There is no doubt that we need to do better in maths and science education.
Research such as the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study; the international Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality; and or our own indigenous annual national assessments (ANAs) show that our kids are clearly not getting it.
They can neither count nor read properly. If you don't do home language well, do you do the language of science and maths? How do you know that "difference" means "subtract"? Before we rush into solutions, let us ask questions.
Bigger issues
First, why maths and science? What about the humanities; do we not need poets, musicians and sociologists to help us understand what is going on and to look at our data? In the US, they focused on maths and science. Schools from poor urban areas dropped basketball, sports and music, but maths still didn't improve. Now the learners have nothing. "No child left behind" has become a misnomer and an uneven project.
Second, science labs need chemicals and ICT labs need connectivity. Maintenance budgets and norms and standards for infrastructure are linked. Are there labs or libraries, are our kids reading? Do teachers understand what is happening, and how to fix it – or where to go to find fixes?
Of course we need maths and science in a technical world — this means that learners in Carnarvon, near the square kilometre array, may get issues of space travel and astronomy first, because there are jobs available to them in the area. How do we convince learners of the need for research on Aids or malaria, or ensure the use of ICT in our schools?
Gains and challenges
On the other hand, there are a lot of people doing great stuff. These include the Maths Centre at Wits, Sci-Bono, Cape Town Science Centre, and the Centre for the Advancement of Science and Mathematics Education in KwaZulu-Natal and Free State.
As Tim Gordon of Governor's Alliance tells us in the February 2013 issue of Teachers Monthly: "Over 7-million pupils across the entire spectrum and system were able to participate in an examination of this magnitude ANAs without any significant logistical hitches is certainly no mean achievement.
"It is commendable that teachers, learners and schools were carefully prepared for these tests. They were made aware of the nature of the papers in advance, and were given examples of such papers.
"Teachers were provided with assessment guidelines, showing how the papers would be marked. Every learner in the system in the relevant/selected grades was provided with a free maths workbook. Educators were helped in monitoring performance in key activities.
"Teachers were also guided in preparing their classes for the formats to be used in the standardised assessments.
"It is our considered opinion that the advances highlighted by the report into the ANAs need to be taken with a pinch of salt, at best. While much has been made of the improvements of 17% and 13% in grade 3 literacy and numeracy, we believe that any comparisons based on these ANAs (and therefore any advances suggested by such comparisons) are largely meaningless.
"Only 12, 7% of all learners in our schools can pass a valid grade 9 maths test.
"Barely 1% of all grade 9s managed to score above 60% in the grade 9 maths test, and not one pupil in the entire Limpopo Province got an A (80% plus) – yet Limpopo produced the top maths candidate in Matric 2012.
"Approximately 92% of our grade 9s scored between 0 and 29% for maths. "Less than 24% of grade 9 learners in even our top (quintile 5) schools are able to achieve a pass mark."
Do it better
However, we can do a lot more to improve things. Let us draw on these resources and experiences as well as on those of Zimbabwean teachers. Let us get officials to better point the way to assistance. Let us also get teachers to read the textbooks or workbooks to enable them to get learners through difficult patches.
Businesses have a lot more to teach. Homework and parental involvement can mean a simple question about school today and a space to study, with silence and light. Schools and districts need to draw in more help; NGOs need to collaborate more and inform themselves of what is in the field.
The public should stop looking for cheap and glib solutions: for example, how many math teachers do we need, how many Zimbabweans are there, can they speak the right language and will they have place to study in rural Transkei?
Similarly, why do pupils in private schools do extra lessons — are teachers failing them?
The bottom line is we need a plan. Maybe government has one, but they haven't communicated it to us and they haven't coordinated our work.
Graeme Bloch is a senior researcher at the Mapungubwe Institute for Stra- tegic Reflection and a visiting adjunct professor at the Wits School of Public and Development Management