One in four pupils in the Eastern Cape in grades 1 to 3 are likely to struggle in later grades because they cannot read as teachers cannot cope with overcrowded classrooms.
Given the high drop-out rate within the schooling system, this means a large number of these pupils are unlikely to complete matric.
The overcrowding results in ineffective teaching.
The stark analysis is contained in research conducted by Stellenbosch University’s department of economics on behalf of the Zenex Foundation.
The findings of the two-year study – titled Laying firm foundations: getting reading right – were published yesterday.
One of the authors, Nic Spaull, said their previous research had stressed the importance of teaching children to read by the time they completed Grade 3.
However, teaching young children to read “is notoriously difficult” in an overcrowded classroom.
In the Eastern Cape and Limpopo, 27% of grades 1 to 3 were learning in classes with more than 55 pupils.
“What is of greatest concern here is that in the , between 10% and 15% of Grade 1 to 3 pupils are in extremely large classes with more than 60 children,” Spaull said.
“The abilities and opportunities of teachers to closely observe and facilitate the literacy learning of diverse groups of children are certainly influenced by the numbers of children they deal with,” Spaull said.
The situation in the Eastern Cape could be complicated further as the provincial education department has started plans to merge or re-align more than 2000 schools with fewer than 200 pupils.
As they had argued in other research, he said that unless children were learning to read in the foundation phase they were largely precluded from meaningful education in later grades because they could not “read to learn”.
“Unfortunately many foundation-phase teachers in South Africa lack the pedagogical skill and content-knowledge base to teach children to read, even in appropriately-sized classes .
“Removing the additional barrier of extreme class-sizes is a necessary condition for increasing the chances that children will learn to read in this critical phase,” Spaull said.
These proportions differed drastically when the provinces were compared.
In the Western Cape only 11% of pupils were illiterate and 27% could not read for meaning while in the Eastern Cape 32% were illiterate and 60% could not read for meaning by the end of Grade 4.
A co-author of the research, Servaas van der Berg, found that Grade 4 outcome patterns mirrored those in Grade 12.
Last year’s matric results showed that the Western Cape was the best performing, having achieved 84.7% while the overcrowded Eastern Cape schools were at the bottom of the matric class with 56.8%.
Announcing the overall results earlier this year, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said the overall pass rate dropped from 75.8% in 2014 to 70.7 in 2015.
Spaull said this reflected the long-lasting disadvantage suffered by pupils who had fallen behind early in their school careers.
“Importantly, already by Grade 2 more than half of students in quintiles 1 to 4 are not on track, highlighting how few students are acquiring basic skills in the foundation phase,” Van der Berg said.
Quintiles are how schools are graded according to the socio-economic conditions of the communities in which they are located.
“Quintile 5 students, representing the most advantaged from a socio-economic perspective, are far more likely to be on track than their peers in quintiles 1 to 4,” he added.
This was likely due to a variety of factors, including both the quality of the foundation-phase schooling received, as well as parental support for learning, the research found.
“It appears that the flat learning trajectory experienced by children attending poorer schools seriously undermines their chances of success in matric, particularly at the bachelor’s level – the requirement for university studies – and therefore also reduces their prospects for higher education, success in the labour market and upward social mobility,” Van Der Berg added.
The research was conducted between 2014 and 2015.
The Annual National Assessments (ANAs) of 2012-2013, which were analysed during the study, showed that about 70% of all pupils in grades 1 to 3 were learning in an African language.
But in Grade 4, most of these pupils (90%) made a switch to English as the language of learn- ing and teaching.
Switching back to mother-tongue would not help either, said the report.
“Whether children are tested for reading in their home language or in English, the conclusions are the same.
“The majority of South African children cannot read for meaning by the end of Grade 4 – even in their home language – and the results in English are no better,” Van der Berg said.
EC schools literacy shock
Given the high drop-out rate within the schooling system, this means a large number of these pupils are unlikely to complete matric.
The overcrowding results in ineffective teaching.
The stark analysis is contained in research conducted by Stellenbosch University’s department of economics on behalf of the Zenex Foundation.
The findings of the two-year study – titled Laying firm foundations: getting reading right – were published yesterday.
One of the authors, Nic Spaull, said their previous research had stressed the importance of teaching children to read by the time they completed Grade 3.
However, teaching young children to read “is notoriously difficult” in an overcrowded classroom.
In the Eastern Cape and Limpopo, 27% of grades 1 to 3 were learning in classes with more than 55 pupils.
“What is of greatest concern here is that in the , between 10% and 15% of Grade 1 to 3 pupils are in extremely large classes with more than 60 children,” Spaull said.
“The abilities and opportunities of teachers to closely observe and facilitate the literacy learning of diverse groups of children are certainly influenced by the numbers of children they deal with,” Spaull said.
The situation in the Eastern Cape could be complicated further as the provincial education department has started plans to merge or re-align more than 2000 schools with fewer than 200 pupils.
As they had argued in other research, he said that unless children were learning to read in the foundation phase they were largely precluded from meaningful education in later grades because they could not “read to learn”.
“Unfortunately many foundation-phase teachers in South Africa lack the pedagogical skill and content-knowledge base to teach children to read, even in appropriately-sized classes .
“Removing the additional barrier of extreme class-sizes is a necessary condition for increasing the chances that children will learn to read in this critical phase,” Spaull said.
These proportions differed drastically when the provinces were compared.
In the Western Cape only 11% of pupils were illiterate and 27% could not read for meaning while in the Eastern Cape 32% were illiterate and 60% could not read for meaning by the end of Grade 4.
A co-author of the research, Servaas van der Berg, found that Grade 4 outcome patterns mirrored those in Grade 12.
Last year’s matric results showed that the Western Cape was the best performing, having achieved 84.7% while the overcrowded Eastern Cape schools were at the bottom of the matric class with 56.8%.
Announcing the overall results earlier this year, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said the overall pass rate dropped from 75.8% in 2014 to 70.7 in 2015.
Spaull said this reflected the long-lasting disadvantage suffered by pupils who had fallen behind early in their school careers.
“Importantly, already by Grade 2 more than half of students in quintiles 1 to 4 are not on track, highlighting how few students are acquiring basic skills in the foundation phase,” Van der Berg said.
Quintiles are how schools are graded according to the socio-economic conditions of the communities in which they are located.
“Quintile 5 students, representing the most advantaged from a socio-economic perspective, are far more likely to be on track than their peers in quintiles 1 to 4,” he added.
This was likely due to a variety of factors, including both the quality of the foundation-phase schooling received, as well as parental support for learning, the research found.
“It appears that the flat learning trajectory experienced by children attending poorer schools seriously undermines their chances of success in matric, particularly at the bachelor’s level – the requirement for university studies – and therefore also reduces their prospects for higher education, success in the labour market and upward social mobility,” Van Der Berg added.
The research was conducted between 2014 and 2015.
The Annual National Assessments (ANAs) of 2012-2013, which were analysed during the study, showed that about 70% of all pupils in grades 1 to 3 were learning in an African language.
But in Grade 4, most of these pupils (90%) made a switch to English as the language of learn- ing and teaching.
Switching back to mother-tongue would not help either, said the report.
“Whether children are tested for reading in their home language or in English, the conclusions are the same.
“The majority of South African children cannot read for meaning by the end of Grade 4 – even in their home language – and the results in English are no better,” Van der Berg said.
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