Jordan Times
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Jordan ranks 1st in Arab world in science
By Hana Namrouqa
AMMAN — Jordan is one of only 26 countries worldwide to have passed eighth grade
science, successfully surpassing the UN-sponsored Arab Trends in Mathematics and
Science Study (TIMSS) 2003 international average.
“Jordan ranks first among Arab countries in the field of science, 56 points
above the average and one point above the international average, Minister of
Education and Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Khalid Touqan
said on Saturday during the launch of the TIMSS 2003 study.
The report, in which 46 countries participated, is conducted every four years
and provides governments and academic communities with a comprehensive analysis
of the performance of their respective students.
In mathematics, however, Jordan ranked 26th among participating countries, 43
points below the international average. In terms of Arab countries, Jordan came
second after Lebanon, with 51 points above the average.
The report reveals that girls’ performance in mathematics and science is on a
par with boys at both the fourth-grade and eighth-grade levels.
In Bahrain, Jordan, Palestine and Saudi Arabia, girls outperformed boys in
eighth grade science, while they also surpassed their male colleagues in
Morocco, Tunisia and Yemen at fourth-grade level.
Touqan noted that while girls have shown an improvement in both science and
mathematics, boys only showed an improvement in science.
The report is highly critical of some educational methods in Arab countries and
calls for an urgent shift from rote learning and memorisation, which it says has
“stifled the creativity of Arab students,” to a greater emphasis on critical
thinking, in line with international trends in mathematics and science.
It also argues that the increase in educational institutions has not been
accompanied by a parallel investment in the quality of education.
“Serious evaluation mechanisms ought to be undertaken to follow up on test
results and recommendations and to address the quality of teaching and teachers
in order to determine and tackle caveats in performance. This will, in turn,
necessitate the redesign and development of Arab curriculum,” TIMSS Regional
Coordinator Adel Al Ali said at the launch.
The study also shows that students of private schools surpassed those of public
and UNRWA schools.
Underlining the significance of the report, Touqan said the major obstacle
facing educational development is the lack of authentic data about students’
performance and learning methods.
Also on Saturday, the UNDP Quality Assessment of Academic Programmes in the
Field of Education in Arab Universities report was launched, presenting a
regional overview of the quality of educational programmes in the academic year
2005-2006 in 23 public and private universities in 13 Arab countries.
According to the report, one out of six (17 per cent) of all Arab university
students are currently enrolled in programmes in the field of education.
The report, which seeks to enable universities to assess and improve the quality
of their educational programmes, rated the quality of teaching and learning
opportunities as “generally strong.”
Despite an over-reliance on lectures, the report shows that a wide range of
innovative teaching methods, including libraries, ICT, and media facilities,
were judged to be good in 11 universities and inadequate in the others.
The report proposes a strategic reform agenda comprising several
recommendations, including the adoption of “a proactive strategic approach to
curriculum design based on intended learning outcomes, allowing greater academic
freedom in curricula, and reducing admission controls among others.”
“This report reiterates the main conclusion of its two predecessors that a
regional initiative to adopt and implement the recommendations of this strategic
reform agenda should continue to be a shared priority for Arab policymakers in
higher education,” said the project manager of the Higher Education Quality
Assurance Project in the Arab Region, Isam Naqib.