An investigation into the relationship between educational inputs and achievement at the basic education level in the South Western Educational Division in Malawi

1

• An investigation into the relationship between
  educational inputs and achievement at the basic
  education level in the South Western Educational
  Division in Malawi
• By
• Demis Kunje

2
Presentation

• Background
• The problem
• Research questions
• Significance of the study
• Limitations
• Theoretical framework
• Literature review
• Methods
• Pilot
• Main study
• Sample
• Instruments
• Procedure
• Analysis

3
Background

• Free primary education in 1997
• Enrolments soared 1.2 to 3m
• A success story
• Educational system under stress
• infrastructure
• teachers
• books
• facilities and teaching and learning materials

4
Considerable efforts

• Recruited 22,000 teachers GTZ
• Built more school blocks DfID,WB, EU, ADB
• Bought more textbooks CIDA
• Trained PEAs DfID
• Constructed TDCs DfID, WB

• Developed DEP DfID, JICA
• Implemented DEP- JICA
• All were busy trying to support the FPE

5
A decade later

• Pop 11,937,934
• Pop growth 3.32
• Pop of 6 13yr 21.3
• GER 126
• NER 33.1
• Adult Lit 60.9
• RuralAL 58.7

• T/P 183
• Classroom/p 1106
• Trained teachers 85
• Completion rate 30
• Drop out rate 15
• Attendance 88
• Age range 6 13yr vs 4-18yrs
• Std 5 10 yrs vs 8 18 yrs
• Std 7 12yrs vs 9 18yrs

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The problem

• The provision of educational inputs in an effort
  to improve quality especially achievement is
  uncoordinated,
• In trickles
• Not prioritised
• Not holistic
• Unsustainable
• Pupil achievement has remained low

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Research questions

• 1 What are the relationships between school
  level, classroom level and pupil level factors
  and achievement in mathematics, Chichewa and
  English in std 5 and std7?
• 2 What combinations of school, classroom and
  pupil factors are associated with achievement in
  mathematics, Chichewa and English?
• 3 How are the resources in schools utilised to
  improve achievement in basic education?

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Significance of the study

• Understand relationships that exist between
  resources and achievement
• Some idea of minimum levels of resourcing schools
  for optimum achievements
• Pupil characteristics which influence achievement
• Provide a predictive model of resources, pupil
  characteristics and achievement
• Salient features of school ethos which matter in
  improving efficiency
• The study complements efforts to identify
  effective schools in consonance with EFA goals

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EFA goals

• Creating a conducive learning environment
• Promoting higher achievement levels
• Improving the availability of teaching and
  learning materials
• Promoting effective monitoring and evaluation of
  education quality

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Limitation of the study

• Complex nature of cause effect studies
• Many factors at work
• Only considering basic factors
• Studying ethos require adequate time to cover a
  school year

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School a critical entity

• School climate
• Enabling conditions
• Teaching and learning process

• Outcomes
• Participation
• Academic achievement
• Social skills
• Economic skills

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Schooling influenced by
Supporting Inputs Pupil characteristics Context
Parents and community International
System support Cultural
Material support Political
economic
13
Literature Review

• Inspired by effective schools research in the
  1980s
• Ifelunni(1990) studied correlates of academic
  achievements
• Pennycuick(1997) summarised results from
  effective schools research
• Cautious with results easily reach spurious
  conclusions
• Multi level analysis offers a more acceptable
  approach
• Malawis problem very basic
• Overwhelming evidence that achievement levels are
  low.

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Literature

• SACMEQ performing below minimum desirable
  levels of reading and mathematical skills
• MIE categorically showed only 10 are ready to
  move on to the next class
• Evoked need to investigate what contributes to
  learner achievement

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Method

• Piloting
• Main study

16
Pilot

• Main aim Pilot instruments and collect
  characteristics of schools for sampling
• Sample 1 urban school and 4 rural schools
• - Std 5and std 7
• - Std 5 persevered so far and
  moving on to senior classes needing sound
  background
• - Std 7 about to complete
  primary need to know what they have as they
  graduate
• Instruments Tests in maths, English and Chichewa
  
• - school profile enrolments,
  staffing, availability of textbooks,
  infrastructure, facilities and NGO support

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procedure

• Std 5 and std 7 teachers designed tests to cover
  curriculum
• Checked by PEAs
• Verified by researchers
• Researchers designed school profile
• Administered tests
• Marked
• Item analysis
• Produced final tests and school profile as well
  as pupil background questionnaire

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Results of pilot

• Std 5 girls did better than boys in mathematics
  and English
• Girls in urban school were worse than girls in
  rural in Chichewa
• Std 7 urban schools scored much higher than rural
  schools in all areas except Chichewa composition

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Sample frame SWED 70u544r
Location T/p ratio No. of schools
Urban Low 20-49 4
Urban Medium50-70 4
Urban High71-345 4
Rural Low2049 17
Rural Medium50-70 29
Rural High71-345 42
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Pupils and instruments

• Random sample of 30pupils in std 5 in 100 schools
• 3000 std 5 pupils
• Random sample of 30 pupils in std 7
• 3000 std 7 pupils
• Boys and girls selected separately

• Instruments
• Maths multiple choice
• Chichewa and English std 7 composition and
  multiple choice
• School profile
• Pupil background

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Procedure

• 5 teams I researcher and 1 res. Asst
• 20 schools in 10 days
• Teachers to assist invigilation
• Invigilators to assist pupil background
• Head teacher to fill school profile
• Teachers marked tests
• Code school and pupil profiles

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Challenges

• Some schools not accessible and changed T/P
  criterion
• Many absentees - difficult to identify pupils and
  spent considerable time
• Test conditions uncomfortable

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Coding school profile
Low Medium High
code 1 2 3
Teacher/p 120 149 150 170 1711345
Classrm/p 115 149 150 170 1711345
Desk/p 11 1 3 14 110 None
Mathstext/p 11 15 16 110 111 -
Engtext/p 11 15 16 110 111 -
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Coding pupil profile
Standard age code age Code
5 - 12 1 13 - 2
7 - 14 1 15 - 2
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Sex Male 1 female 2
SES Low Medium High
Code 1 2 3
Roofing
Floor
Water
Toilet
Lighting
Hh effects
Books
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Parents education
Level low Medium High
Code 1 2 3
Moth Ed Std 8 JC, MSCE Above
Fath Ed Std8 JC, MSCE Above
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Variability
location Teach/p maths Eng Chich
Urban Low
Urban Medium
Urban High
Rural Low
Rural Medium
Rural High
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Textbooks
location Mathstext/p Maths mean scores
Urban Low
Urban Medium
Urban High
Rural Low
Rural Medium
Rural High
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Correlations Pupil characteristics
maths Eng Chich
Male
Female
LowSES
MediumSES
HighSES
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Hierarchical multi level modeling

• How much of the variability in attainment is
  attributable to differences between schools and
  between students?
• Can we find factors at the student and school
  levels which account for the variability at each
  level?
• Allows us to determine the relative impact of
  each level of the hierarchy and to identify the
  factors at each level that are associated with
  that levels impact
• How much these two analyses support each other

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End of Phase one

• Phase two Qualitative analysis of a sample of
  schools with high achievement rates