faiblesse du temps scolaire

18:53 Nov 22, 2017 

I agree, it refers to an overall shortfall for any number of reasons.

10:07 Nov 22, 2017 

I think that the term probably covers inadequate school time with regard to both hours per week and years of school attendance. There might be compulsory schooling between the ages of 5 yrs and 15 yrs. However, perhaps few pupils attend school for at least 5 - 6 hrs a day during term time over that whole period. This could be because the schools aren't continuously functioning or have to operate in shifts (lack of teachers, civil disturbances, inadequate school buildings etc.), or because of pupils' family circumstances (e.g. no fixed home, long journey to school, lack of money, need for child labour etc.). Whatever the cause, the result would be low achievement by age 15.

15:35 Nov 13, 2017 

The meaning would be more clear if they were to present educational attainment rates (distribution by highest grade level) at different ages, such as 15 and 25. Or, perhaps there is some reason for them to present it differently.

In the World Bank database (data.worldbank.org), there are a number of data series that provide specific definitions of some other commonly used indicators which would very likely be familiar to at least some of the people potentially evaluating such a request.

In that context, "low years of schooling" or equivalent is pretty vague.

This could be presented as arising as a matter of translation clarity, to ensure non-ambiguity in the translation.

14:26 Nov 13, 2017 

I'm pretty sure this is referring to inadequate TIME spent in school. BUT it's impossible to say from this bit if this refers to time spent each DAY or whether the school YEAR is long enough or whether they go to school for enough YEARS so can't agree with any of the answers but Daniel's answer is closest. It's vague in French as well and should be flagged to client.

08:12 Nov 13, 2017 

that this is referring to the extent of time spent at school, probably as regards the number of years of compulsory schooling

07:27 Nov 13, 2017 

I see what you mean.
(I think if I didn't realise straight away it's because I feel that if they meant "inadequate quality" they would have phrased it differently).
But I do feel that if "faiblesse du temps scolaire" has no other context and is just an item in a list that there is no way for you to know which is the correct meaning here, so I would flag it to your client.

05:10 Nov 13, 2017 

Thanks Catharine, but I'm not sure your interpretation answers the question. The implication in either case is that the results would be as you say "faibles", my question is whether the faibles results are due to inadequate time or poor teaching.

04:41 Nov 13, 2017 

here IMO it's definitely inadequate time; if it was inadequate quality they would probably have referred to "faible résultats scolaires" or some such.

02:55 Nov 13, 2017 

...Thanks -- as I said, it is a list so you have as much info as I have... I'm focusing on the word "faiblesse", ie, whether it refers to inadequate time, or inadequate quality.