Educ research

My research:

Journal articles:

• Hunt, X., Stein, D., Spaull, N., & Tomlinson, M. (2021). Hunger as a driver of depressive symptoms: Optimising responses to mental health aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic. South African Medical Journal. Published online 6 May 2021. https://doi.org/10.7196/SAMJ.2021. v111i7.15754
• Spaull, N., & Van der Berg, S. (2020). Counting the cost: COVID-19 school closures in South Africa and its impact on children. South African Journal of Childhood Education. Vol 10.(1). Online. Available: https://doi.org/10.4102/sajce.v10i1.924
• Spaull, N. (2020). COVID-19 and schooling in South Africa: Who should go back to school first? Prospects. (Online). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11125-020-09470-5

• Spaull, N., Pretorius, E. & Mohohlwane, N. (2020). Investigating the comprehension iceberg: Developing empirical benchmarks for early-grade reading in agglutinating African languages. South African Journal of Childhood Education 10(1), a773. https://doi.org/ 10.4102/sajce.v10i1.773

• Spaull, N. & Makaluza, N. (2019). Girls Do Better: The Pro-Female Gender Gap in Learning Outcomes in South Africa 1995-2018. Agenda. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10130950.2019.1672568 
• Spaull, N (2018). Who makes it into PISA? Understanding the impact of PISA sample eligibility using Turkey as a case study (PISA 2003–PISA 2012), Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, DOI: 10.1080/0969594X.2018.1504742 (OECD Working Paper here)
• Spaull, N. & Van Broekhuizen, H. (2017) The Martha Effect: The Compounding Female Advantage in Higher Education in South Africa. Stellenbosch Economic Working Papers 14/2017. Stellenbosch University.
• Spaull, N. (2016) Disentangling the language effect in South African schools: Measuring the impact of ‘language of assessment’ in grade 3 literacy and numeracy. South African Journal of Childhood Education 6(1) p.1-20 . DOI: 10.4102/sajce. v6i1.475
• Pretorius, E. & Spaull, N. (2016). Exploring relationships between oral reading fluency and reading comprehension amongst English second language readers in South Africa. Reading and Writing. (29) 1449-1471 DOI: 1-23 10.1007/s11145-016-9645-9
• Spaull, N. 2015. Accountability and Capacity in South African Education. Education as Change. Vol 19 (3) pp 113-142
• Draper, K., and Spaull, S. (2015). Examining oral reading fluency among grade 5 rural English Second Language (ESL) learners in South Africa: Analysis of NEEDU 2013. South African Journal of Childhood Education 5(2) pp.44-77. (Working Paper here).
•  Spaull, N., and Taylor, S., (2015). Access to what? Creating a composite measure of educational quantity and educational quality for 11 African countries. Comparative Education Review. Vol. 58, No. 1.
• Taylor, S., and Spaull, N., (2015) Measuring access to learning over a period of increased access to schooling: The case of Southern and Eastern Africa since 2000. International Journal of Educational Development . Vol. 41 (March) pp47-59 (WP here)
• Spaull, N. and Kotze, J. (2015). Starting behind and staying behind in South Africa: The case of insurmountable learning deficits in mathematics. International Journal of Educational Development. Vol 41 (March) pp12-24 (WP here)
• Venkat, H. and Spaull, N. 2015. What do we know about primary teachers’ mathematical content knowledge in South Africa? An analysis of SACMEQ 2007. International Journal of Educational Development. Vol. 41 Mar. p.121-130
• Maughan-Brown, B. and Spaull, N.(2014). HIV-Related Discrimination among Grade 6 students in Nine Southern African Countries. PloS ONE 9(8): e102981.
• Spaull, N. 2013. Poverty & Privilege: Primary School Inequality in South Africa. International Journal of Educational Development. 33 (2013) pp. 436-447  (WP here)
• Spaull, N. (2012). The Gospel according to Banerjee and Duflo. Development Southern Africa. Vol. 29(1): 191-2.

Book Chapters

• Pretorius, E., & Spaull, N (2022). Reading research in South Africa (2010-2022: Coming of age and accounting for empirical regularities. In Spaull, N. & Pretorius, E. (Eds) Early Grade Reading in South Africa. Cape Town: Oxford University Press.
• Spaull, N., & Pretorius, E. (2022). Coming or going? The prioritisation of early grade reading in South Africa. In Spaull, N. &Pretorius, E. (Eds) Early Grade Reading in South Africa. Cape Town: Oxford University Press.
• Spaull, N., Courtney, P., & Qvist, P. (2022). Mathematical stunting in South Africa: An analysis of Grade 5 mathematics outcomes in TIMSS 2015 and 2019. In Venkat, H. & Roberts, N. (Eds) Early Grade Mathematics in South Africa. Cape Town: Oxford University Press.
• Spaull, N., Pampallis, I., Ardington, C., Sapire, I., & Isaac, P. (2022). Not adding it up: Grade 1 mathematics outcomes in the Eastern Cape and Limpopo. In Venkat, H. & Roberts, N. (Eds) Early Grade Mathematics in South Africa. Cape Town: Oxford University Press.
• Spaull, N., & Taylor, S. (2022). Impact of scale? The trade-offs of early grade reading and mathematics interventions in South Africa. In Spaull, N. & Taylor, S. (Eds) Early Grade Interventions in South Africa. Cape Town: OxfordUniversity Press.
• McKay, V., & Spaull, N. (2022). Changing the ‘grammar of schooling’ in South Africa: The case of the DBE Workbooks. InSpaull, N. & Taylor, S. (Eds) Early Grade Interventions in South Africa. Cape Town: Oxford University Press.
• Ardington, C., & Spaull, N. (2022). Sequenced for Success: Evaluating the impact of openly-licensed Vula Bula Anthologies of Graded Readers on early grade reading outcomes in South Africa. In Spaull, N. & Taylor, S. (Eds) Early Grade Interventions in South Africa. Cape Town: Oxford University Press.
• Taylor, S. & Spaull, N. (2022). What works and what scales? Returning to a tradition of evidence-based system-wide programmes. In Spaull, N. & Taylor, S. (Eds) Early Grade Interventions in South Africa. Cape Town: OxfordUniversity Press.
• Spaull, N. (2019). Equity: A price too high to pay?. Framing chapter in Spaull, N & Jansen, J (eds) ‘South African Schooling: The Enigma of Inequality‘ Springer. (Erratum)
• Spaull, N., & Pretorius, E (2019). Still falling at the first hurdle: Examining early grade reading in South Africa. Chapter in Spaull, N & Jansen, J (eds) ‘South African Schooling: The Enigma of Inequality‘ Springer.
• Spaull, N. (2019) Learning to Read and Write for Meaning and Pleasure. In “Improving Early Literacy Outcomes” (Eds: Spaull, N., & Comings, J). Brill Sense Publishers. Boston.
• Spaull, N. & Lilenstein, A. (2019) Assessing Early Literacy Outcomes in Burkina Faso and Senegal: Using DHS and PASEC to Combine Access and Quality. In “Improving Early Literacy Outcomes” (Eds: Spaull, N., & Comings, J). Brill Sense Publishers. Boston.
• Spaull, N & Hoadley, U. (2017) Getting Reading Right In: Jamieson L, Berry L & Lake L (eds) South African Child Gauge 2017. Cape Town, Children’s Institute, University of Cape Town.
• Spaull, N. (2015). Schooling in South Africa: How Low Quality Education Becomes a Poverty Trap. in De Lannoy A, Swartz S, Lake L & Smith C (eds) 2015 Children’s Institute, University of Cape Town. (Poster and Youth Bulletin)
• Burger, R., Smith, A., Spaull, N., & Van der Berg, S. (2015) Poverty, fiscal incidence and service delivery in South Africa. In Black, Calitz & Steencamp. Public Economics 6^th edn. Cape Town: Oxford University Press, Ch8: 138-168
• Spaull, N. 2014. Accountability in the South African Education System. in Transformation Audit 2014. Institute for Justice and Reconciliation. Cape Town
• Spaull, N. (2014) Educational outcomes in Gauteng 1995-2011: An overview of provincial performance in standardised assessments, in F Maringe & M Prew (eds), Twenty Years of Education Transformation in Gauteng 1994 to 2014: An Independent Review, African Minds, Somerset West., pp289-312

Other Research:

• Spaull N. & Daniels, R. et al. (2020). NIDS-CRAM Wave 5 Synthesis Report. National Income Dynamics Study Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey.
• Spaull N. & Daniels, R. et al. (2020). NIDS-CRAM Wave 4 Synthesis Report. National Income Dynamics Study Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey.
• Spaull N. & Daniels, R. et al. (2020). NIDS-CRAM Wave 3 Synthesis Report. National Income Dynamics Study Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey.
• Spaull N. et al. (2020). NIDS-CRAM Wave 2 Synthesis Report. National Income Dynamics Study Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey.
• Spaull N. et al. (2020). NIDS-CRAM Wave 1 Synthesis Report. National Income Dynamics Study Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey
• Spaull, N., Lilenstein, A., Carel, D. (2020). The Race Between Teacher Wages and the Budget: The case of South Africa 2008-2018. Research on Socioeconomic Policy (RESEP). Stellenbosch: RESEP.
• Spaull, N. (2019). Priorities for Education Reform in South Africa. Input paper for the Economic Colloquium hosted by the Minister of Finance, Tito Mboweni. 19 Jan. South African Reserve Bank. Pretoria.
• Spaull, N. (2018). Strategies for Long-term Prosperity: What would it take to place SA on a higher-growth trajectory? Input note to the Presidential Roundtable on 22 November 2018.
• Van der Berg, S., Spaull, N., Wills, G., Gustafsson, M., & Kotzé, J. (2016) Identifying the Binding Constraints in Education. Report commissioned by the South African Presidency and funded by the European Union’s Programme to Support Pro-Poor Policy Development (PSPPD) initative.
• Spaull, N., Van der Berg, S., Wills, G., Gustafsson, M., & Kotzé, J. (2016). Laying Firm Foundations: Getting Reading Right. Synthesis report for a research grant provided by the Zenex Foundation.
• Spaull, N. (2016). Learning to Read and Reading to Learn. Policy Brief (April). Programme to Support Pro-Poor Policy Development (PSPPD). Research on Socioeconomic Policy (RESEP).
• Spaull, N. (2016). Excessive class sizes in the Foundation Phase. Research on Socioeconomic Policy (RESEP). Policy Brief. Apr/2016.
• Spaull, N., and Taylor, S. (2014). Combining educational access and educational quality into a single statistic (PB 14/31), World Bank Jobs Knowledge Platform. Cape Town.
• Spaull, N. (2013). South Africa’s Education Crisis. Centre for Development and Enterprise. Pretoria.
• Spaull, N; & Taylor, S. (2013). Trends in effective enrolment: Measuring access and basic-quality improvements in education for nine African countries, 2000-2007. Input research report for Save The Children’s “Getting to Zero” report.
• Spaull, N; Burger, R; Burger, C; Van der Berg, S; Van Wyk, C; Dzivakwi, R. (2012). Against the odds: An evaluation of the IkamvaYouth programme. Commissioned by the DG Murray Trust. Department of Economics, Stellenbosch University
• Spaull, N. 2012. SACMEQ at a Glance for 10 African countries. 2 page research note per country.
• Van der Berg, S; Taylor, S; Gustafsson, M; Spaull, N; Armstrong, P. (2011). Improving Education Quality in South Africa. Report for the National Planning Commission. Department of Economics, Stellenbosch University.
• Spaull, N. (2011). “Primary school performance in Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia and South Africa” Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (SACMEQ) Working Paper no. 8.
• Van der Berg, S., Burger, C., Burger, R., de Vos, M., du Rand, G., Gustafsson, M., Shepherd, D., Spaull, N., Taylor, S., van Broekhuizen, H., and von Fintel, D. (2011). Low quality education as a poverty trap. Stellenbosch: University of Stellenbosch, Department of Economics. Research report for the PSPPD project for Presidency.
• My Masters thesis: Equity & Efficiency in South African primary schools : a preliminary analysis of SACMEQ III South Africa Although I suspect most people say this, it really is interesting and accessible 
• (POLICY BRIEF) Identifying policy priorities to improve outcomes for poor primary school learners

1. 2013 RESEP Education Reading Group

During 2013 RESEP will be hosting a bi-weekly reading group where we discuss important readings in the field of education and the economics of education. I include the papers we will discuss each week below:

1. [26 Feb] Pritchett & Beatty (2012) “The negative consequences of overambitious curricula in developing countries
2. [12 Mar] Ferreira Gignoux (2013) “The measurement of educational inequality: Achievement and opportunity“
3. [26 Mar] Elmore (2004) Agency, Reciprocity and Accountability in Democratic Education.
4. [9 Apr] Schlotter, Schwerdt and Woessman (2009) Methods for causal evaluation of education policies and practices: An econometric toolbox

This list is not a definitive list of important journal articles on South African education, it is my selection, and I’m open to other suggestions. Secondly, as far as I am aware, there is no breach of copyright here since the books are either open-source (like HSRC) and the articles are available elsewhere on the internet.

 

1. Ball, D, Hill, H & Bass, H. (2005). Knowing Mathematics for Teaching: Who knows mathematics well enough to teach third grade, and how can we decide? American Educator (Fall 2005).
2. Bruns, B., Filmer, D., & Patrinos, H. (2011). Making Schools Work: New evidence on accountability reforms. Washington DC: World Bank.
3. Carnoy, M., Chisolm, L., et al,  (2008). Towards Understanding Student Academic Performance in South Africa: A Pilot Study of Grade 6 Mathematics Lessons in South Africa. Pretoria: HSRC.
4. Carnoy, M., Chisholm, L., & Chilisa, B. (2012). The Low Achievement Trap: Comparing Schooling in Botswana and South Africa. Cape Town: HSRC Press.
5. Case, A., & Deaton, A. (1999). School Inputs and Educational Outcomes in South Africa. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 114(3), 1047-1084.
6. Crouch, L., & Mabogoane, T. (2001). No magic bullets, just tracer bullets: The role of learning resources, social advantage, and education management in improving the performance of South African schools. Social Dynamics, 27(1), 60-78.
7. DBE. (2011).  Macro Indicators Trends. Pretoria: Department of Basic Education.
8. Department of Basic Education. (2011). Report on the Annual National Assessments of 2011. Pretoria: Department of Basic Education.
9. Department of Education. (2008). Grade 3 Systemic Evaluation 2007 Leaflet. Pretoria: Department of Education.
10. Donalson, A. (1992). Content, Quality and Flexibility: The Economics of Education System Change. Spotlight 5/92. Johannesburg: South African Institute of Race Relations.
11. Elmore, R. (2004a). Agency, Reciprocity, and Accountability in Democratic Education. Cambridge, MA: Consortium for Policy Research in Education.
12. Elmore, R. (2008). Leadership as the practice of improvement. In OECD, Improving School Leadership. Volume 2: Case Studies on System Leadership (pp. 37-67). Paris: OECD Publishing.
13. Fiske, E., & Ladd, H. (2004). Elusive Equity: Education Reform in Post-apartheid South Africa. Washington: Brookings Institution Press / HSRC Press.
14. Fleisch, B. (2008). Primary Education in Crisis: Why South African schoolchildren underachieve in reading and mathematics. Cape Town. : Juta & Co.
15. Gustafsson, M., & Mabogoane, T. (2010). South Africa’s economics of education: A stocktaking and an agenda for the way forward. Stellenbosch Economic Working Papers: 06/10.
16. Hanushek, E., & Woessmann, L. (2008). The Role of Cognitive Skills in Economic Development. Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research Working Paper No. 07-34.
17. Hoadley, U. (2010). What doe we know about teaching and learning in primary schools in South Africa? A review of the classroom-based research literature. Report for the Grade 3 Improvement project of the University of Stellenbosch. Western Cape Education Department.
18. Hoadley, U., & Ward, C. (2009). Managing to Learn: Instructional Leadership on South African Secondary Schools. Cape Town: HSRC Press.
19. Howie, S., Venter, E., Van Staden, S., Zimmerman, L., Long, C., Du Toit, C., et al. (2008). PIRLS 2006 Summary Report: South African Children’s Reading Literacy Achievement. Pretoria: Center for Evaluation and Assessment.
20. Loveless, T. (2005). Test-Based Accountability: The Promise and the Perils. The Brookings Institution No. 8, 7-45.
21. Macdonald, C. & Burroughs, E. Eager to talk and learn and think – Threshold Project.
22. Moll, P. (1998). Primary schooling, cognitive skills, and wage in South Africa. Economica, 65(258), 263-284.
23. Perry, H. 2003. Female Performance in the Senior Certificate Examination: Excellence Hiding Behind the Averages. EduSource Data News No. 29/May 2003.
24. Pretorius, E. 2014. Supporting transition or playing catch-up in Grade 4? Implications for standards in education and training. Perspectives in Education. 32 (1), pp 51-76.
25. Pretorius, E. 2018. Reading in the African languages: An annotated bibliography 2004-2017. DHET.
26. Taylor, N. 1989. Falling at the First Hurdle: Initial encounters with the formal system of African education in South Africa. Research Report #1. EPU. (via JET Education).
27. Taylor, N., Muller, J., & Vinjevold, P. (2003). Getting Schools Working. Cape Town: Pearson Education.
28. Taylor, N., Fleisch, B., & Shindler, J. (2008). Changes in Education since 1994. Pretoria: The Presidency: Input into the 15 year review process.
29. Taylor, S., & Von Fintel, M. (2016). Estimating the impact of language of instruction in South African primary schools: A fixed effects approach. Economics of Education Review. Vol 50. pp 75-89
30. Van der Berg, S. (2007). Apartheid’s Enduring Legacy: Inequalities in Education. Journal of African Economies, 16(5), 849-880.
31. Van der Berg, S. (2008). How effective are poor schools? Poverty and educational outcomes in South Africa. Centre for European, Governance and Economic Development Research (CEGE) Discussion Papers 69.
32. Van der Berg, S., Burger, C., Burger, R., de Vos, M., du Rand, G., Gustafsson, M., Shepherd, D., Spaull, N., Taylor, S., van Broekhuizen, H., and von Fintel, D. (2011). Low quality education as a poverty trap. Stellenbosch: University of Stellenbosch, Department of Economics. Research report for the PSPPD project for Presidency.
33. Yamauchi, F. (2011). School quality, clustering and government subsidy in post-aparteid South Africa. Economics of Education Review, 146-156.
34. Prinsloo, C. & reddy, V. 2013. Educator leave in the South African public schooling system. HSRC Policy Brief
35. Taylor, S. 2012. A note on matric results and trends. Research note (*Very useful)

36. Shalem, Y. (2003). Do we have a theory of change? Calling change models to account. Perspectives in Education, 21(1), 29-49.

37. Motala, S & Pampallis, J. (2001) Governance and financing in the South African Schooling System: The First Decade of Democracy. CEPD
38. Woolman, S & Fleisch, B. 2009. The Constitution in the Classroom: Law and Education in South Africa 1994-2008. Pretoria University Law Press.

Some RESEP articles on education in South Africa:

1. Gustafsson, M. (2012). The gap between school enrolments and population in South Africa: Analysis of the possible explanations. Stellenbosch Economic Working Papers WP 23/2012.
2. Gustafsson, M. (2012). More countries, similar results. A nonlinear programming approach to normalising test scores needed for growth regressions. Stellenbosch Economic Working Papers WP 12/2012
3. Gustafsson, M. & Taylor, S. (2013). Treating schools to a new administration. The impact of South Africa’s 2005 provincial boundary change on school performance. Stellenbosch Economic Working Papers WP 28/2013.
4. Shepherd, D. (2011). Constraints to School Effectiveness: What prevents poor schools from delivering results? Stellenbosch Economic Working Papers 05/11. [PIRLS]
5. Spaull, N. (2011a). A Preliminary Analysis of SACMEQ III South Africa. Stellenbosch Economic Working Papers.
6. Taylor, S. (2011). Uncovering indicators of effective school management in South Africa using the National School Effectiveness Study. Stellenbosch Economic Working Papers 10/11, 1-51. [NSES]
7. Taylor, S., & Yu, D. (2009). The Importance of Socioeconomic Status in Determining Educational Achievement in South Africa. Stellenbosch Economic Working Papers.
8. Taylor, S. & Coetzee, M. (2013) Estimating the impact of language of instruction in South African primary schools: A fixed effects approach. Stellenbosch Economic Working Papers WP 21/2013
9. Van der Berg, S., & Louw, M. (2006). Lessons Learnt from SACMEQII: South African Student Performance in Regional Context. Investment Choices for Education in Africa. Johannesburg.
10. Van der Berg, S, & Van Broekhuizen, H. (2012). Graduate unemployment in South Africa: A much exaggerated problem. Stellenbosch Economic Working Papers WP ss/2012.

Background to South Africa (economics):

1. Leibbrandt, M., Wegner, E., & Finn, A. (2011). The Policies for Reducing Income Inequality and Poverty in South Africa. University of Cape Town. Cape Town: Southern Africa Labour and Development Reserch Unit Working Paper Number 64.
2. Leibbrandt, M., Woolard, I., Finn, A., & Argent, J. (2010). Trends in South African income distribution and poverty since the fall of apartheid. Paris: OECD Publishing. (!)
3. Nattrass, N., & Seekings, J. (2010). The Economy and Poverty in the Twentieth Century in South Africa. Centre for Social Science Research Working Paper No. 276. (!)
4. Van der Berg, S. & Moses, E. (2012). How better targeting of social spending affects social delivery in South Africa.

Background to SACMEQ:

1. Hungi, N., Makuwa, D., Ross, K., Saito, M., Dolata, S., van Capelle, F., et al. (2011). SACMEQ III Project Results: Levels and Trends in School Resources among SACMEQ School Systems. Paris: Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality.
2. Hungi, N., Makuwa, D., Ross, K., Saito, M., Dolata, S., van Capelle, F., et al. (2011). SACMEQ III Project Results: Pupil achievement levels in reading and mathematics. Paris: Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality.
3. Ross, K., Saito, M., Dolata, S., Ikeda, M., Zuze, L., Murimba, S., et al. (2005). The Conduct of the SACMEQ III Project. In E. Onsomu, J. Nzomo, & C. Obiero, The SACMEQ II Project in Kenya: A Study of the Conditions of Schooling and the Quality of Education. Harare: SACMEQ.
4. Murimba, S. (2005) SACMEQ Mission, Approach and Projects. Prospects, vol. XXXV, no. 1, March 2005

Some other stuff

• “Some Children are More Equal Than Others” 2015 documentary by Stefan Gottfried on the state of education in South Africa.
• “Poverty traps and social exclusion among children in South Africa” (2014 ReSEP report for SAHRC)
• “The balancing act between the constitutional right to strike and the constitutional right to education” (Deacon, 2014, SAJE)

• The Sutton Trust has recently published a study (2014) “What makes great teaching? Review of the underpinning research” which looks like a great overview (thanks Joe Muller)
• Useful list of Douglas Willms’ research focussing on education and inequality.
• Great 2007 article by Deon Filmer: “Education inequalities around the world“

• “Lant Pritchett on Education in Poor Countries” – an EconTalk podcast (64 min)
• “When Schooling is the Fiercest Thing” – Lant Pritchett’s presentation at the Oxford Young Lives conference (2013).
• Super useful matrix of SABER reports by the World Bank showing in one table all the reports for all the countries. Brief reports on EMIS, Accountability, Teachers etc
• Great course outline from Princeton on “Making schools effective in developing countries (2008-9)” by Marlaine Lockheed who is one of the international gurus in education.
• Very useful and succinct curriculum documents from Londonderry School District in North Hampshire, USA:
  • Grade 1, Grade 2, Grade 3, Grade 4, Grade 5

• The status of Language of Learning and Teaching (LOLT) in South African Public Schools (DOE, 2010)
• Integrated Strategic Planning Framework for Teacher Education and Development in South Africa