Determinants of elementary school students French and mathematics achievements in rural Burkina Faso

Issoufou Ouedraogo
Hiroshima university, Japan

Yukiko Hirakawa

Literacy and numeracy, as emphasized in the Declaration for Education For All (EFA) in 1990, are essential tools for learning. However, EFA Global Monitoring Report 2014 pointed out that many children leave schools without acquiring literacy and numeracy. In Burkina Faso, PASEC (Programme d’Analyse des Systèmes Educatifs de la Conférence des Ministres de l’Education) [Francophone Africa Educational Systems Analysis Program] revealed that about 40% of grade 6 students failed at acquiring basic skills in French and math necessary for life and for further studies, though the rate of students who reached grade 6 was only about 60%. The purpose of this longitudinal study is to find out factors influencing students achievements in rural Burkina Faso. Zondoma Province was purposively chosen as an area that had relatively high enrolment rate and low completion rate. Then, 30 schools and 967 students were chosen randomly. Questionnaires, school checklists, French and math tests were employed to collect data. French and math tests were developed based on PASEC tests and other tests used in other developing countries. The tentative results showed that there was a large difference among schools. A two level Hierarchical Linear Model will be used to clarify proportion of school variance and student variance, and school and students factors that significantly affect student achievement. The results will provide basis of discussion for quality improvement of elementary schools.

Key words: school achievements, primary school, Mathematics, French, Burkina Faso