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
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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. & 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 6th 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
- 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:
- [26 Feb] Pritchett & Beatty (2012) “The negative consequences of overambitious curricula in developing countries
- [12 Mar] Ferreira Gignoux (2013) “The measurement of educational inequality: Achievement and opportunity“
- [26 Mar] Elmore (2004) Agency, Reciprocity and Accountability in Democratic Education.
- [9 Apr] Schlotter, Schwerdt and Woessman (2009) Methods for causal evaluation of education policies and practices: An econometric toolbox
- 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).
- Bruns, B., Filmer, D., & Patrinos, H. (2011). Making Schools Work: New evidence on accountability reforms. Washington DC: World Bank.
- 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.
- Carnoy, M., Chisholm, L., & Chilisa, B. (2012). The Low Achievement Trap: Comparing Schooling in Botswana and South Africa. Cape Town: HSRC Press.
- Case, A., & Deaton, A. (1999). School Inputs and Educational Outcomes in South Africa. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 114(3), 1047-1084.
- 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.
- DBE. (2011). Macro Indicators Trends. Pretoria: Department of Basic Education.
- Department of Basic Education. (2011). Report on the Annual National Assessments of 2011. Pretoria: Department of Basic Education.
- Department of Education. (2008). Grade 3 Systemic Evaluation 2007 Leaflet. Pretoria: Department of Education.
- Donalson, A. (1992). Content, Quality and Flexibility: The Economics of Education System Change. Spotlight 5/92. Johannesburg: South African Institute of Race Relations.
- Elmore, R. (2004a). Agency, Reciprocity, and Accountability in Democratic Education. Cambridge, MA: Consortium for Policy Research in Education.
- 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.
- Fiske, E., & Ladd, H. (2004). Elusive Equity: Education Reform in Post-apartheid South Africa. Washington: Brookings Institution Press / HSRC Press.
- Fleisch, B. (2008). Primary Education in Crisis: Why South African schoolchildren underachieve in reading and mathematics. Cape Town. : Juta & Co.
- 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.
- Hanushek, E., & Woessmann, L. (2008). The Role of Cognitive Skills in Economic Development. Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research Working Paper No. 07-34.
- 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.
- Hoadley, U., & Ward, C. (2009). Managing to Learn: Instructional Leadership on South African Secondary Schools. Cape Town: HSRC Press.
- 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.
- Loveless, T. (2005). Test-Based Accountability: The Promise and the Perils. The Brookings Institution No. 8, 7-45.
- Macdonald, C. & Burroughs, E. Eager to talk and learn and think – Threshold Project.
- Moll, P. (1998). Primary schooling, cognitive skills, and wage in South Africa. Economica, 65(258), 263-284.
- Perry, H. 2003. Female Performance in the Senior Certificate Examination: Excellence Hiding Behind the Averages. EduSource Data News No. 29/May 2003.
- 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.
- Pretorius, E. 2018. Reading in the African languages: An annotated bibliography 2004-2017. DHET.
- 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).
- Taylor, N., Muller, J., & Vinjevold, P. (2003). Getting Schools Working. Cape Town: Pearson Education.
- Taylor, N., Fleisch, B., & Shindler, J. (2008). Changes in Education since 1994. Pretoria: The Presidency: Input into the 15 year review process.
- 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
- Van der Berg, S. (2007). Apartheid’s Enduring Legacy: Inequalities in Education. Journal of African Economies, 16(5), 849-880.
- 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.
- 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.
- Yamauchi, F. (2011). School quality, clustering and government subsidy in post-aparteid South Africa. Economics of Education Review, 146-156.
- Prinsloo, C. & reddy, V. 2013. Educator leave in the South African public schooling system. HSRC Policy Brief
- Taylor, S. 2012. A note on matric results and trends. Research note (*Very useful)
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Shalem, Y. (2003). Do we have a theory of change? Calling change models to account. Perspectives in Education, 21(1), 29-49.
- Motala, S & Pampallis, J. (2001) Governance and financing in the South African Schooling System: The First Decade of Democracy. CEPD
- 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:
- 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.
- 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
- 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.
- Shepherd, D. (2011). Constraints to School Effectiveness: What prevents poor schools from delivering results? Stellenbosch Economic Working Papers 05/11. [PIRLS]
- Spaull, N. (2011a). A Preliminary Analysis of SACMEQ III South Africa. Stellenbosch Economic Working Papers.
- 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]
- Taylor, S., & Yu, D. (2009). The Importance of Socioeconomic Status in Determining Educational Achievement in South Africa. Stellenbosch Economic Working Papers.
- 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
- 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.
- 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):
- 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.
- 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. (!)
- 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. (!)
- Van der Berg, S. & Moses, E. (2012). How better targeting of social spending affects social delivery in South Africa.
Background to SACMEQ:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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:
Fabulous Nic. I am so pleased you have put together a list of great readings for people out there (like me) who currently have no access to university library/online resources.
Hi Nic. Thanks for giving access to your research. As an educator, the information is invaluable.
Hi Daniel and Gabi – I’m glad that this collection of research is helpful to someone! Part of my aim in starting this website was to create a repository of useful education-type stuff.
Hi Nic. Am so glad that I perused your page. What a wealth of current thinking. Thanks for the vision.
Desiree’
Hi Nic
Are independent schools obliged to implement affirmative action in admissions and employment policies?
Coco
Hi Coco, I’m not sure but I don’t think so.
This blog represents one of the single most useful sites for anyone interested in education in South Africa. Good job Nic 🙂 Already said it in a previous post but thank you for making this available 🙂
Thanks Tracey!
Just read your article in ‘Research SA’ (free access to wikipaedia via mobile phones, http://www.researchsa.co.za/articles.php?id=168). In addition, today’s free reader is more likely to become tomorrow’s (employed) customer! 🙂
Read you articles and got enriched the more. Good job Nic!
Jude Okechukwu Chukwu
Pingback: Is South African School Education Beyond Hope? » KNYSNA SCHOOLS
Nic, you are amazing. I am passionate about changing schools in difficult contexts. And your research is invaluable.
Thanks Philani. It’s great to hear that this research/website is helpful to those working into schools in difficult contexts!
Dear Nic
I need to share some information with you but would like to discuss this in private. I will be in Stellenbosch round about the 20-22nd of January. How can I get hold of you? I will give a presentation for which I will use the ANA 2013 results. From this I think you get an idea of the kind of discussion I would like us to have if you would kindly agree. I am an ex-Foundation Phase teacher and I am currently a lecturer.
Dear Mariana, you can email me (NicholasSpaull[at]gmail.com). Where and what do you lecture? I will be at a conference the week of the 20th so I won’t be able to meet with you unfortunately but you can email me your presentation if you would like me to look at it. Kind regards, Nic
Hi Nick. I am a teacher in the rural free state.Your articles is of great help to us and thank you for making your research available.
Barry Booysen
nice article i love it
great blog
HI Nic, The lik to this article: Venkatakrishnan, H. and Spaull, N. 2014. What do we know about primary teachers’ mathematical content knowledge in South Africa? An analysis of SACMEQ 2007. Stellenbosch Economic Working Papers 13/2014..is broken. Please can you upload it or send it to me: sabrina@leapschool.org.za. Many thanks,
Hi Nic
I really need to have a meeting with you concerning Maths & Science teaching and learning in SA. Please make contact with me at: mwteach@mweb.co.za
Many thanks
John Bransby
Hi Nic,
Iam doing my PhD research proposal, my study is about The dynamics of school performance in South Africa. What kind of relevant literature should I consult this study?
Great and detailed article indeed, I am glad your research extensively covered my country Botswana. I am currently running a Tutorial center for Primary and Secondary Syllabus in Rural areas in Botswana, providing remedial lessons in Maths and English. It would be great for us to hear more from you, either through seminars and workshops. How can we get hold of your presentations.
Thanks a lot.
M.Mathodi
Hi Nic, thank you for this information. We equip and employ people in the communities where the drop out rate from primary schools are very high to reintegrate these children back into the school and to support them with in-school services. The majority of the children that are dropping out is due to their social circumstances and relatively uneducated parents. If we can only show the more privilege communities the risk of not getting involved, 50% of our work will be done.
Hi Nic, Thank you for the info in the research article ” South Africa’s Education in crisis” I must admit that I was ignorant to the SACMEQ and TIMSS facts and the dire situation that the country is in. I am presently studying my masters in education at Walden University specializing teacher leadership. We are currently discussing learning communities and networking as opportunity for teacher development. Your research shows the need for teacher development. Independent education in SA is trying to provide a higher quality in education, but unfortunately we know that this root is not possible for the vast majority of our learners. Would not teacher mentoring by teachers in independent education for teachers in public schools not be suitable? The possibility for networking and mentoring to teachers in the area/district could be made. I feel that as an independent school teacher I can ‘hold the hand’ and steer another colleague who teaches the same subject as I. I am part of a school-cluster, and we have included new teachers into the cluster for guidance. I see the advantage and practicality of such a system working here in SA. It could be done for teachers in public schools. Sending teachers out for further study is costly. Our government needs to seriously think of ways in getting those grade six results up.
Rashika Singh
Hi Nic
Great fan of your work – absolutely awesome on such a relevant topic in our country right now.
Nic, I require some advice and hope you can assist. I am currently employed in corporate – I have a BA in Communication Science and have completed my PMD at GIBS.
I want to make a career change into into Education and become part of the solution. Problem is, I have no idea where to start?
My specific areas of interests:
Teenagers – they will soon be leaving school and entering tertiary or the working world and ensuring they are adequately equipped for this.
Upskilling and providing the necessary levels of support to teachers
Working with parents and encouraging active participation in their children’s education.
Given your expertise in this area, what would you suggest I need to study or which doors do I need to knock on to start moving in my desired direction?
Look forward to hearing from you.
Thanks in advance Nic!
Chantal
Hi Dr Spaull, please confirm if you guys implemented the course for foundation phase teachers in getting reading right in South Africa?
If so, please forward all relevant information on to
KadeshInt@mail.com
Hi Dr Spaull, I wish to express my gratitude to you and your academic partners for allowing free access to your great work. It is quite helpfull and accessible to us as Masters students for our research purposes. I would like to know if you have anything producess and shared on the Role and Impact of Performance Management Systems and Organization performance in schools or education.
What a GREAT curated collection. Using it for papers at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Thanks for sharing this!
Hello Dr. Spaull
I am a psychology honours student. I’m doing my thesis this year which will focus on parent’s appraisal of their children’s academic performance due to the lowered graduation requirements set for Grade 12 learners. I would like to get into contact with you to discuss this topic and gain your insights into the family system of under-performing high school students.
I live in Johannesburg and won’t be able to arrange a face-to-face meeting with you. I’ll provide my email address below if you would be inclined to reach out and perhaps an online meeting.
Warm Regards
Kaj Hall
kajgriffenhall@gmail.com