HANDS-ON Experience Learning April 2026 | Issue 33
OPPORTUNITY
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Give every child the benefit of early childhood development
BUILDING BETTER: WHY TRACKING QUALITY IS PART OF STRENGTHENING EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA The earlier we invest in children’s development, the better. In South Africa, this means improving both access to and quality of learning programmes: about a third of the country’s 3–5-year-olds do not attend any form of an early learning programme (ELP) and of the children who are enrolled, about 60% are not developmentally on track. Programme quality has two dimensions. The first, structural quality, relates to the physical setting in which children learn. The second, process quality, refers to how a programme creates opportunities for children to interact with the world around them. Research shows that this has a greater influence on children’s development than structural quality alone. To improve process quality, it needs to be measurable in the first place. However, objectively measuring an abstract concept such as quality is tricky — even more so when the aim is to link findings on a programme’s offering to children’s developmental progress.
This learning brief examines how the process of developing an ELP quality assurance and support system unfolded, the progress achieved and the challenges ahead.
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BUILDING BETTER: WHY TRACKING QUALITY IS PART OF STRENGTHENING EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA
Issue 33 /// April 2026