Research

Journal articles and book chapters

The early roots of reading failure: ELOM in the Western Cape

Chapter 4 in Early Grade Reading in South Africa (edited by Nic Spaull and Elizabeth Pretorius (2022), Oxford University Press)

Learning starts long before children enter school. To date, we have no local evidence of the role of SES differences in school readiness in explaining SES differences in educational outcomes. This chapter presents the results from a study that examines the performance of children as they enter school (Term 1 Grade R) in a sample of 75 primary schools in the Western Cape. The early learning skills of children were assessed using the ELOM 4&5, a locally developed and validated instrument that assesses children in 5 key developmental domains. While the results point to clear SES differences in early learning scores, there is also much variation in scores within socio-economic groups. Making use of a unique opportunity to compare Grade R results with cross-sectional data of learner performance in Grade 1, 4 and 7, we show that Grade R achievement explains about 40% of performance in later grades. This points to the joint importance of both school readiness and school quality in determining learning outcomes.

Book downloadable here.

Why do girls do better? Unpacking South Africa’s gender gap in PIRLS and TIMSS

International Journal of Educational Development, 2022, 84, 102648

South Africa exhibits one of the largest pro-girl gaps in education, yet the reasons behind this gap are poorly understood. This paper analyses South Africa’s pro-girl gap in Grade 4 reading and Grade 5 mathematics achievement. I make use of Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition analysis to decompose the observed gender gaps into their explained and unexplained components, separately by school socio-economic quintile. This approach allows me to present new evidence that part of the country’s pro-girl gaps in reading and mathematics are due to girls progressing through the early grades faster than boys. I also find that South African girls score higher on the constructs aimed at tapping student attitudes toward reading (reading self-efficacy and enjoyment, and engagement in reading lessons), and that these differences contribute significantly to the pro-girl gap in PIRLS reading achievement. Interestingly, despite outperforming boys in the TIMSS mathematics assessment, South African girls do not display more positive attitudes toward mathematics. The results suggest much more needs to be done to understand the reasons behind boys’ disadvantage in the early grades, since much of the pro-girl achievement gap in Grade 4 reading and Grade 5 mathematics can be attributed the pro-girl advantage in grade completion in earlier grades.

Perseverance, passion and poverty: Examining the association between grit and reading achievement in high-poverty schools in South Africa

International Journal of Educational Development, 2021, 83, 102376

Grit is highly predictive of academic achievement in high-income countries. But does this association hold in contexts of poor school quality? 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 2,383 learners distributed across 60 township and rural schools in three provinces of South Africa. Indicators of school functionality are used to split the sample of schools into three groups (low, medium, and high functionality) and separate models of reading achievement are estimated for each group. The econometric analysis points to evidence of variation in the association between grit and reading achievement by school functionality, with a stronger association estimated for learners in more functional schools. The major contributions of this paper areas follows: Firstly, this paper is one of only a handful of studies that estimate the relationship between grit and academic achievement in a middle-income country, and the first to estimate this relationship among primary school students in an African context. Second, the results provide empirical evidence that where you go to school influences the strength of this relationship.

Academic resilience in challenging contexts: Evidence from township and rural primary schools in South Africa (with Gabrielle Wills)

International Journal of Educational Research, 2019, 98: 192-205

Poverty is considered a risk factor that jeopardizes children’s academic performance. However, even in high-poverty contexts there are students who manage to achieve consistently good academic results. This paper uses a resilience framework to identify and describe the characteristics of students from South African rural and township primary schools who perform above socio-economic expectations in literacy. After accounting for differences in socio-economic status, we find that resilient students differ significantly from their lower-achieving peers along

various dimensions, especially socio-emotional skills. This is a promising finding in light of a growing body of research on skill formation, which suggests that these skills can be fostered through targeted interventions.

Working papers

School-entry socio-emotional skills and early grade literacy and mathematics achievement Evidence from South Africa

Partnership for Economic Policy (PEP) Working Papers, 2025

Existing research shows that socio-emotional skills are important determinants of major life outcomes. However, evidence of their early role in supporting the acquisition of foundational literacy and mathematics skills in low- and middle‑income countries (LMICs) remains scarce. This paper investigates whether socio-emotional skills at school entry are associated with later literacy and mathematics achievement in South Africa. The results indicate that having higher socio‑emotional skills at school entry is positively associated with Grade 2 literacy and mathematics scores, with stronger associations observed in better-resourced schools and among learners with higher cognitive skills at school entry. These findings underscore the potential value of integrating socio-emotional learning in early education to support academic development and reduce learning gaps in LMICs.

Paper available here.

Stellenbosch Economics Working Papers, 2024

We explore the relationship between literacy and the time learners spend using individualised educational technology for South African primary school learners in 2019 and 2022. Cross-sectional analysis of the data shows that learners' target annual time (18 hours) is associated with a 0.14 standard deviation increase in Grade 3 literacy scores in 2019 and a 0.42 standard deviation increase in 2022. Similar effect sizes were found for other grades. These effect sizes are large for education interventions. The programme is relatively cost-effective and has demonstrated scalability. Our results are important in the context of South Africa's literacy crisis and the paucity of educational technology evaluations.

Paper available here.

Illuminating shadow education in South Africa: Mapping participation and demand for extra lessons (with Joy Olivier)

TIMSS South Africa Working Papers, 2022

This paper investigates the prevalence of after school programmes in South Africa, focusing on extra maths lessons not provided by the school. Since 1995, the TIMSS results have consistently revealed that the majority of the country’s learners participate in extra lessons not provided by schools. However, there is very little research on the drivers of participation rates in this type of education in South Africa. This study analyses 2019 TIMSS data from Grade 9 learner surveys, primarily focusing on participation in extra mathematics lessons. It seeks to determine demand-side factors driving shadow education in South Africa using descriptive statistics and regression analysis. We find that participation in extra mathematics lessons offered by schools is high in South Africa, and greater among learners from lower socio-economic backgrounds and school quintiles. The paper concludes with a call for further research and highlights the need for a national audit of after-school programmes.

Paper available here.