COMMENT
L
Reading between
the lines
ast year, I wrote on the importance of training for the workplace.
However, while training falls into the sphere of further and/
or higher education, the foundation for success — economic
and otherwise — is built long before this: in our primary schools.
In December, the results of the Progress in International Reading
Literacy Study (PIRLS) were released, revealing that South Africa’s
literacy and education crisis is far worse than we may have thought.
Of the 50 participating countries, South Africa came in dead last. As
someone who has previously worked in education, I find this at once
unsurprising and deeply disturbing.
PIRLS assesses reading comprehension and monitors trends in
reading literacy at five-year intervals, and South Africa has been
participating in the study since 2006. The lowest benchmark in the test
measures learners’ ability to locate explicit information or to reproduce
information at the end of Grade 4 — to ‘read for meaning’. In South
Africa, 78% of Grade 4 children were unable to reach this benchmark,
compared to 4% internationally.
This result is disturbing for reasons beyond the fact that we
performed worse than any other participating country. Students
who cannot read for meaning at this stage will begin to fall behind,
and unless this issue is explicitly addressed, will continue to do so
throughout their academic careers. These foundational skills are
important for more than further education — literacy extends to not
only the ability to understand the information you are given, but also
the ability to ‘read between the lines’, to search out and comprehend
information for yourself, a critical skill for any active member of society.
The response released by the Department of Basic Education (DBE)
tries desperately to put a positive spin on these results, saying that
they provide “the opportunity to look deeper and try to pinpoint what
some of the pertinent issues are, that as South Africa we struggle
with” (I can think of a few off the top of my head), and that we need
to “ensure that the limited resources we have are effectively allocated
and spent in the interests of future generations of South Africans”.
As opposed to the current allocation to political cronies and corrupt
public- and private-sector organisations (not to mention yet more
bailouts), I assume.
The gender gap in literacy is also alarming, with only 11% of boys
attaining the lowest benchmark (compared to 19% of girls), and 84%
of boys falling short of that mark (compared to 72% of girls). Once
again, the DBE chooses to focus on the ‘positive’: “The scores of
girl learners have been better than boys with each test cycle and
the gap is widening. Our initiatives on uplifting the girl learner have
certainly worked.” That’s certainly one way to look at it. Another is that
we should be focusing on uplifting all of our learners, and possibly
increasing the overall standard of education so that the relative
improvement doesn’t leave more than 70% of these “uplifted” girls still
unable to meet the lowest benchmark. How is this a statistic for anyone
to be proud of?
And literacy is not the only area where we fall short. In 2015,
our education system was ranked 75th out of 76 countries by the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD),
and 139th out of 143 countries by the World Economic Forum (WEF),
which also ranked South Africa last for the quality of mathematics and
science education. The 2015 Trends in International Mathematics and
Science Study (TIMSS) report — run by the same organisation behind
PIRLS — also had South Africa at or near the bottom of its various
rankings, behind children in poorer parts of the continent.
Interestingly, the release of these results coincided with the DBE’s
announcement that students would only require a mark of 20% for
mathematics to progress to the next grade. While this presents a
particular problem for our scientific fields, mathematics is useful for
more than just those working with numbers: it teaches logical thinking,
pattern recognition, and reasoning, among other skills.
The DBE was quick to stress that this was both an interim measure
and NOT equivalent to a pass in the subject, saying it would merely
allow students who met all other criteria for passing a grade to
progress without being held back by their mathematics mark. Okay.
But allowing students to progress to the next grade with only 20%,
regardless of whether they eventually intend to pursue a scientific
career, is problematic. Maths is, after all, a hierarchical subject — what
you can learn is dependent on what you have learnt previously.
Ultimately, it is not enough for us to sit around and bemoan the
terrible state of education in South Africa, particularly for the most
disadvantaged children. Rather than lowering standards and then
patting ourselves on the back at the increased pass rate, we should be
investing in ensuring that children are able to overcome the obstacles
that lead to them struggling in the classroom. If we truly want to build
our country up, we need to focus a significant amount of attention on
improving our education system to empower the people who pass
through it by giving them access to the tools they need to become
active members of society. ■
Robyn Grimsley – Editor
Plant Equipment & Hire
www.equipmentandhire.co.za
FEBRUARY 2018
1