New paper published on COVID-19 learning losses in South Africa
A new paper on COVID-19 learning losses in South Africa has been published in the International Journal of Educational Development.
Roots and wings: Improved quality in subsidised housing
This project is a collaboration between Stellenbosch University, Theewaterskloof municipality ...
Benchmarking oral reading fluency in the early grades in Nguni languages
To prevent children from falling behind in the developmental sequence of reading, a shared vision of what reading success looks like is required. This paper provides the first benchmarks for early grade oral reading fluency that are necessary (albeit not sufficient) to read for meaning in three Nguni languages – isiZulu, isiXhosa and Siswati - belonging to the Southern Bantu family of African languages.
How basic education has improved in the Western Cape in the past six years
Repetition is a serious problem in South Africa, and the Western Cape is no exception. In any given year between 2007 and 2019, repetition has ranged between 72,000 and 100,000, with notable enrolment bulges in grades 1, 4, 9 and 10. An important consequence of repetition—when not cancelled by dropout—is an increase in the proportion of children who are older than what would be considered appropriate for a particular grade. For example, at least a third of grade 12 learners in 2019 were overage.
Learner flow through patterns in the Western Cape using CEMIS datasets from 2007 to 2019: A longitudinal cohort analysis
Stellenbosch Working Paper Series No. WP01/2021 Publication date: February 2021
Disability Support & Accessibility in Mainstream Schools in South Africa
This report explores the state of inclusive education in South Africa using data from the School Monitoring Survey in 2017 to assess disability support, the accessibility of schools and learning environments, and the adequacy of teacher training for inclusion.
Resilience key to improving your circumstances
When meeting Dumisani Hompashe and listening to his story, the word “resilience" automatically comes to mind. Because resilience is the silver thread running through his entire life, from his childhood to his part-time PhD studies in Economics at Stellenbosch University (SU).
Perseverance, passion and poverty: Examining the association between grit and reading achievement in high-poverty schools in South Africa
This paper examines whether school characteristics moderate the association between grit and reading achievement in a sample of Grade 6 learners in high-poverty contexts. The analysis makes use of data from 2383 learners distributed across 60 township and rural schools in three provinces of South Africa.
Grit matters when a child is learning to read, even in poor South African schools
School quality is important in determining children’s success at school. But individual characteristics of the child also play a role. In particular, researchers and teachers are starting to pay more attention to the part that social and emotional skills play in academic success. These are also known as character skills or soft skills.
The Economics of Health in South Africa
The remnants of the colonial and apartheid era are evident in the South African health system’s persistently higher levels of injury, mental health problems, disease and mortality amongst the poor and marginalized—mediated through a wide range of social determinants including environmental health factors such as hygiene, access to clean water, clean air and adequate sanitation, violent crime and trauma, occupational risk, alcohol abuse and tobacco dependence.
