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Access to textbooks
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Teachers were asked about the number of textbooks for literacy and numeracy that year four and year six students had access to. They were provided with five options to choose from.
- Each student has their own textbook.
- Two students share one textbook.
- More than two students share one textbook.
- Only the teacher has the textbook.
- No textbook is provided.
Student access to textbooks
On average, teachers in Small Island States reported that 37% of year four students and 46% of year six students had their own literacy textbooks. For numeracy , 26% of year four and 49% of year six students were reported as having their own numeracy textbooks.
In Small Island States countries, the proportion of students having their own literacy textbook ranged from 0% to 87% for year four students and from 0% to 100% for year six students. For numeracy textbooks the percentage ranged from 0% to 86% and 0% to 100% for year four and year six, respectively.
In Small Island States, more students in year six had their own literacy textbook than in the region. In the region, on average, 34% of year six students had their own literacy textbooks.
About half of year four students do not have a literacy or numeracy textbook, or only the teacher has a textbook. For year six, these proportions are lower; 36% of students do not have a literacy textbook, or only the teacher has a textbook, while 26% do not have a numeracy textbook, or only the teacher has a textbook.
The full range of teacher responses by literacy, numeracy, and year level is shown in Table TT1.2.
What does this mean?
Access to textbooks varies throughout Small Island States schools, creating different learning environments for students, depending on the school they attend. The reasons for this are not known. It may be that some schools are experiencing resource challenges or that textbooks are not deemed necessary by some schools.
Overall, more students in Small Island States had access to their own textbook than the average across the region. Most students, at both year levels, also had access to a textbook in some way.
