Breakthrough thinking for early learning: Gov is starting to adopt the home-based learning model

HANDS-ON Experience Learning

July 2025 | Issue 30

OPPORTUNITY

Give every child the benefit of early childhood development

BREAKTHROUGH THINKING FOR EARLY LEARNING IN SOUTH AFRICA: GOVERNMENT IS STARTING TO ADOPT THE HOME-BASED LEARNING MODEL

This learning brief shows how SmartStart has become a game changer in early learning taking place in home and community-based settings. In it, we examine the impact of the programme on preschoolers and those who’ve gone on to attend ‘big school’. The brief also demonstrates the impact that SmartStart programmes have not only on children but also on parents, practitioners and communities.

BREAKTHROUGH THINKING FOR EARLY LEARNING IN SOUTH AFRICA: GOVERNMENT IS STARTING TO ADOPT THE HOME-BASED LEARNING MODEL

Issue 30 /// July 2025

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Breakthrough thinking for early learning: Gov is starting to adopt the home-based learning model

Published on Jul 4, 2025

DG Murray Trust

The early years of a child’s life are the building blocks of their future success. Yet in South Africa, over 1.15 million children aged three to five are not in any early learning programme (ELP) and fewer than half of four-to five-year-olds attending an ELP are developmentally on track, meaning that they do not meet the expected learning standards for their age. The quality of an ELP a significant determining factor in whether children reach developmental milestones.2 SmartStart – an early learning social franchise with a national footprint – aims to reach one million children aged three to five every year by 2030. SmartStart realised that it would not be able to reach this target by waiting for new infrastructure to be built in informal settlements and low-income communities, where the need for quality ELPs is greatest. Instead, it demonstrated that it is possible to provide quality early learning for children in existing structures in informal settlements and rural areas, such as residential and community

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Breakthrough thinking for early learning: Gov is starting to adopt the home-based learning model by DG Murray Trust - Issuu