This chapter outlines the history and motivations for participation in TIMSS. In the first section of the chapter, we outline the history of South Africa’s participation in TIMSS and the relationship among the key actors, as well as changing perceptions towards the study over time. Secondly, we provide a nuanced description of South African ma ...

The South African Ministry of Education has made signifcant progress in reducing inequality between schools; however, such inequality persists. Students from wealthier households that are able to meet their fnancial obligations attend wellresourced schools that are characterised by high-quality education. This chapter critically examines issues o ...

Framed within notions of social justice, inequality of opportunity and Bourdieu’s forms of capital, this chapter examines the gaps in educational and labour market outcomes in South Africa and how they have changed over time. With social policies aimed at redressing inequalities introduced from 1994, we track the changes in school mathematics ...

This paper is a secondary analysis, using data from the South African 2015 cycle of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). TIMSS is a trend study that assesses Mathematics and Science achievement and is designed to measure changes in the education system over time. The participants of the study included 12,514 learners f ...

South Africa has participated in a number of local and international achievement studies in the field of education over the last 20 years and responses to the results have been somewhat mixed. Critics argue that participation in international assessments is a pointless exercise because of the slow pace of improvement in South African education. Sup ...

This chapter reviews the educational investments, policies and programmes introduced since 1994 and, using the outcome measure of mathematics achievement, evaluates the distance we have travelled in the quest for quality educational outcomes and a better life for all.