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Education

RESEP education research has a strong emphasis on empirical research in a broad range of policy-related issues including teacher knowledge and training, early-childhood outcomes, accountability, socioeconomic status, and school effectiveness. Policy application is one of the central aims of the research.

Education

What the Shifting Evidence on the Coronavirus means for School Re-openings in South Africa

It is critical that the debates leading up to the re-opening of South Africa’s schools, and the actual process of re-opening, which will almost certainly occur in stages, be informed by the emerging medical evidence and reports on best school practices. Re-opening the pre-school sector, covering around 2.4 million children, and the earliest school grades, seems least risky in terms of infections. Moreover, there are strong educational and nutritional arguments which favour prioritising these levels.

May 12, 2020 By: Martin Gustafsson PDF

Education in a Time of School Closures

President Ramaphosa announced on 15 March that schools would close within days for just over three weeks, as opposed to the originally planned one week of school holidays. This is in line with steps taken across the world to reduce the spread of the new coronavirus. This is a sudden change of plan, and closures may be extended. What should South Africans look out for? What can they do to limit the adverse effects of this disruption on education?

March 25, 2020 By: Martin Gustafsson PDF

With Schools Shut, Kids Go Hungry (BD Article)

The coronavirus pandemic working its way through South African society will have many knock-on effects, one of them will be hunger and malnutrition as 9-million children no longer receive free school meals while their schools are shut.

March 23, 2020 By: Nic Spaull PDF

Socioeconomic Status and Class Size in South African Secondary Schools

Stellenbosch Working Paper Series No. WP01/2020

The reduction of class size is frequently argued to be a relatively simple, cost-effective way to improve learner outcomes in a wide array of contexts. However, methodological concerns regarding the appropriate use of observational data and endogeneity have led to a lack of consensus on this relationship in the literature.

January 21, 2020 By: Timothy Köhler  PDF

The promise of SA-SAMS & DDD data for tracking progression, repetition and drop-out

Stellenbosch Working Paper Series No. WP17/2019

This paper analyses the SA-SAMS school administration data that the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation in partnership with the Department of Basic Education collects quarterly from schools in order to assess its usefulness for better understanding the school system.

December 19, 2019 By: Servaas van der Berg, Chris van Wyk, Rebecca Selkirk, Kate Rich, and Nicola Deghaye PDF

Reading research recognised by The Impact Initiative

Over the period 2016 to 2018, RESEP were engaged in a study titled “Leadership for Literacy” funded by the ESRC/DFID. The project resulted in the collection of new data on reading in three African languages. In this research impact brief published by the REAL Centre, University of Cambridge, and The Impact Initiative, the impact of this work to establish tentative benchmarks in African languages is highlighted.

November 29, 2019 By: Gabrielle Wills PDF