Mathematical literacy

• Mathematical proficiency across countries
  • There was a large variation (from 1 to 57%) across participating countries in Grade 5 children who had a low proficiency in mathematics equivalent only to that expected in the first years of primary school.
  • Substantial difference was also found in the number of children performing at the highest levels of expected learning. While in some countries a large majority (91%) of Grade 5 children were able to perform complex mathematical operations and interpret different data sources, in others only a few children (8%) were prepared for these tasks.
• SEA-PLM 2019 mathematics alignment with the SDGs
  • In mathematics, the percentage of Grade 5 children performing at or above SDG.4.1.1b ‘end of primary’ indicator ranges from 8 to 92% across participating countries.

Reading literacy

• Reading proficiency across countries
  • There was a large variation (from 2 to 82%) across participating countries in the number of Grade 5 children who reached Band 6 (the highest band) and could read, understand, and use explicit and implicit information from various text types to reflect on new ideas and opinions.
  • Similarly, there was a large variation (from 1 to 50%) across countries in the number of Grade 5 children with a level of reading proficiency equivalent to that expected in the first years of primary school (Band 2 or below, Band 2 being the lowest). These children were still at the stage of matching single words to an image of a familiar object or concept.
• SEA-PLM 2019 reading alignment with the SDGs
  • The percentage of Grade 5 children performing at or above SDG.4.1.1b ‘end of primary’ indicator in reading ranges from 2 to 82% across participating countries.

Writing literacy

• Writing proficiency across countries
  • A large proportion of students across all participating countries were unable to demonstrate the writing proficiencies expected of a Grade 5 student.
  • On average, approximately 9% of students who sat SEA-PLM 2019 performed at Band 7 and Band 8 (or above), the highest 2 bands.
  • The middle 4 bands had similar proportions of students in them; 51% of all students fell into 1 of the 4 middle bands.
  • Furthermore, 40% of students across all 6 SEA-PLM 2019 countries were in the lowest 2 bands, indicating that they had only limited writing skills.

Global citizenship education

• Environmental issues (such as climate change and environmental pollution) and local topics related to the classroom environment (e.g., solving disagreements with classmates and solving problems in the community) appeared to be the most important and valued global citizenship topics and concepts learned at primary school.
• The majority of children reported that they participated in school activities that relate to global citizenship education, such as communicating ideas to their classmates, voting for class leaders, and participating in an activity to make the school more environmentally friendly.
• Most of the teachers indicated they were prepared for and felt confident teaching almost all topics listed in the questionnaire. However,
  • Children’s rights and respecting diversity were the topics teachers said they were most prepared for during pre-service training, and these were also the topics teachers felt most confident teaching.
  • Teachers were consistently less prepared for teaching globalization (34% ‘very well’) or challenging inequality (42% ‘very well’) and also felt less confident teaching these topics.
• Most of the Grade 5 children and teachers in most of the countries have a better grasp of local issues than of regional and global ones.

Children’s background, home influence, and school experience

• Socioeconomic status (SES): Children from higher socioeconomic backgrounds and those attending schools in wealthier neighborhoods performed better than children from less advantaged backgrounds.
• Gender: Girls were more likely to perform better than boys, regardless of socioeconomic status or school location, depending on the achievement domain.
  • In all countries, boys had lower levels of achievement than girls in reading and writing.
  • In 3 out of the 6 countries, boys had lower levels of achievement in mathematics compared with girls.
• Preschool attendance: Children who had attended at least one year of preschool education consistently performed better than children who had not.
• Grade repetition: Children who had repeated a grade were more likely to have lower levels of achievement in reading, writing, and mathematics compared with children who had not repeated a grade.
• Language of instruction: Children who spoke the language of instruction more often at home achieved higher levels of literacy in reading, writing, and mathematics than those who did not, except in the Philippines.

School environment and teacher profiles

• Children learning in larger schools in well-resourced locations, with a textbook for each child, performed better than children in smaller, less well-resourced schools.
• In 3 of the participating countries, school principals reported that the lack of qualified teachers was a significant issue hindering school capacity to provide instruction to children.

Children’s, teachers’, and parents’ attitudes and engagement

• About 80% or more of children in all countries expressed positive attitudes about school – such as liking school, feeling safe at school, and having a sense of belonging.
• On average, children who felt better and safer at school performed better than children who reported less positive feelings.
• In all countries, higher levels of parental engagement were associated with higher reading, writing, and mathematics scores in children.
• A large majority of children attended schools where their teachers considered that a lack of basic knowledge (74%) or a lack of interest (63%) affected children’s learning in class.
• Around one-third of children attended a school where teachers reported that children’s hunger in class (34%) or lack of sleep (32%) were issues affecting children’s learning.
• In several countries, a high percentage of teacher absenteeism and lateness were reported by children.