Examining problems in poor schools

On Monday the 28th of March, the department's Social Policy Research Group hosted a workshop for policy-makers and researchers with the intention of disseminating recent research findings. The workshop, held at the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS), was the culmination of an 18 month long research project titled Low Quality Education as a Poverty Trap headed by Prof Servaas Van der Berg and Dr Ronelle Burger. The research project was funded by the Programme to Support Pro-Poor Policy Development (PSPPD), a partnership between the European Union and The Presidency, South Africa.

Outputs from the research project include ten Working Papers, five Policy Briefs, and a report which summarizes the findings. The workshop was well received by policy-makers, researchers and the media with positive feedback from all concerned. The work was mentioned repeatedly in Riz Khan's questions to deputy president Motlanthe on Al Jazeera and was featured on The Chris Gibbons show on 702/Cape Talk. There have also been several newspaper articles covering the research findings, including those by Business Day, Mail & Guardian, Cape Times and Die Burger.

The full research report can be found here.

The presentations from the workshop can be downloaded here:

Introduction - Low quality education as a poverty trap

Constraints to school effectiveness: what is preventing poor schools from delivering results

Repetition, drop outs and matric passes

Uncovering indicators of effective school management

Quality of education and the labour market

Quality of education, returns to education and the racial wage gap

Making sense of what we found

Identifying policies to address the low quality of education

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