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Pupil performance in mathematics in cross-national studies
As with Portuguese, mathematics is a core subject in Mozambique. This status means that pupils cannot pass to the next class if they have marks below 10 (50%). It is therefore vital for teachers to facilitate pupils‟ acquisition and development of mathematics skills. Cross-national studies, conducted over the years, have revealed high performing and low performing countries as well as
the difference in scores between each of these which are sometimes significantly large. In 1995, the IEA carried out studies in mathematics and science in some countries in Asia, Europe, America, Australia and Africa. The Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) (1995) revealed that pupil performance is high in some Asian countries. For example, Singapore (601) was the top-performing country at seventh grade, followed by Korea (577), Japan (571), and Hong Kong (564). These countries all performed very well, as did Belgium (558) and the Czech Republic (523).Beaton et al., (1996) explains that “comparisons also can be made across the means and percentiles. For example, average performance in Singapore was comparable to or even exceeded performance at the 95th percentile in the lower-performing countries” (p.24). Lower-performing countries included Greece (440), Colombia (369), and South Africa (348).
In examining all countries participating in TIMSS, the same author stated that there were very large performance differences between the top performing and the bottom performing countries and “differences between the extremes in performance were very [also] large within most countries” (Beaton et al., 1996, p.24).
Another IEA study (1997) showed that Korea (561) was the top-performing country at the lower grades (often the third grade) followed by Singapore (552), Japan (538), and Hong Kong (524). The rest of the countries performed below the international mean (500) and the lowest-performing countries included Portugal (425), Norway (421), Iceland (410), and the Islamic Republic of Iran (378) (Mullis et al., 1997). The difference between the scores of the top-performing Korea (561) and the bottom-performing Islamic Republic (378) was very large.
CHAPTER 1 –INTRODUCTION
1.1 THE CONTEXT OF THE STUDY
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
1.3 MOTIVATION FOR THE STUDY
1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
1.5 RESEARCH APPROACH AND DESIGN
1.6 THE LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
1.7 STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS
CHAPTER 2 – THE SCHOOLING SYSTEM IN MOZAMBIQUE
INTRODUCTION
2.1 THEMOZAMBICAN CONTEXT
2.2 MOZAMBIQUE‟S SCHOOL SYSTEM AND REFORMS
2.2.1 General Education
2.2.2 Teacher Training
2.2.3 Technical and Vocational Training
2.2.4 Educational Policy and Policy Reforms since 1995
2.2.5 The Administration of School Education
2.2.6 The Financing of Education
2.2.7 The Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
2.2.8 The Main Policy concerns of the Ministry of Education and Culture
2.3 PUPIL‟S AND TEACHERS‟ PROFILES IN SCHOOLS IN 2000
2.3.1 Grade 6 Pupil Enrolments
2.3.2 Grade 6 Pupil Performance
2.3.3 Grade 6 Pupil Performance in Reading and Mathematics
2.3.4 The Profile of the Cohort of Teachers in Mozambique in 2000
2.4 TEACHER TRAINING POLICIES AND PRACTICES IN MOZAMBIQUE
2.4.1 Teacher Training Policies
2.4.2 Teacher Training Practice in Mozambique
2.5 SUMMARY
CHAPTER 3 – LITERATURE REVIEW
INTRODUCTION
3.1 UNDERSTANDING COMPETENCE
3.2 TEACHERS AND ISSUES OF COMPETENCE
3.3 THE IMPORTANCE OF TEACHER TRAINING IN DEVELOPING PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCE
3.4 COMPETENCE RELATED TO TEACHER EFFECTIVENESS
3.4.1 Medley‟s Model of Teacher Effectiveness
3.4.2 Cheng and Tsui‟s Models of Levels of Teacher Effectiveness
3.5 ASSESSMENT OF TEACHER COMPETENCE
3.6 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEENTEACHER COMPETENCE AND PUPIL
PERFORMANCE
3.7 PUPIL PERFORMANCE IN READING AND MATHEMATICS IN CROSSNATIONAL STUDIES
3.7.1 The Acquisition of Reading Skills
3.7.2 Methods of Teaching Reading Skills
3.7.3 Pupil Performance in Reading in Cross-national Studies
3.7.4 Gender Differences in Reading Performance
3.7.5 Prerequisites for Acquisition of Mathematical Skills
3.8 SUMMARY
CHAPTER 4 – SACMEQ IN MOZAMBIQUE
INTRODUCTION
4.1 CROSS-NATIONAL STUDIES
4.2 SACMEQ IN MOZAMBIQUE
4.2.1 Overview of the SACMEQ Study in Mozambique
4.2.2 Planning of the SACMEQ II Study
4.2.3 Instrument Construction
4.2.4 The Mozambican Sample
4.2.5 Data Collection
4.2.6 Data Entry and Data Cleaning
4.2.7 The Calculation of Scale Scores (Rasch)
4.2.8 The Identification of „Derived‟ Skill Level
4.3 SUMMARY
CHAPTER 5 – THE CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK, RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS
INTRODUCTION
5.1 THE PURPOSE OF THE RESEARCH
5.2 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
5.3 ADAPTED MODEL OF TOTAL TEACHER EFECTIVENESS
5.3.1 The Integration of Bloom‟s Taxonomy
5.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
5.4.1 The Research Questions
5.4.2 Phase 1 and 2 Research Questions
5.5 SOME DESIGN ISSUES
5.5.1 Design Origins
5.5.3 Desired, Excluded and Defined Target Populations
5.5.4 The Numbers of Schools and Pupils required for the SACMEQ II Study
5.5.5 Sample
5.5.6 Instruments
5.5.7 Procedures
5.6 SUMMARY
CHAPTER 6 – TEACHER AND PUPIL CHARACTERISTICS IN MOZAMBIQUE AND IN OTHER SACMEQ COUNTRIES
CHAPTER 7 – TEACHING CONTEXTS IN MOZAMBIQUE AND SACMEQ COUNTRIES
CHAPTER 8 – TEACHER AND PUPIL PERFORMANCE IN READING AND IN MATHEMATICS IN MOZAMBIQUE AND IN SACMEQ COUNTRIES 200
