Global Education Digest 2012 - International Reading Association

OPPORTUNITIES LOST: THE IMPACT OF GRADE REPETITION AND EARLY SCHOOL LEAVING
performance is found in education systems that
practice grade repetition as well as those that
practice automatic promotion. For more developed
countries, PISA 2009 results (OECD, 2011) show
that countries performing above the OECD average
also tend to practice either automatic promotion (e.g.
Finland, Iceland and Norway) or grade repetition (e.g.
Belgium, the Netherlands and the United States).
The top three performers in the SACMEQ III Grade 6
pupils’ reading scores in Southern African countries
in 2007 were Seychelles, Mauritius and Tanzania.
Automatic promotion is applied in the first two
countries, while repetition is applied in the last. The
distinction may be found in how repetition is applied –
when used selectively in more developed education
systems, it can help support learning; but when used
indiscriminately, it can lead to high dropout rates and
poorly performing education systems.
Moreover, automatic promotion could represent a
more cost-effective policy. The resources saved can
be evaluated by comparing them to the resources
invested in costly remedial classes or catch-up
programmes for students experiencing learning
difficulties, which typically require one-on-one
attention.
What is the best way to introduce automatic
promotion? The experience of countries in
introducing automatic promotion is varied. Grade
repetition is applied in secondary education in some
countries (e.g. Nigeria), from the last grade of primary
education in others (e.g. Mauritius), or limited to
the last grades of sub-cycles of primary education
(e.g. Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Sao Tome and
Principe, and Senegal).
A gradual transition by grade/level could represent
a potential strategy in countries where repetition is
well-rooted in educational practice. For example, the
sub-cycle implementation policy consists of dividing
the average six-year cycle of primary schooling
into two-year sub-cycles with no repetition allowed
within each sub-cycle. When practiced alongside a
system that identifies and supports weaker children,
this approach has been found to increase quality
(Ndaruhutse, 2008).
However, there are important obstacles facing
countries aiming to implement such policies. There
is often a culturally engrained practice of grade
repetition in certain countries, leading to a strong
resistance to reform. Consequently, policy change will
require meaningful engagement of all stakeholders:
governments, education policymakers and planners,
district education officers, school managers,
teachers, teaching assistants, parents/caretakers,
learners and civil society (Ndaruhutse, 2008).
Policies that focus on prevention or prioritise
interventions before learning gaps accumulate can be
the most cost-effective. Specifically, policies aiming
at building readiness to learn at an early pre-school
stage or providing individual remediation as first
symptoms of learning difficulties emerge or when
absenteeism is observed would efficiently reduce
repetition and early school leaving. This should
help to diminish lost investments while leading to
improvements in school retention.
Educational initiatives like Education for All (EFA) or
the Second Decade of Education for Africa (2006-
2015) explicitly include early childhood education
and development in their goals and action plan.
Nevertheless, the supply of pre-primary education is
still lower than demand in most developing countries.
Pre-primary education can be costly and is mainly
provided by private institutions in urban areas.
As a result, some parents who have children of
pre-primary education age (typically 3 to 6-yearolds)
send them to school – often prematurely – as
primary education becomes tuition-free in many
countries. A number of early enrolled children may
not be sufficiently prepared for school, making
this experience more challenging for them. This
contributes to repetition and early school leaving
in the first grade of primary education in many
developing countries.
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