Working Papers
Two recent papers by RESEP’s Martin Gustafsson look into, firstly, the historical trends between nations in children’s reading and mathematics performance and, secondly, their future projections. These are based on three international evaluations: PIRLS, PISA and LLECE.
February 4, 2020 PDF
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.
January 21, 2020 PDF
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)?
December 21, 2019 PDF
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.
December 20, 2019 PDF
The promise of SA-SAMS & DDD data for tracking progression, repetition and drop-out
Stellenbosch Working Paper Series No. WP17/2019This 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 PDF
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 PDF
RESEP led an introductory training course on quantitative data analysis for researchers in education in Stellenbosch from 11 to 15 November. The course was attended by 29 participants working in education, and included graduate students, researchers, NGO memebers and policymakers from across South Africa. Funding was provided by the Allan Gray Orbis Foundation Endowment as part of RESEP’s Early Learning Programme.
November 28, 2019 PDF
STIAS, Stellenbosch
26 November 2019
November 26, 2019 PDF
Wills, G., 2019. School leadership and management: Identifying linkages with learning and structural inequalities. In South African Schooling: The Enigma of Inequality (pp. 301-320). Springer, Cham.
November 25, 2019 PDF
Addressing the ‘leadership conundrum through a mixed methods study of school leadership for literacy
Taylor, N., Wills, G. and Hoadley, U., 2019. Addressing the ‘leadership conundrum ’through a mixed methods study of school leadership for literacy. Research in Comparative and International Education, 14(1), pp.30-53.
November 15, 2019 PDF
Abstract: This paper investigates a disruption hypothesis that student learning is lost as a direct consequence of teacher strike action in South Africa. At face…
November 15, 2019 PDF
Burger, R., Christian, C.S., Gerdtham, U.G., Haal, K., Hompashe, D.M., Smith, A. and Schutte, A.E., 2019. Use of simulated patients to assess hypertension case management at public healthcare facilities in South Africa. Journal of hypertension.
November 14, 2019 PDF
Qu, H., Steinberg, R. and Burger, R., 2019. Abiding by the Law? Using Benford’s Law to Examine the Accuracy of Nonprofit Financial Reports. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, p.0899764019881510.
November 14, 2019 PDF
Wagstaff, A., van Doorslaer, E. and Burger, R., 2019. SMS nudges as a tool to reduce tuberculosis treatment delay and pretreatment loss to follow-up. A randomized controlled trial. PloS one, 14(6), p.e0218527.
November 14, 2019 PDF
Mchenga, M., Burger, R. and von Fintel, D., 2019. Examining the impact of WHO’s Focused Antenatal Care policy on early access, underutilisation and quality of antenatal care services in Malawi: a retrospective study. BMC health services research, 19(1), p.295.
November 14, 2019 PDF
Burger, R., Dang, C.T. and Owens, T., 2017. Better performing NGOs do report more accurately: Evidence from investigating Ugandan NGO financial accounts (No. 2017-10).
November 12, 2019 PDF
Koomen, L.E.M., Burger, R. and van Doorslaer, E.K.A., 2019. Effects and determinants of tuberculosis drug stockouts in South Africa. BMC health services research, 19(1), p.213.
November 12, 2019 PDF
Rossouw, L., Burger, R.P. and Burger, R., 2019. An Incentive-Based and Community Health Worker Package Intervention to Improve Early Utilization of Antenatal Care: Evidence from a Pilot Randomised Controlled Trial. Maternal and child health journal, 23(5), pp.633-640.
November 12, 2019 PDF
Booysen, M.J., Visser, M. and Burger, R., 2019. Temporal case study of household behavioural response to Cape Town’s “Day Zero” using smart meter data. Water Research, 149, pp.414-420.
November 12, 2019 PDF
