HANDS-ON Experience Learning
Building Stronger Learning Foundations
OPPORTUNITY
6
SEPTEMBER 2022
Make sure every child is ready to read by the time they go to school
PROACTIVE INTERVENTIONS TO BUILD STRONGER LEARNING FOUNDATIONS
One of South Africa’s biggest developmental challenges is the large proportion of children who cannot read for meaning in early grades1. Reading with comprehension is a fundamental skill upon which others are built. Children who do not have strong learning foundations are not equipped to read for meaning and, without adequate support, they struggle to reach their potential with long-term social- and economic consequences for the country. We can’t rely on schools alone to fix the country’s literacy problem as causal factors occur before children enter primary school. It is well known that South Africa has a literacy crisis, with most Grade 4 children unable to read for meaning in any language2. Fortunately, the government has started to make reading a key developmental priority. President Cyril Ramaphosa often cites reading for meaning in his State of the Nation Address (SONA), envisaging that in the next 10 years “every 10-year-old will be able to read for meaning”3. As part of the government’s efforts to improve literacy levels and education outcomes in the public schooling system, the Department of Basic Education
(DBE) initiated the Early Grade Reading Study (EGRS) to better understand the literacy challenge and find ways of addressing it in collaboration with academics from the University of the Witwatersrand, Georgetown University and the Human Sciences Research Council4.
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78% of South African Grade 4 children cannot read for meaning in any language. Source: https://nicspaull.com/2017/12/05/the-unfolding-reading-crisis-thenew-pirls-2016-results/
These studies are generating evidence around what sort of interventions influence reading outcomes in the primary school years.
https://www.education.gov.za/Portals/0/Documents/Publications/EGRS%20 Policy%20Summary%20Report.pdf?ver=2017-08-15-092224-000
2
https://nicspaull.files.wordpress.com/2017/12/p16-pirls-internationalresults-in-reading.pdf
3 https://resep.sun.ac.za/reading-for-meaning-a-common-issue-inpresidents-sona-speech-and-reseps-binding-constraints-report/sample-post/
MAKE SURE EVERY CHILD IS READY TO READ BY THE TIME THEY GO TO SCHOOL
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