Three international testing programmes, including PIRLS, point to educational quality improvements in South Africa during the period 2002 to 2019. The gains were substantial, relative to the steepness of improvements seen in other countries. What lay behind these trends? National education quality trends are not easy to explain, and this is seldom attempted in a systematic manner.
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.

Working Papers: Education
An emerging interdisciplinary literature explores how kinship practices affect household resource allocation through efficiency of production and consumption. This paper focuses on a key gender norm – how a resource transfer to households affects school drop out of girls relative to boys, under different kinship practices.
The South African economics of education has so far been largely silent on the role of non-cognitive skills in the learning process. This contrasts noticeably with an international literature that recognises non-cognitive skills as both an important input and outcome of education.
Events surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic threatened to undo 20 years of sustained expansion in access to early childhood care and education (ECCE) in South Africa. In this paper, we explore the underlying structural weaknesses in non-grade R ECCE provisioning that were exposed through the pandemic, and the strengths that have surfaced.
A PART OF THE ECD WORKING PAPER SERIES BETWEEN ILIFA LABANTWANA & RESEP. NO. ECD WP 003/2021
Enrolment in early childhood care and education programmes in South Africa: challenges and opportunities
A part of the ECD Working Paper Series between Ilifa Labantwana & Resep. No. ECD WP 002/2021The Ilifa-Resep ECD Working Paper Series is a collaboration between Ilifa Labantwana and Research on Socio-Economic Policy (RESEP) at Stellenbosch University. The working paper series aims to promote research that addresses the major systemic issues facing the ECD sector in South Africa.
Estimating the impact of five early childhood development programmes against a counterfactual
A part of the ECD Working Paper Series between Ilifa Labantwana & RESEP. No. ECD WP 001/2021The Ilifa-Resep ECD Working Paper Series is a collaboration between Ilifa Labantwana and Research on Socio-Economic Policy (Resep) at Stellenbosch University. The working paper series aims to promote research that addresses the major systemic issues facing the ECD sector in South Africa.
Voting and protest tendencies associated with changes in service delivery.
Citizens ought to hold the state accountable for service delivery. This is usually done through the power of the vote. Literature on democratic governance suggests that theoretically, when good quality public services are provided, citizens would continue to vote for the political party in power. Therefore, it is expected that the inverse would occur should poor quality public services be provided.Citizens ought to hold the state accountable for service delivery. This is usually done through the power of the vote. Literature on democratic governance suggests that theoretically, when good quality public services are provided, citizens would continue to vote for the political party in power. Therefore, it is expected that the inverse would occur should poor quality public services be provided.
Stellenbosch Working Paper Series No. WP01/2021
Publication date: February 2021
How is the COVID-19 pandemic affecting educational quality in South Africa? Evidence to date and future risks
Stellenbosch Working Paper Series No. WP23/2020 Publication date: December 2020Stellenbosch Working Paper Series No. WP23/2020
Publication date: December 2020
Household resource flows and food poverty during South Africa’s lockdown: Short-term policy implications for three channels of social protection
Stellenbosch Working Paper Series No. WP22/2020 Publication date: December 2020Stellenbosch Working Paper Series No. WP22/2020 Publication date: December 2020
Schools in the time of COVID-19: Possible implications for enrolment, repetition and dropout
Stellenbosch Working Paper Series No. WP20/2020 Publication date: November 2020Stellenbosch Working Paper Series No. WP20/2020
Publication date: November 2020
This working paper presents the findings of research into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the curriculum in South Africa. Four research questions frame the report:
Language-in-education policy has a powerful influence on social and economic relations, with complex dimensions in multilingual and unequal societies such as South Africa.
Perseverance, Passion, and Poverty: Examining the association between grit and reading achievement in high-poverty schools
Stellenbosch Working Paper Series No. WP06/2020This paper examines whether school characteristics moderate the association between grit and reading achievement in a sample of Grade 6 learners in high-poverty contexts.
A revised PIRLS 2011 to 2016 trend for South Africa and the importance of analysing the underlying microdata
Stellenbosch Working Paper Series No. WP02/2020Given South Africa’s weak performance in international testing programmes, there is a strong interest in gauging improvements within these programmes.
Correspondence between mathematics and mathematical literacy scores: an analysis from 2010 to 2018
Stellenbosch Working Paper Series No. WP03/2020This paper estimates correspondence curves between mathematics and mathematical literacy scores for South African Matric Students from 2010 to 2018.
Socioeconomic Status and Class Size in South African Secondary Schools
Stellenbosch Working Paper Series No. WP01/2020The 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.
The period effect: the effect of menstruation on absenteeism of school girls in Limpopo
Stellenbosch Working Paper Series No. WP20/2019This paper will aim to answer three questions: (1) Are girls absent from school during their periods? (2) If so, how large is the effect of menstruation on absenteeism? (3) Do the effects differ by socio-economic status (SES)?
Performance Beyond Expectations: Academic Resilience in South Africa
Stellenbosch Working Paper Series No. WP19/2019Socio-economic status and educational outcomes are strongly linked across countries and education systems. However, a growing body of research documents the existence of students from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds who manage to achieve exceptional academic results.