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esearchSOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS AND EDUCATIONALACHIEVEMENT: DOES EDUCATION PROVIDEA STEPPING STONE OUT OF POVERTY INSOUTH AFRICA?Stephen Taylor and Derek YuINTRODUCTIONMinister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga recentlyreferred to education in South Africa as a ‘key weapon tofight poverty and unemployment’; significantly, she went onto add that ‘quality education is the key’ (Motshekga 2009).This reflects a growing recognition of the importance ofquality in an education system in which almost universalaccess has been achieved, but where serious inequality inoutcomes still prevails. Unfortunately, education in SouthAfrica has become surrounded by a discourse of crisis. Forexample, Brahm Fleisch (2008) titled his recent book Primaryeducation in crisis, and a contribution to an earlier edition ofthe Transformation Audit was headed ‘Education: The crisisin schooling’ (Van der Berg 2004).It is imperative that the poor performance of South Africa’sschools be understood, and that the associated issues ofequity are examined. Ultimately, social justice, transformationand the country’s economic development are dependent onhow the education system functions. The extent to whichchildren from disadvantaged backgrounds have a realopportunity to achieve educational outcomes that willenable them to be successful in the labour market indicateswhether the school system can be expected to transformexisting patterns of inequality or merely reproduce them.This article begins with some discussion of the relationshipbetween education and economic development, beforeconsidering the performance of South African children inthe 2006 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study(PIRLS). In particular, the association of socio-economicstatus (SES) with reading achievement and the implicationsof this for social mobility are analysed.ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND EDUCATIONThis article departs from an understanding that economicdevelopment involves a sustained rise in living standards,which produces an improvement in the quality of life for thewhole population. Meier (1995) describes economic developmentas a process of long-term per capita growth that leadsto qualitative improvements throughout the social system.This captures the notion that although economic growthmay well be a fundamental driving force behind development,it is impossible to achieve economic development withoutqualitative improvements in living standards that are enjoyedby the whole population, perhaps especially by those at thelower end of the socio-economic distribution (to add aRawlsian principle of justice). Therefore, in highly unequalsocieties such as South Africa, transforming the distributionof income and wealth is a core aspect of the developmentchallenge. Much hope is often vested in education as aninstitution of transformation. Usually, the mechanics of thisare conceived of in terms of the human capital model,according to which education improves an individual’sproductivity, which, in turn, is rewarded in the labour marketby higher earnings. In this way, it is hoped that educationcan provide children from poor socio-economic backgroundswith an opportunity to be successful in the labour market,thus overcoming their disadvantaged background.The extent to which children fromdisadvantaged backgrounds have areal opportunity to achieveeducational outcomes that will enablethem to be successful in the labourmarket indicates whether the schoolsystem can be expected totransform existing patterns ofinequality or merely reproduce them.However, the home background or SES of students is amajor factor in determining educational outcomes. Thisrelationship holds throughout the world, although thestrength of the association varies across societies. So, usingeducation as a pathway out of poverty is a bit like trying toclimb up an escalator that is going down. The interestingempirical question to ask of any particular society is,therefore: To what extent does socio-economic statusdetermine educational outcomes? Or, put differently: Howmuch of an opportunity do poor children have to achieveeducational outcomes that are sufficient for successfullabour market participation? These questions are addressedin this article with respect to South Africa and in international66 RECESSION AND RECOVERY2009 Transformation Audit
comparison. Moreover, an attempt is made to disaggregatethe impact of students’ SES on educational achievement intohome effects (direct) and school effects (indirect).There are numerous channels through which SES can beexpected to influence educational achievement. Its influenceis experienced directly through the quality of educationalsupport that is available at home. This starts before schoolwith early childhood development and continues throughoutschool. SES also affects educational achievement indirectlythrough the schools that students attend. This can beseparated further into two channels – the type or quality ofschool and the effect of peers in a school. This latter effectwas perhaps the most important aspect of the landmarkAmerican study known as the Coleman Report of 1966,which found that the socio-economic mix of peers was amore important school resource than funding. This paperrepresents an attempt to provide empirical estimates of someof these effects in South Africa and to consider theimplications for transformation and social mobility.READING PERFORMANCE AMONGST SOUTH AFRICANCHILDRENIn 2006, the International Association for the Evaluation ofEducational Achievement (IEA) conducted the second roundof the PIRLS. The purpose of the PIRLS study was to provideinformation regarding reading achievement in primaryschools, which would be relevant to policy and instruction inthe participating countries. Testing was done in 40 countries,including Belgium (with two education systems) and Canada(with five provinces that were analysed separately). Thus,there were 45 participants in total. Testing was done onstudents in the fourth grade, with the exceptions ofLuxembourg, New Zealand and South Africa, where testingwas done on fifth grade students, and Slovenia, where testingwas done on students in both the third and fourth grades.The reason given by the IEA for testing fifth grade students inSouth Africa was the challenging context of having multiplelanguages of instruction. 1 It is important to keep in mindthat South African children had one more year of schoolingthan most of the other participants.The reading scores in PIRLS were generated using averagescale scores. This involved setting a scale average score of500 across the countries and a standard deviation of 100. 2For the sake of comparison and analysis, educational expertsselected four points on the reading score scale correspondingto hypothesised international achievement benchmarks:• Low international benchmark: 400• Intermediate international benchmark: 475• High international benchmark: 550• Advanced international benchmark: 625The mean reading scores for all the participants in PIRLS2006 are presented in Figure 3.1.1. 3 For interest, the averagesfor the high-income, upper middle-income and lower middleincomegroups of countries are also reported, using theWorld Bank’s classifications. Russia was the top-performingparticipant in PIRLS 2006, with a mean score of 565, whileSouth Africa was the worst-performing participant, with anational average of 302. This is consistent with the country’sperformance in the 2003 Trends in International Maths andScience Study (TIMSS), in which South Africa was the lowestperforming participant in both maths and science. It is alsodisconcerting that South Africa had the largest proportion ofstudents (77.8 per cent) scoring below the low internationalbenchmark score of 400. This means that nearly 80 percent of South African children can be considered ‘very lowreading achievers’ who are ‘at serious risk of not learninghow to read’ (Trong 2009: 123).Figure 3.1.2 offers a different picture of South Africa’sperformance in PIRLS in international comparison. It showsthe range of reading scores from the 5th percentile to the95th percentile, and indicates the median score, for eachcountry. 4 The countries are arranged in descending order,according to the size of the range. The figure demonstratesthat South Africa has not only the lowest overall level ofperformance but also the greatest variation in readingachievement. This is indicative of the high level of inequalityin educational outcomes that persists in South Africa.Several authors have characterised the unequaldistribution of educational achievement in South Africa as‘bimodal’ (see, for example, Fleisch 2008; Van der Berg2008). This refers to the phenomenon where two separatedistributions corresponding to two differently functioningparts of the school system are concealed within the overalldistribution of achievement in South Africa. According tothis distinction, approximately 80–85 per cent of SouthAfrican students are located within a ‘sub-system’ that canbe described as historically disadvantaged and currentlypoorly functioning. The second ‘sub-system’ consists mainlyof historically white and Indian schools, and demonstratesmuch greater functionality. Since the racially separateeducation departments were done away with, a fair amountof migration out of historically black schools into historicallywhite, coloured and Indian schools has taken place amongstthe growing black middle class. However, negligiblemovement in the opposite direction has occurred, with theChapter 3EDUCATION AND SKILLS 67
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