The 2015 TIMSS Grade 5 study was administered for the first time in South Africa in August 2015. The study was led by a team of researchers at the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) in collaboration with the Department of Basic Education (DBE) and the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA).

Providing the first, nationally representative, internationally comparative compendium of data on Grade 5 learners in South Africa, the report is a new indicator of the health of our educational system. The analyses describe in detail the current picture of achievement for learners in the country, highlighting key individual, family, school and provincial differences. The results also include key developments concerning preschool attendance, early learning environments, as well as the importance of educational expectations and academic beliefs, and the damaging effects of bullying. The findings highlight the importance of early achievement and the need to understand the multiple layers of influence on educational pathways, with the conclusions and recommendations highlighting an unequal, yet treatable system.

The Grade 5 study sits alongside the Grade 9 study which has been carried out in South Africa since 1995, recently completing its fifth round.

’Tis the season of the numbers … Every January South Africa puts on its diagnostic hat and interrogates the matric results to answer the age-old question of whether the results have improved or declined.

For our contribution to the debate, we analyse the number of pupils, percentages and throughputs ºby using the 2016 National Senior Certificate (NSC) examination report produced by the department of basic education and research conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC). In particular, we examine grade 12 mathematics and physical science performance.

Using other sources of data, we are able to comment on the education system by taking a broader view and examining grade nine performance and the pathways that learners follow from grade nine to grade 12.

Promoting learners who fail maths is not the issue — the department of basic education should be dealing with the “underlying problem” of why pupils are failing the subject.

This is according to teacher unions‚ who were reacting to the Department of Basic Education’s instructions to public schools to condone all grade 7 to 9 pupils who have obtained 20% in mathematics.

On December 2‚ the department released National Assessment Circular 03 of 2016‚ entitled‚ Special condonation dispensation for learners in the senior phase (Grades 7-9).

The Social Protection, Community and Human Development Cluster has commended the advances made to improve the state of education in South Africa.

The Human Sciences Research Council recently released the results of South Africa’s participation in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), which show a steady but upward trajectory of the education sector.

The Social Protection, Community and Human Development Cluster has commended the advances made to improve the state of education in South Africa.

The Human Sciences Research Council recently released the results of South Africa’s participation in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), which show a steady but upward trajectory of the education sector.

“We are a leading African participant among 59 countries in TIMSS 2015. Our participation in internationally benchmarked studies provides valuable and credible information that… affirms the upward trajectory in the sector, evidenced by improved Mathematics and Science skills, better schooling conditions and decreasing inequality in education communities,” said Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini on Monday.

The lead researcher for an important international study has red-flagged the drop in the number of grade nines who excel at maths, pointing to its potential effect on the county’s future thought leadership and economy.

The number of grade nine maths whizz kids fell to 62 last year from 104 in 2011, one of the unsettling findings to emerge from a comparison of statistics of high-fliers who participated in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (Timss) in 2011 and 2015.

The decrease in mathematical boffins is “a red flag”, says Vijay Reddy, the Human Sciences Research Council’s chief researcher in the Timss. “We absolutely need these people [top performers] for thought leadership and to grow the economy.”

Reddy says that the Department of Science and Technology’s National System of Innovation (NSI) was dependent on a group of high-fliers.

All learning starts in the home. These early learning activities stimulate children’s interest and their cognitive and social development. However, South Africa is a vastly unequal country — which was highlighted again by our showing in the 2015 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS).

Participating in Timss at the grade five level gave the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) an opportunity to learn much more about activities in the pre-grade one period, both in terms of a child’s early home environment and preschool institutions and their impact on that child’s achievement.

Forty-eight countries participated in Timss 2015 at the grade four or five level. The Timss numeracy study provides an opportunity for South Africa to estimate its achievement in relation to other countries and establish the baseline for what our children’s mathematics achievement should be at age 11.

The Human Sciences Research Council released the results of South Africa’s participation in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (Timss) 2015 on November 29 2016.

Timss was first conducted in South Africa in 1995, and thereafter in 1999, 2003, 2011 and 2015. The most recent study provides an opportunity for South Africa to assess its achievements and to examine how the home and school contexts influence educational achievement.

South Africa participated at the grade nine level in 2003, 2011 and 2015. The trend data provides us with a unique opportunity to plot the educational achievements during this period. The changes in school mathematics performance provide a measure of whether the historical differences in the system are shifting in the right direction.

Thirty-nine countries participated in Timss 2015 at the grade eight or nine level. As a low-performing country, South Africa tested at the grade nine level.

The top five ranked countries for mathematics in 2015, as in the previous studies, were from East Asia — Singapore (scoring 621), Republic of Korea (606), Chinese Taipei (599), Hong Kong (594) and Japan (586). The five lowest-performing countries were Botswana (391), Jordan (386), Morocco (384), South Africa (372) and Saudi Arabia (368) — countries from Africa and the Middle East.

Tuesday the department of Basic Education and its research partner, the Human Science Research Council, HSRC, released the results of the 2015 trends in International Mathematics and Science study, TIMSS study. The study was developed by the International Association for the evaluation of educational achievement, IEA and is a cross-national assessment of the mathematics and science levels of learners from various participating countries. From our Pretoria studios we’re joined by the lead researcher for the South African sample, Dr Vijay Reddy from the HSRC.

Bullying in schools has been found to have yet another negative impact on children’s performance in mathematics.

“One area of concern that was identified is the high level of bullying prevalent in our schools,” said Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga during the release of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) by the HSRC in Pretoria on Tuesday.

“While South Africa continued to perform at the lower end of the rank order, it’s score improved from TIMMS 2011 to TIMMS 2015 by 20 points for mathematics and 26 points for science. This means from 2003 to 2015, South Africa improved by 87 points for mathematics and 90 points for science,” the HSRC said.