TIMSS in South Africa: making global research locally meaningful

Abstract

The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is an assessment of the mathematics and science knowledge of fourth and eighth grade learners1 around the world. TIMSS was developed by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) to allow participating nations to compare their learners' educational achievement across borders. TIMSS was first administered in 1995, and subsequently every four years. TIMSS provides a series of trend measures, allowing countries to measure and monitor the health of their education systems over time. Demographic and contextual information collected from learners, teachers, parents and schools provides a rich dataset to explain the observed achievement levels. South Africa participated in TIMSS at the Grade 8 or9 level in 1995, 1999, 2003,2 2011, 2015 and 2019, and at the Grade 5 level in 2015 and 2019.