The January release of the matric results puts a spot light on the performance of our learners and sparks debates about the health of the South African education system. This month’s newsletter therefore focuses on aspects of the matric results, as well as the debates which have surfaced surrounding learner performance in general.

In this month’s newsletter we focus on the pathways and transitions of South African students through the education system. All of the resources included here seek to understand the various pathways and transitions which are followed by students and the factors which affect them, in order to understand what is happening within our education and ...

Information and communication technology (ICT) in schools has been widely promoted on the basis that it has the potential to improve and diversify learning. The South African government has recognised this fact in the 2004 White Paper on e-education, as well as the Department of Basic Education’s Action Plan to 2019. In this month’s issue, we ...

Many South African children, particularly those in rural areas, must travel long distances to get to school each day. These journeys are associated with a host of challenges and dangers. In response to the many challenges which learners encounter, the National Learner Transport Policy was introduced in 2015. We explore the challenges that learne ...

In this month’s blog, Lisa Wiebesiek provides insights into rural education in South Africa, based on her extensive fieldwork experience in the Eastern Cape and Kwazulu-Natal provinces. These reflections paint a picture of the life of learners in rural communities and the importance of context specific educational interventions.

Tia Linda Zuze explores the increasing popularity of Asian afterschool learning programmes in South Africa. These programmes incorporate useful resources from some of the educational powerhouses of the world, but how applicable are they to the South African context?

The newest member of our team, Catherine Namome, provides an account of her experiences doing quality assurance for TIMSS 2015 at a rural school in Gauteng. Through her description, she highlights the importance of the relationship between schools and their surrounding communities.

This month’s blog explores the increasing use of technology in South African schools. Tia Linda Zuze examines the merits of using technology, as schools are becoming “desperate to be digital”; and considers whether this is an appropriate intervention for improving the quality of education in the country.

In the second blog in our series, Sylvia Hannan addresses the question “Are your children safe at school?”, through exploring the issue of school safety in South Africa, with a focus on the prevalence of bullying.

Our national publication based on TIMSS data provides a measured assessment of what has been achieved over the last 20 years based on the evidence provided by TIMSS. It also redefines what ‘good’ progress means in light of South Africa’s developmental pathway and recommends what evidence based interventions can be considered as the next r ...