| dc.description.abstract | This paper reports on the use of multivariate analyses procedures to examine pupil- and
school-level factors that contributed to variations in reading and mathematics achievement
among Grade 6 pupils in 15 African school systems (Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi,
Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, the Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania,
Uganda, Zambia, Zanzibar, and Zimbabwe). The data for this study were collected in 2007 as
part of the major SACMEQ III Project, which sought to examine the quality of education
offered in primary schools in these countries. (SACMEQ is an acronym for the Southern and
Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality.)
At the pupil level, grade repetition, socio-economic background, pupil age, and pupil
sex were found to be the most important factors affecting the variations in pupil achievement
in these school systems, while at the school level, school resources and school location were
identified as the important common factors. South Africa and Zimbabwe were among the
school systems with the largest between-school variation (especially in reading), while the
Seychelles and Mauritius had the largest within-school variation.
In addition, low social equity in pupil achievement was evident in South Africa,
Mauritius, and Zimbabwe, while large gender differences in pupil achievement were evident
in the Seychelles and to some extent in Tanzania and Kenya, especially in mathematics.
Implications of the findings for policy and practice are outlined. | en_US |
