DIGEST 2006 - Sabita

Figure 2. Matric result trends
the standard grade while only 4%
wrote maths on the higher grade.
The same disturbing trends were
observed for science matric
results. The Third International
Mathematics and Science Study
(TIMSS) in 1994/1995 and
TIMSS-R (repeat survey in 1999)
confirmed that South African
learners are consistently weak in
maths and science at the Grade 8
level, compared with the other
international participants. (Howie,
1999 and 2002). A media release
by the HSRC (December 2004) on
results of the TIMSS 2003 study
stated “Comparison with TIMSS
1999 indicates there was no
significant difference in
mathematics and science scores in
this period”.
This international benchmarking
exercise is used even by
developed countries, like the USA,
as a strong indicator and tool to
locate problems in their education
system (Horak and Fricke, 2002).
In the case of SA, the consistently
low performance clearly points to
systemic problems in the
education system. Among the
many factors contributing to the
low performance of these learners
is the negative attitude and lack of
competence of teachers: “On the
whole, about half of the teachers
reported feeling ill-prepared to
teach the content of either
mathematics or science curricula.
There appears to be few teachers
with significant experience and a
relatively small percentage have
university level qualifications”
(Howie, 1999).
Whilst there are many other
interventions attempting to
address these or similar issues,
many of them tend to be
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