MOESD briefs ned on Educational assessment surveys

Pini Bothoko | Monday August 4, 2014 14:42

The conference was held under the theme, ' Achievement of Quality Education by Botswana Learners in Regional and International Studies,'  and it attracted science and mathematics teachers from within the NED, Kgatleng, Central and Chobe Districts.   

Botswana, through the MoESD has been participating in both regional and international surveys and recently launched the 2011 survey on TIMSS, PIRLS and the Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (SACMEQ III) that they came to brief NED on. 

Leading the presentation on the overview of the reports,  the Research Director of the survey, Moreetsi Thobega from Botswana Examinations Council (BEC) said that the local, regional and international large-scale educational assessment surveys are very essential in informing nations on the performance of their education systems. 

He said that participating in regional and international surveys has the added advantage of nations being informed on how their education systems are performing in comparison to other nations and it is a critical exercise in the 21st Century. 

Thobega disclosed that the studies included TIMSS for Form Two students and Standard Six pupils and PIRLS for Standards Four and Six and SACMEQ III. 

He said that the aims and objectives of the dissemination conference are to engage stakeholders in dialogue on the findings with the ultimate result being the improvement of the education system. 'Specifically, the objectives of this conference is to disseminate TIMSS 2011, PIRLS 2011, pre-PIRLS 2011 and SACMEQ III research findings to the stakeholders, engage them in interactive discussions on these findings, further understanding the research findings from the practitioners' point of view as well as generating appropriate recommendations from the interactive discussions with stakeholders for focused implementation, ' he said. 

He said that the International Association coordinates TIMSS and PIRLS for the Evaluation of Education Achievement (EEA) and they are international comparative studies of what Grade Four and Form One students can do in reading, mathematics and science.  

Doing the introduction and process of the TIMSS and PIRLS 2011 studies, the Senior Researcher at BEC Trust Masole said PIRLS is carried out every five years whilst TIMSS is carried out every four years. 

He said that Botswana's first participation in TIMSS was in 2003, then 2007, 2011 and 2015 and PIRLS was started in 2011 as the two studies were happening simultaneously.

 He said that the research intends to establish the level of reading, learning mathematics and science, identifying factors that impact on teaching and learning, detection of trends in the learning achievement as well as in the education system. 

Masole said that they also carried out comparison of achievement and teaching and learning conditions among the participating countries as well as providing a rich source of information to policymakers and other stakeholders.

 He said that the study process involved sampling of 25 primary schools for piloting and 150 schools for the main data involving 50 countries in which countries provided information about their schools.

 'If you can remember well, our curriculum was changed in 2003, followed by the introduction of pre-primary school.

You might have seen that some of these recommendations will appear again in the next study after having difficulties in implementations, ' he said.