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The quality of secondary education in the Middle East and North Africa: what can we learn from TIMSS' results?

Authors :
Bouhlila, Donia Smaali
Source :
Compare: A Journal of Comparative & International Education; May2011, Vol. 41 Issue 3, p327-352, 26p, 12 Charts, 3 Graphs
Publication Year :
2011

Abstract

Research on educational quality has been scarce in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, whereas the debates over educational quality date from 1966 in the USA with the Coleman Report. Fortunately TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) starts to fill this gap by providing data on students' achievement and for many MENA countries this is the first time that such data are available. The paper gives an overview of the quality of education in MENA using TIMSS' 2007 data. The research questions addressed here are why is achievement low? And why is the gap between the top-performing countries and MENA countries large? In order to answer these questions, the paper focuses on several aspects: the first is the inefficiency of acquiring the language, the second is the inefficiency of time devoted to homework, the third is the meagre intended curriculum which is translated into a weaker implemented curriculum, the fourth aspect deals with the inefficiency of public resources devoted to the education sector. Finally, the paper highlights two other factors believed to affect students' achievement: family background and students' attitudes towards mathematics and science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
03057925
Volume :
41
Issue :
3
Database :
Complementary Index
Journal :
Compare: A Journal of Comparative & International Education
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
60106950
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2010.539887