International tests measuring student performance tend to focus obsessively on high-scoring countries such as Finland, Korea, Taiwan and Singapore. While it's fascinating to observe their education systems, the reality is that they have little relevance for most lower-income developing couhtries. It makes much more sense for countries with similar resources to compare and work out why some schooling systems do better than others.

With this in mind, the team behind The Low Achievement Trap: Comparing Schools in Botswana and South Africa (HSRC Press) set out to understand why students in primary schools in one African country seem to perform at a higher level then students at another. The name of the education game in Southern Africa is to get out of the low achievement trap, and with this in mind, researchers aimed to identify schooling factors that significantly affect student performance. Two schooling systems on either side of the border of two neighbours, Botswana and South Africa, were chosen for their linguistic, socio-economic and cultural similarities – and their differences in politics and policy. Botswana has been independent since 1966, with time to develop its own social and educational institutions. Under apartheid in South Africa, separate development resulted in vast inequalities and inconsistencies which even after democratic elections in 1994 have been hard to eradicate. What the two systems have in common is similar funding to supply education to similar students.

However, what the results of numerous studies have shown is that pupils in Botswana achieve at significantly higher levels than those in South Africa. In an attempt to understand how and why this could be so, a team of academics and researchers drawn from students and staff at South African universities schools of education, Stanford University and the University of Botswana collectively ran a large comparative research project. They sampled 60 primary schools in each country, working with over 60 Grade 6 mathematics teachers in North west South Africa and South East Botswana, covering a total of 5 500 students. Their study focuses on the characteristics of teachers and teaching that contribute to student learning gains in Grade 6.

Overall, the results suggest that Botswana is able to produce higher results because it has somewhat better teacher resources (teachers with greater mathematics knowledge and teaching skills) and more mathematicslessons are taught during each school year. The difference in teachingskills and delivery is relatively small, but these little things make a big difference over the years these achievement gains accumulate.

In both countries, however, the standard maths Iliteracy is not impressive. While Botswana may have a more effective education system than South Africa, it is nevertheless producing low levels of learner knowledge. Policy-makers need to re-asses their benchmarks for educational quality if they hope to raise their levels of student achievement.

In a sense South African policy-makers have an easier task in that South African education is so inefficient and under resourced in terms of teacher quality that the steps needed to reach Botswana level are more transparent.

The challenge comes in implementation - most schools in South Africa have organised themselves to produce something that is not student achievement. Change is required to change this culture from one that places priority on teacher autonomy to one that focuses on making students academically competent.

Rigorously researched and unique in its comparative approach, The Low Achievement Trap: Comparing Schools in Botswana and South Africa (HSRC Press) provides essential information for policy-makers, educationists and academics working in the field of schooling systems.

Contact Details:
Jeremy Wightman
HSRC Press
Phone: 021 4668028
Email: jrwightman@hsrc.ac.za
Web: www.hsrcpress.ac.za