A Partial Negative Flynn Effect Among the South Sudanese: The Effects of Different Curricula

Abstract

The results of two administrations of the Standard Progressive Matrices (SPM) are compared. The first is an administration in 2010 to 1,327 pupils from five schools established for South Sudanese children in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital. The second is an administration in 2015 to 2,990 South Sudanese pupils in a Sudanese refugee camp, attending A Partial Negative Flynn Effect Among the South Sudanese Adfib Al-Neelain journal Volume (3) No( 3) September schools organised by the Red Crescent. The average IQ of refugees from South Sudan had declined significantly, by 0.8 points between 2010 and 2015, though there were significant age cohort variations. This was substantially driven by significant declines among those aged 10 to 15. It is show that the change cannot simply be explained by one sample by one sample being in a refugee camp and the other not. Alternative possibilities are presented. We argue that the most persuasive explanation is differences in the curriculum to which the two samples have been subjected.