TIMSS 2011 Science Assessment Results: A Review of Ghana’s Performance

Abstract

This paper reviews Ghana's performance in the TIMSS 2011 survey in comparison with other African and some high performing countries which participated in the TIMSS assessment. Students' achievement in the science content areas assessed were summarized and teacher preparation constructs of teachers of the students who took part in the assessment explored with the aim of finding any possible linkage between teacher preparation and students achievement. Two set of reviews were done. First, results on the eighth grade (JHS 2) science content achievement in biology, chemistry, physics, and earth science for Ghana, Morocco and Tunisia were compared. The second review compared how Ghana prepares her teachers to Finland and Singapore who were among the first five performing countries on the TIMSS 2011 assessment. Some mismatch was identified in terms of teacher preparation and students' achievement in the case of Ghana. Ghanaian teachers scored relatively high on most of the constructs that were measured by the TIMSS report under teacher preparation but these were not reflected in the students' achievement. In view of this, it is recommended that other indicators such as classroom instruction, resources for teaching science, and school climate are investigated with the aim of finding any other underlying factors that could account for the mismatch between Ghanaian students' achievement on the TIMSS science assessment and teachers' preparation.

The Relationship Between English Reading Proficiency and Academic Achievement of First-Year Science and Mathematics Students in a Multilingual Context

“…While Ghana's participation in TIMMS mathematics shows improved results over the years (i.e., from a scale score of 276 in the year 2003, to 309 in 2007 and 331 in 2011), Ghana was ranked at the 47th position on the overall mathematics achievement out of the 48 participating countries in 2007. Ghana's achievement in TIMMS science has also shown some improvement over the years (from an average score of 255 in the year 2003, to 306 in 2011), but it has been consistently poor (Buabeng, Acheaw Owusu, & Danso Ntow, 2014). In 2011, there was no significant improvement compared to 2007, and Ghana's achievement was the lowest of all 42 participating countries, among which were five African countries (Martin, Foy, & Stanco, 2012).…”

Teacher Education in Ghana: Policies and Practices

“…Ghana is one of the African countries whose learners perform exceptionally poorly in international benchmark assessments with teacher quality being a concern (Buabeng, Owusu, & Ntow, 2014). The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement [IEA] (2012) highlights poor quality of teaching and teachers' poor content knowledge as some of the contributing factors.…”

Effect of Hands-on Science Activities on the Ghanaian Student: A Preliminary Control Study

“…In the early 2000's, Ghana began participating in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMMS). Ghana has continually ranked near or at the bottom of the participating countries (Buabeng, Owusu, & Ntow, 2014). Despite Ghanaian education stakeholders' recognition that improvements in learning outcomes are needed, only a few studies have been conducted to determine the efficacy of experiential pedagogies in the local science education context.…”

“…In addition to the content itself, teacher training is a key component in enabling a shift from rote to experiential pedagogies. In Ghana, where teachercentered approaches tend to dominate science teaching (Buabeng, Ossei-Anto, & Ampiah, 2014), teacher training has been pointed out as a key factor to improving student outcomes (Buabeng, Owusu, & Ntow, 2014). The details of how a teacher implements practical content also affects the efficacy of the approach (Abrahams & Millar, 2008).…”