1. Resep workshop on Early Learning,
Early Learning: Introduction
Servaas van der Berg
Resep workshop on Early Learning,
Stellenbosch, 4 July

2. Background
Funding by Allan Gray Orbis Foundation Endowment for 3 years
By Grade 4, only 22% of SA children can read at a Grade 2 level in any language
What explains these very large deficits?
Home background before entering school?
Home background once in school?
Weak education?
To answer this, we need measurement of early earning
Life trajectory established early; gaps persistent
International research shows schooling simply reinforces emerging trends and usually widens gaps (Feinstein, 2003)
SA study found language delays are stable between Gr R & Gr 3 - education not powerful enough to overcome entrenched problem (Klop, 2005)
Characteristics at age 7 explain much of variation in educational attainment, earnings and employment (Almond & Currie 2010)
Taylor (2011) shows that, by Gr5, children attending historically disadvantaged schools have already accumulated learning deficits of at least two years of schooling

3. Children ‘on track by grade and quintile in ANA Maths, 2012
“On track” defined as not over-aged
and within one std dev of “norm group”

4. On track by grade in ANA Maths 2012, and 2013 Bachelor’s passes relative to size of entering cohort (entering cohort=100%)
Note similarity of Gr9 and Gr12
– and even of Gr4 and Gr 12

5. The odds are stacked against poor children…
“a failure of family and school contexts to build on the early cognitive development of bright children from low SES groups … may be a crucial and under-recognised difference between children from disadvantaged and advantaged backgrounds and a key reason for social immobility.” (Feinstein & Duckworth 2006: i)

6. Some things we still need to know
How do some (only a few) individuals in very weak schools somehow still perform exceptionally well
and why does it largely remain confined to individuals?
Why do children still progress after falling behind? (Do teachers teach work of lower grades, or do they learn from their peers?)
What is preventing a smoother language transition (compared to our neighbours, for instance)?
What is the role of non-education factors?
To study all this, we need early measurement