PREPARATION OF ZANZIBAR EDUCATION SECTOR PLAN THE SACMEQ PROJECT IN ZANZIBAR Dr. Massoud M. Salim MoEVT Zanzibar

I NTRODUCTION SACMEQ – Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality. SACMEQ (date back in 1991; originated from the Ministry of Education of Zimbabwe). Four studies have been conducted since established; SACMEQ I (1995), SACMEQ II (2000), SACMEQ III (2007) and SACMEQ IV (2013). Zanzibar is a founder member of SACMEQ since 1995 along with other six counties: Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Participating countries have been increasing from 7 in SACMEQ I to 16 in SACMEQ IV. 2

SACMEQ M EMBER C OUNTRIES 3

Measures Literacy skills, Numeracy skills and HIV/AIDS Knowledge of Standard 6 pupils and their teachers in the region. They take tests on: – Reading (Kiswahili). – Mathematics. – Health knowledge. In addition the following instruments were given: – Pupil questionnaire. – Teacher questionnaire. – School head questionnaire – School Form. W HAT SACMEQ MEASURES ? 4

L INK WITH Z ANZIBAR E DUCATION P OLICY (2006) 1. SACMEQ results have been used as an indicator for monitoring quality of primary schooling: Monitoring and evaluation shall be inbuilt at all levels of education so as to measure the performance of the system. Indicators for monitoring education programmes and learning achievement shall be developed (ZEP 2006, p.50-51). 5

SACMEQ P ROJECT C OVERAGE IN Z ANZIBAR SACMEQ I (1995)SACMEQ II (2000)SACMEQ III (2000)SACMEQ IV (2013) SchoolsTeachersPupilsSchoolsTeachersPupilsSchoolsTeachersPupilsSchoolsTeachersPupils , , , ,150 6

K EY F INDINGS The results show improvement from SACMEQ II to SACMEQ IV, both in Reading and Mathematics and across all regions. 7

I MPROVEMENT IN R EGIONAL C OMPARISON IN READING AND MATHEMATICS SKILLS 8

I MPROVEMENT FOR P UPIL SUB - GROUPS IN READING SKILLS 9

10 I MPROVEMENT FOR P UPIL SUB - GROUPS IN MATHEMATICS SKILLS

D ECLINE OF M EANS FOR R EADING AND M ATHEMATICS TEST SCORES OF TEACHERS IN Z ANZIBAR IN BOTH READING AND MATHEMATICS TESTS 11

12 Decline of Means for Reading and Mathematics test scores of teachers in Zanzibar by regions in both reading and mathematics tests (why? Resources? competence? In-service training? Ignorance?

I MPROVEMENT (% INCREASE ) OF L ITERACY ACHIEVEMENT LEVELS OF PUPILS – BUT STILL ABOUT 10% OF S TANDARD 6 PUPILS ARE AT LOWER LEVELS OF LITERACY COMPETENCE (K NOWLEDGE AND U NDERSTANDING ) 13

R EGIONAL DISPARITIES (% OF PUPILS ) IN LITERACY ACHIEVEMENT LEVELS EXIST 14

I MPROVEMENT OF NUMERACY ACHIEVEMENT LEVELS OF PUPILS – BUT STILL HALF OF S TANDARD 6 PUPILS ARE AT LOWER LEVELS OF NUMERACY (K NOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING ; I. E., FOUND DIFFICULTY IN DOING SIMPLE ARITHMETIC ). 15

D ECLINE OF % OF TEACHERS LITERACY LEVELS – STILL ABOUT 20% OF TEACHERS ARE AT LOWER AND MEDIUM LEVEL OF LITERACY COMPETENCE (K NOWLEDGE, U NDERSTANDING, A PPLICATION, A NALYSIS ). 16

D ECLINE OF % OF LITERACY LEVELS OF TEACHERS BY REGION 17

D ECLINE OF N UMERACY L EVELS OF T EACHERS BY GENDER – HIGHER % OF FEMALE THAN MALE TEACHERS IN LOWER LEVELS OF NUMERACY COMPETENCE. 18

D ECLINE OF N UMERACY LEVELS OF TEACHERS BY LOCATION – URBAN TEACHERS ARE AT LOWER AND MEDIUM LEVEL OF COMPETENCY. 19

R EGIONAL DISPARITIES IN NUMERACY ACHIEVEMENT LEVELS EXIST 20

R ESULTS OF THE HAKT REVEALED THAT THE AVERAGE ACHIEVEMENT OF S TANDARD 6 PUPILS DECLINED BY 22 POINTS BETWEEN SACMEQ III (2007) AND SACMEQ IV (2013) – AND ALSO BY SUB - GROUPS. 21

C OMPARISON OF MEAN TEACHER HAKT SCORES IN 2007 AND 2013 REVEALS THAT S TANDARD 6 TEACHERS REACHING DESIRABLE LEVEL OF KNOWLEDGE ON HIV AND AIDS ALSO DECLINED BY 3.7 PER CENT BETWEEN THE TWO SACMEQ STUDIES. 22

K EY I SSUES 1.Still a considerable number of Standard 6 pupils are at lower level of reading and mathematics competence. Why: Teaching process? Poor teaching? Time of task? What teachers actually do in the classroom? 2.Decline of reading, mathematics and health knowledge competency levels for teachers. Why? Teacher in-service training, Teachers’ guide are availability (95% reading, 86% maths), ignorance? 3.Pupils’ age (Standard 6 pupils are older 12.8 years, which is a significant reduction from 14.2 years in SACMEQ III and 14.8 years in SACMEQ II. This is a very encouraging trend, however, is still significantly higher than the expected age of 12.0 years. Oldest pupils are found in North Unguja and North Pemba regions. Why? Late enrolment (less than 15% of Standard I pupils are admitted at the right age). 23

K EY I SSUES 4. Time spend on lesson preparation, marking and homework and frequency of testing. 5.Repetition – Is this still a practice in some schools? 6.Access to school library books. 70% of primary schools have no libraries. How can we improve pupils’ learning? 7.Extra tuition – About 25% of Standard 6 pupils take extra tuition and of those 49.5% are taught by their school/class teachers. Why extra tuition? 8.Inadequate in-service training – On average reading teachers spend 7 days, mathematics and science teachers 15 days per year. 9.Teaching load – On average (reading teachers 29 periods, mathematics and science teachers 30) per week. 24

KEY I SSUES 10. School buildings – some buildings need repair. 11. School environment is not conducive enough in some schools. 12. School Inspection – some schools take long time without being inspected. 13. Parents and community involvement – Strengthening teacher-parent meetings. 25

Thank you! 26