EDITORIAL
EDITORIAL
SCHOOL TEXTBOOKS – SHOULD WE BE CONCERNED ABOUT THEIR QUALITY?
ARTICLE PROVIDED BY CHRISTIAAN VISSER, DIRECTOR OF THE TEXTBOOK DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE.
WWW.TDEVI.COM “
“The role that quality textbooks could and should play in achieving excellence in teaching and learning is not sufficiently recognized.”
When referring to excellence in teaching and learning, we al- ways 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 anything that the school may wish to offer?
These things are important, and it should be addressed. How- ever, doing anything about these issues is not likely to have an impact on the quality of teaching and learning in the short term. Thus the issue of textbooks arises.
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, colleges and universities?
In 2006 the department of education spent R1 490 million on school textbooks, a major investment by any standard.
What is the quality these textbooks? Textbooks are not sub- jected to independent evaluation in South Africa, as it is done in the United States of America (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 private sector or- ganization monitoring the quality of teaching and learning in the USA. Five of the books were found to be entirely unsuitable, none were found to be very good, they range from serviceable to abysmal, the best are merely adequate. A general conclu- sion was: “Fat, dull, boring books that mention everything but explain practically nothing . . . ”
In South Africa, 34 textbooks have been approved for math- ematical literacy and 20 books for teaching mathematics, in grades 10, 11 and 12. What is the quality of these textbooks? We do know that the effectiveness of mathematics teaching
is poor; but we do not know whether the textbooks used for teaching are any good, and to what extent poor textbooks might have contributed to poor mathematics results.
Textbooks for grades 10, 11 & 12 are evaluated by the Na- tional Education Department. For the lower grades textbooks are evaluated by provincial departments. In a document sub- mitted by the publishing industry (PASA) to a UNDP research team reviewing Education in South Africa, the evaluation of textbooks by Provincial Education Departments was identified as a problem area. A publisher will submit a textbook to one provincial department who would approve it with acclaim; an- other department will reject the same textbook for not meet- ing minimum requirements. This could be a result of those that needs to evaluate textbooks do not know what a quality text- book encompasses, or maybe other considerations apply when textbooks are approved?
Newspapers recently reported on the problem with the read- ing skills of first year University students. Is this one of the rea- sons that 30% of university students drop out in their first year? Nothing however was said about the quality of the textbooks 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 comprehend. We blame the schools for not teaching students how to read, yet dismiss prescribed text- books that are difficult for students to grasp. Studies by UNES- CO on the quality of textbooks repeatedly report that poor instructional 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 on the international TIMSS and PIRLS ratings for literacy and numeracy 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 - Singa-
pore, Textbook World - Hong Kong, International Association for Research on Textbooks and Educational Media - Norway. In South Africa, it is extremely difficult to find research on the quality and use of textbooks.
In 1999, Wilkinson and colleagues at the Vista University re- viewed a number of textbooks. They then concluded that many print based learning resources in fact constitute a “stumbling block in the achievement of true academic knowledge, skills and attitudes.”
The quality of textbooks is one thing. The importance of text- books is another. Prof Jonathan Jansen once said that OBE suggested that teachers do not require textbooks; that such a notion was not only bizarre but it also had a catastrophic effect on the development of teachers.
According to Prof O’Connell, University of Western Cape, the biggest mistake Prof Bengu made was to introduce OBE sug- gesting it could work without textbooks.
The importance of textbooks is well recognized in education literature: “Textbooks are as crucial to the teacher as a blue- print is to a carpenter.” “In maths as much as 90% of the work students do is assigned directly from a textbook. Any effort to improve student achievement cannot ignore the central role of the textbook in the curriculum.” “As younger, inexperienced teachers are thrown into classrooms . . . as much as 90% of the burden of instruction rests on textbooks.”
In a TV programme, Fokus, on SABC 2 on the 21st February 2010, Prof Saartjie Gravett from the Education Faculty at the Johannesburg University, suggested that the short-term solu- tion to the quality of teaching and learning problem at schools is good textbooks.
In a recent Democratic Alliance workshop on education, the Premier of the Western Cape, Helen Zille identified the qual- ity of textbooks as one of the key factors that need to be addressed in dealing with the education crisis in the country.
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In order to achieve qual- ity in teaching and learn- ing the real challenge, it would seem, is to devise strategies to improve the quality of textbooks, and then to encourage teachers to use them ef- fectively. Ultimately, the effectiveness of all practi- tioners is determined by the quality of the ‘tools’ they work with.
150 CHAPTER 8 | TEACHING RESOURCES
www.ed.org.za
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