What makes a literate nation?

International literacy assessments have provided ample data for ranking nations, charting growth, and casting blame. Summarizing the findings of these assessments, which afford a useful vantage from which to view world literacy as it evolves, the book World Literacy, How Countries Rank and Why It Matters by John W. Miller and Michael C. McKenna, “examines literate behavior worldwide, in terms of both the ability of populations from a wide variety of nations to read and the practice of literate behavior in those nations,” reads the introduction to the book published by Routledge.

Drawing on the internationally released study, The World’s Most Literate Nations (WMLN), done by Miller through the Central Connecticut State University (CCSU), the book looks at “emerging trends in world literacy and their relationships to political, economic, and social factors… Literacy, and in particular the practice of literate behaviors, is used as a lens through which to view countries’ economic development, gender equality, resource utilization, and ethnic discrimination.”

“The power and value of being literate in a literate society is played out every day around the world. Many individuals, and even whole societies, make considerable sacrifices to become literate just as others take it for granted. Societies that do not practice literate behavior are often squalid, undernourished in mind and body, repressive of human rights and dignity, brutal, and harsh,” reads the study’s introduction.

“The factors we examine present a complex and nuanced portrait of a nation’s cultural vitality,” said Miller in a statement. “And what the rankings strongly suggest and world literacy demonstrates is that these kinds of literate behaviors are critical to the success of individuals and nations in the knowledge-based economies that define our global future.”

“The study is the first of its kind to weave together information on behavioral factors that indicate literacy, such as newspaper circulation, with reading scores from standardized tests.

The rankings look at variables related to tested literacy achievement — scores on the PIRLS or Progress in International Reading Literacy Study, and on the PISA, Program for International Student Assessment — as well as to literate behavior characteristics. Those include 15 variables grouped in five categories: Libraries, Newspapers, Education System-Inputs, Education System-Outputs and Computer Availability, as well as population, which is used for establishing per capita ratios.”

There are 196 Nations in the world if you include Taiwan as a separate Nation. Of these 196, there were only 61 viable countries that fulfilled the criteria and could provide enough data to be included in the study. The good news is that South Africa was one of the 61. The bad news is that we came in third from last at 57.

So, how did South Africa fare on the results.

Newspaper circulation: 59

Ranking 59 out of 61, South Africa’s newspaper circulation and consumption is low.

Libraries: 51

Libraries are indexed with four variables, ranking 51st, South Africa’s penetration and the quality of libraries should be much higher in accordance to the size of our population:

1. Number of academic libraries
2. Number of public libraries
3. Number of school libraries
4. Number of volumes in all (only) public libraries.

Education system input: 37
Education System Input is indexed with two variables, South Africa’s education system fares quite well on paper:

1. Years of schooling is the total number of years of compulsory education.
2. Public expenditure on education expressed as a percentage of GDP.

Education system output (test scores): 38

1. Reading assessment scores at fiveyear intervals (2006–11) from the PIRLS literacy assessment of younger students (fourth to eighth grades).
2. Reading assessment scores at threeyear intervals (2009–12) from the multi-dimensional PISA examination of educational outcomes for older students (15–18 YOA).

Computers: 57
Computer penetration is indexed with one variable: Percentage of households with either desktop or laptop computer (excludes other devices such as cell phones, personal digital assistants, or TV’s).

The country that was ranked as the most literate Nation, and which regularly tops the PIRLS scores worldwide, is Finland. It is interesting to note some of the differences in Finland’s education system to South Africa’s. Perhaps we could learn a thing or two.

In Finland, the government subsidizes daycare for children, and “97 percent of Finnish children attend preschool, which starts at age five,” says an article on Takepart, which compares the Finnish system to the American schooling system. Finnish children start formal schooling at age seven, which is similar to South Africa, where children start school in the year they turn seven.

There are few, if any, mandatory tests in Finland until a single exam at the end of high school. There’s also little homework. All schooling is done in class.

The average class size in Finland is 20 students, which is similar to many private schools in SA, but sadly an impossibility for many of the Government schools. There is also no tracking or separation of students based on ability with certain grades. They are all taught in the same class. “To ensure that children with learning or behavior disabilities, or immigrants struggling to learn Finnish, don’t fall behind, schools hire teaching aides who undergo an extra year of education to supplement teachers’ efforts.”

“Finnish language education begins on the first day of school. By age nine, students begin Swedish (Finland’s second official language), and at 11, they start learning a third language, usually English. Many students even take on a fourth language around age 13.”

The most telling factor may well be the regard with which the Government views its teachers in Finland. In order to become a teacher in Finland, you need a master’s degree. “Teachers can get their master’s degree at one of eight national colleges, the cost of which is completely subsidized by the government. Competition for these spots is fierce: Applicants must be in the top 10 percent of their college classes. In 2010 6,600 applicants applied for 600 slots.”

Also very interesting in light of all the above is that in Finland, a teacher usually sticks with the same group of students for five years. By doing this not only do teachers have a better chance to form relationships with their students, but they also have a better opportunity to get to know students as learners. In South Africa, students usually get a new teacher for each subject each year.

“Teachers are given guidelines for what they have to teach, but they are not given prescriptions for how to teach it. This allows the highly trained teachers to develop a curriculum geared toward teaching their unique group of students.”