- Great interview with my supervisor Servaas van der Berg on his work in Social Policy. I really enjoyed this quote: “You know that in the end the country will get through these and other contortions…The question is actually how many years it will take and how much time will be lost in the process.” (I clearly haven’t found the patience to cope with these ‘lost years’ yet – they make me so mad!)
- An illuminating open-letter written by Pieter Odendall (2012) to Stellenbosch University’s Rector Russel Botman asking why it is that we still continue to honor the architects apartheid on the University’s campus. Really well worth the read. I completely agree with him.
- Six videos of Douglas Willms explaining things like “Raising and levelling the learning bar” and “Informing decisions with leading indicators.” High up on my “to-watch” list.
- Stephen Taylor & Co are currently in the beginning phases of a Randomized Control Trial (RCT) to evaluate early grade reading strategies in South Africa. Even if this isn’t your field I’d encourage you to look through this 6-page summary document since it gives a nice overview of their approach. They are also looking for a project associate to run the project (part-time) for the next 6-months or so. If you feel you’re qualified drop him a mail (he’s a really nice guy).
- Interesting Paul Krugman NYRB review of Piketty’s new magisterial book “Capital in the 21th Century.” It’s now on my ‘to-read’ list. In the book Piketty quips that economics “has yet to get over its childish passion for mathematics and for purely theoretical and often highly ideological speculation, at the expense of historical research and collaborations with the other social sciences”
- “White privilege: unpacking the invisible knapsack” – I definitely want to blog about this at some stage.
- 20 ways to turn your life into a Wes Anderson movie – I especially enjoyed #5 (Only ever engage in complicated love affairs) and #19 (Be childish – run away, build forts, live in treehouses).
- Applications are now open for the two-week 2014 LSE-UCT July School in Cape Town, run in South Africa this summer by LSE and the University of Cape Town from 30 June – 11 July (deadline for early applications 24 April). The programme’s ten courses enable participants to explore the challenges and opportunities faced by Africa today from a range of social science perspectives. For more information and to apply online please go to www.lse.ac.uk/LSEUCTJulySchool or email us at LSE-UCT.July.School@LSE.ac.uk.
- The Economist takes a measured approach to the Pistorius hoo-haa: “Whatever the verdict in the Pistorius-Steenkamp case, expect news coverage to focus on South Africa’s high levels of violence. Things are indeed pretty dire. But the truth is that for men and women alike, things are less bad than they used to be“.
Nic Spaull 
Hey Nic
Hope you are well 🙂 Read the summary of the RCT on reading development that is going to take place and would love to read more about it. Who can I contact for full details of the study (intervention, people involved etc). From an educational linguistics perspective, I do have a few of my own reservations about the study and proposed interventions and would like to read more about the study. Also, am very interested in the idea of causal relationships in education – I am probably one of the biggest skeptics (along with my colleagues in education) on trying to establish causal relationships in education research given the numerous external influences at play when considering literacy interventions. God bless