4. The big picture: understanding mathematics achievement
4.1 South African mathematics performance in relation to that of other countries
4.2 Mathematics achievement in South Africa
4.3 Provincial mathematics achievement at Grade 5
4.4 Differences in average mathematics achievement, by school type

Acknowledgements
List of figures
List of tables
List of acronyms
Executive summary

PART A: EARLY ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA

1. Introduction
1.1 Getting the foundations right
1.2 Social inequalities
1.3 Signposting the rest of the report

2. Methodology
2.1 Data
2.2 Performance benchmarks
2.3 The current study
2.4 Analytic approach

3. Education and skills in the South African context
3.1 Prioritisation of Grade R and early yearsenrolment
3.2 Educational throughput

Section summary

PART B: LEARNERS AND THE HOME ENVIRONMENT

5. A profile of Grade 5 learners in 2015
5.1 Gender, age and achievement
5.2 Language of learning and teaching (LoLT)

6. How learners live and learn
6.1 Home resources
6.2 Indicators of socioeconomic status (SES)

7. The early educational environment
7.1 Early educational activities
7.2 Preschool attendance

8. Early academic skills
8.1 Early literacy skills
8.2 Early numeracy skills
8.3 Principals’ assessment of early academic skills

9. Educational expectations and beliefs
9.1 Educational expectations
9.2 Academic beliefs

Section summary

PART C: A COMPARISON OF SCHOOLING ENVIRONMENTS

10. Where learners go to learn
10.1 School resources
10.2 Access to workbooks
10.3 Assessment of resource shortages

11. School climate
11.1 Emphasis placed on academic success
11.2 Parents’ perception of school performance
11.3 School belonging
11.4 Discipline, safety and bullying

12. A profile of Grade 5 educators
12.1 Challenges facing educators
12.2 Limitations for teaching

12.3 Educator absenteeism

Section summary

PART D: SUMMARISING INFLUENCES ON GRADE 5 MATHEMATICS ACHIEVEMENT

13. Summarising relationships
13.1 A profile of learners
13.2 Resources in the home
13.3 The early educational environment and early academic skills
13.4 Educational expectations and beliefs
13.5 School resources
13.6 School climate
13.7 A profile of educators
13.8 School type and province

Section summary

PART E: IMPROVING MATHEMATICS ACHIEVEMENT

14. A focus on “potentials”
14.1 Who are the so-called “potentials”?

Section summary

PART F: KEY FINDINGS, POLICY IMPLICATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

APPENDIX A1: TIMSS-NUMERACY 2015 DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
APPENDIX A2: CURRICULUM ANALYSIS
APPENDIX A3: SUMMARY OF ASSOCIATION RESULTS BY SCHOOL TYPE
APPENDIX A4: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS FOR ALL VARIABLES USED IN THE ANALYSIS
APPENDIX A5: QUESTIONS USED TO ASSESS SCHOOL CLIMATE
References
Index