TEXTBOOKS AND WORKBOOKS
TEXTBOOKS AND WORKBOOKS
“The role that quality textbooks could and should play in achieving excellence in teaching and learning is not sufficiently recognized.”
SCHOOL TEXTBOOKS – SHOULD WE BE CONCERNED ABOUT THEIR QUALITY?
When we talk about excellence in teaching and learning, we always seem to focus on the role of the teacher, or the role of the principal, or the importance of educational leadership. We also talk about the socio- economic conditions that prevent learners from benefiting from teaching – how can we expect a learner who has not had a proper meal for days to benefit from any- thing that the school may wish to offer?
These things are important, and it should be addressed. However, doing anything about these things, whatever we wish to suggest should be done, is not likely to have an im- pact on the quality of teaching and learning in the short term, which causes me to raise the issue of textbooks.
Should we be concerned about the quality of textbooks? Is the quality of textbooks an issue that we need to address when we talk about excellence in education? If we were able to improve the quality of textbooks, is it likely to have an impact on the quality of teaching and learning in our schools, col- leges and universities?
In 2006 the department of education spent R1 490 million on school textbooks, a ma- jor investment by any standard.
How good are these textbooks? We do not know. Textbooks are not subjected to independent evaluation in SA, as it is done in the USA. In 2004 twelve of the
most commonly used textbooks used in teaching History in high schools in the USA were evaluated. The evaluation was done by the Thomas B Fordham Institute, a pri- vate sector organization playing a watchdog role on the quality of teaching and learning in the USA. Five of the books were found to be totally unsuitable, none were found to be very good, they range from service- able to abysmal, the best are merely ad- equate. A general conclusion was: “Fat, dull, boring books that mentions everything but explain practically nothing . . . “
In South Africa 34 textbooks have been approved for mathematical literacy and 20 books for teaching mathematics, in grades 10, 11 and 12. Crazy! How good are these textbooks? We don’t know. We do know that the effectiveness of maths teaching is poor; but we do not know whether the textbooks used for maths teaching are any good, and to what extent poor textbooks might have contributed to poor maths re- sults.
Textbooks for grades 10, 11 & 12 are evalu- ated by the National Education Department. For the lower grades textbooks are evalu- ated by provincial departments. In a docu- ment submitted by the publishing industry (PASA) to a UNDP research team review- ing Education in South Africa, the evaluation of textbooks by Provincial Education De- partment was identified as a problem area. A publisher will submit a textbook to one provincial department who would approve it with acclaim; another department will reject the same textbook for not meeting mini- mum requirements. Maybe the people who are required to evaluate textbooks do not know what a quality textbook is supposed
to look like, or maybe other considerations apply when textbooks are approved?
Newspapers recently reported on the problem with the reading skills of first year University students. Maybe this is one of the reasons that 30% of university students drop out in their first year? Nothing how- ever was said about the quality of the text- books that students are required to read and study.
According to Theuns Horne, a literacy specialist, textbooks used in schools are often written in a language well above the ability of students to deal with. We blame the schools for not teaching students how to read, but it is alright for education de- partments and faculties to prescribe text- books that are written at a language level that most students will find difficult to deal with. Studies by UNESCO on the quality of textbooks repeatedly report that poor in- structional design and reading material that is too difficult or inconsistent . . . have been found to contribute to early dropouts in a number of countries.
We know that South Africa is rated 45th ,
bottom of the list, on the international TIMSS and PIRLS ratings for literacy and nu- meracy levels in schools. What we probably do not know is that the countries who top the TIMSS and PIRLS ratings, countries like Singapore, Canada, Hong Kong, Korea and others are all actively involved in textbook research. Institutions involved in textbook research include: Japan Textbook Research Centre, Korean Educational Development Institute, National Institute of Education - Singapore, Textbook World - Hong Kong, International Association for Research on
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CHAPTER 8 | TEACHING RESOURCES
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CHAPTER 8 | TEACHING RESOURCES
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