfer through elaboration was not significantly linked to any achievement scores. Lastly, students reporting greater use of metacognitive strategies often scored higher. Compared to students in individualistic societies, to achievement scores of students in collective cultures were linked more strongly to schoolmates' use of metacognitive strategies and less strongly to their own use of metacognitive strategies. These results highlight how cultural contexts can moderate the links between adolescents' learning strategies and their academic achievement.     

Explaining sex-related differences in mathematics: Theoretical models

This set of papers synthesizes contemporary psychological research to identify and operationally specify major influences on abilities, interests, and skills in mathematics. Three models are then presented which hypothesize causation of the sex-related differences in mathematics that exist: (1) a four-factor model which explores mediating factors of autonomous learning behaviors which exist between socialization influences and learning; (2) a detailed socialization model of election of mathematics courses; and (3) a model of internal barriers which prevent females from fully developing mathematical skills. The models all suggest that causation of sex-related differences in mathematics are complex and multivariate. Social conditions affect the educational environment of a female as well as the personal belief system of each learner. Directions for research built on these models are indicated.     

Effects of metacognitive instruction on mathematics achievement and attitude towards mathematics of low mathematics achievers

An experiment was conducted to examine the effects of metacognitive instruction on mathematics achievement and attitude towards mathematics of low mathematics achievers at a middle school in the North‐West Province of South Africa. Forty standard (std) 7 pupils were identified whose non‐verbal general ability and previous mathematics achievements were significantly lower than those of other std 7 pupils. These subjects were randomly assigned to an experimental group and a control group. Metacognitive strategies in solving mathematical problems related to four mathematics topics were individually taught to the members of the experimental group, while the pupils in the control group were taught the four mathematics topics through the conventional method of teaching mathematics. The comparisons of pretest and posttest measures of general ability, metacognitive awareness, attitude towards mathematics, and mathematics achievement revealed that the posttest scores of all the four variables for the experimental group were significantly higher than those for the control group.     

Ethnic and gender differences in mathematics achievement and in dispositions towards the study of mathematics

The study examined the effects of gender and ethnicity on mathematics achievement on a national test and on dispositions (attitudes, perceived parental expectations, effort, and help) towards the study of mathematics of a representative sample of Jewish and Arab eighth graders in Israel. The results indicated a large ethnic gap in achievement in favor of the Jewish students. Significant gender–ethnicity interactions emerged whereby Arab girls, compared to Arab boys, attempted more items on the test. In the Jewish sample, either the reverse held true or there were no significant differences between the sexes. Arab girls also reported receiving less help in doing mathematics homework and perceived their parents' expectations for their success in mathematics as higher than did Arab boys. Jewish girls, on the other hand, perceived their parents' expectations as lower and reported investigating more effort in coping with mathematics tasks and using more supporting tools than did Jewish boys. The results were discussed in light of cultural differences between Jews and Arabs in Israeli society and their respective learning environments.     

Cross-national differences in mathematics attitude and achievement among seventeen-year-olds

A re-analysis of the cross-national data gathered by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) was undertaken to determine the magnitude, direction, and nature of differences in 17-year-old boys' and girls' attitudes and achievement in mathematics. A 10-item attitude scale and a 70-item achievement test were administered to 13,056 students attending school in ten countries. Sex differences in both attitude and achievement were small, but with few exceptions they favored males. Considerable variation existed between countries in the extent to which the achievement of boys exceeded that of girls, and in many cases, the magnitude of the differences was associated with psychosocial patterns found in the diverse cultures.     

Student engagement and classroom variables in improving mathematics achievement

The study explored how much student engagement and classroom variables predicted student achievement in mathematics. Since students were nested within a classroom, hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was employed for the analysis. The results indicated that student engagement had positive effects on student academic growth per month in math after taking into account student variables such as gender, SES, race, and interaction effects. The effects of student engagement are consistent regardless of minority and gender. Among classroom level variables such as teachers’ degree, experience, certification, authentic instruction, content coverage, and class size, there is no significant predictor of student math achievement growth. The findings suggest that student engagement should be emphasized in a school and educational policy for students’ success in a school.     

Positive biases in self-assessment of mathematics competence, achievement goals, and mathematics performance

The study examined how biases in self-evaluations of math competence relate to achievement goals and progress in math achievement. It was expected that performance goals would be related to overestimation and mastery goals to accurate self-assessments. A sample of French high-school students completed a questionnaire measuring their math achievement goals and their perceived competence in math. Students’ math grades for the three trimesters of the school year were collected from school records. Bias in self-evaluations was computed by comparing students’ rating on the ‘perceived competence in math’ scale with their actual math achievement as measured by their second trimester math grades. Students were classified into one of three groups (over-raters, accurate raters, or under-raters) depending on whether their self-perceptions of competence in math were higher than, similar to, or lower than their relative math achievement in their class. As expected, overrating of one's performance was related to performance goals. Furthermore, the over-raters were the only group who progressed in their math achievement from Trimester 2 to 3. No relation was found between mastery goals and accurate self-assessment.     

Classroom instructional quality,exposure to mathematics instruction and mathematics achievement in fifth grade

This study examined the quality of teacher–child interactions and exposure to mathematics instruction as predictors of 5th grade student’s mathematics achievement. The sample was a subset of the children involved in the NICHD–SECC longitudinal study (N = 657). Results indicate that, even after controlling for student demographic characteristics, more exposure to mathematics instruction was related to increased fifth grade mathematics achievement for both calculations and applied problems assessments, but there was no main effect for improved instructional quality. Findings also indicate that, in classrooms where lower instructional quality was observed, greater exposure to mathematics instruction predicted improved mathematics achievement. Findings are discussed in terms of differing aspects of mathematics instruction and the possible compensatory role of exposure to instruction in classrooms of lower quality.     

Exploring factors that improve mathematics achievement in Brunei

The low pass rate in Brunei Year 13 mathematics is a source of concern for many stakeholders. Success in mathematics is required for students wishing to attend university and pursue courses in the sciences and technology. Many different factors contribute to success and failure in mathematics. This field survey (N = 330 randomly selected Year 13 students representing 179 females and 151 males) determined the extent to which coping mechanisms, study strategies, learning styles, and self-efficacy were related to academic achievement in mathematics. Stepwise multiple regression analysis with backward elimination identified six statistically significant main effect variables with links to mathematics achievement (task-oriented coping, textbook reading, concentration, self-efficacy, time management, and activist learning style). Two-way interactions of the male and female genders with deep processing and reflector learning styles were also significantly associated with mathematics achievement. Other significant interaction variables were beneficial to both genders.