Below you’ll find the latest news about the RESEP team and their previous, future or ongoing work. Also featured are expert opinions on relevant happenings within the fields of education, labour, development and health.
This study investigates whether the quality of school-based assessment (SBA) influences matriculation performance in Mathematics within quintile 1 to 3 schools in Limpopo, South Africa. It builds on previous literature that identified poor schools in Limpopo excelling in Mathematics achievement at the matriculation level.
In 2021, teachers instructing the average Grade 4 student in South Africa faced reading abilities spanning almost four grade levels in one classroom (Böhmer & Wills, 2023). In this context, curriculum or instruction differentiation is a necessary classroom strategy. The South African curriculum and inclusive education policies recognise learner diversity and envisage class teachers as responsible for curriculum differentiation supported by district and circuit experts.
For most South African learners, the destination language of instruction (typically English) is not their mother tongue; thus, proficiency in English is necessary for educational success. However, research has shown that development of linguistic skills is more effective in the mother tongue, and that these skills can be transferred to a second language (especially when high levels of proficiency are reached in the first language).
The 2023 Back-on-Track (BoT) programme, launched by the Western Cape Education Department (WCED), aimed to address significant learning deficits caused by the COVID-19 pandemic over a period of three years. This R1.2 billion initiative targeted improvements in mathematics and language through interventions for learners and teachers in grades 4, 7, and 8. Using Systemic Tests and School-Based Assessments (SBAs), this evaluation assesses the programme’s impact on grade 4 and grade 7 learners.
We report on the quality and completeness of disability-disaggregated enrolment data in the education management information system
(EMIS) in two provinces in South Africa. We show there has been a dramatic decline in the number of learners with disabilities enrolled in schools in Gauteng from 2017 to 2023.
This report presents groundbreaking insights into South Africa’s education system, leveraging extensive data from SA-SAMS, LURITS, and the Data Driven Districts (DDD) programme. Authored by Servaas van der Berg, Chris van Wyk, and Martin Gustafsson, with a multidisciplinary team, the study examines critical trends in learner progression, absenteeism, subject choice, and the long-term impacts of COVID-19 on education.
Youth born just after the turn of democracy in 1994 have the highest years of completed education of any cohort in South African history. This is a trend worth celebrating. Yet South Africa’s educational progress is occurring alongside various constraints: slow economic growth; high and rising unemployment especially among youth; public finance constraints in expanding post-school education and training (PSET) opportunities; and growing concerns about mismatches between youth’s skills and the skills demanded in a changing world of work.
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