IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/chinre/v17y2024i2d10.1007_s12187-023-10093-3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Are South African children on track for early learning? Findings from the South African Thrive By Five Index 2021 Survey

Author

Listed:
  • Colin Tredoux

    (University of Cape Town)

  • Andrew Dawes

    (University of Cape Town)

  • Frances Mattes

    (University of Cape Town)

  • Jan-Christof Schenk

    (Genesis Analytics)

  • Sonja Giese

    (DataDrive2030)

  • Grace Leach

    (University of Stellenbosch)

  • Servaas van der Berg

    (University of Stellenbosch)

  • Jessica Horler

    (University of Cape Town)

Abstract

We report on a national South African multistage cluster sampling survey of early development in 5,222 children aged 50-59 months enrolled in preschool programmes. Children were assessed on the Early Learning Outcomes Measure (ELOM 4&5), the ELOM Social-Emotional Rating Scale, and linear growth (height-for-age), in the last quarter of 2021. ELOM 4&5 is standardised for South Africa and measures development in five domains: Gross Motor, and Fine Motor Development, Numeracy and Mathematics, Cognition and Executive Functioning, and Literacy and Language skills. Cut scores are used to classify children as On Track, Falling Behind, or Falling Far Behind expected developmental standards. Post-survey weights were computed, permitting us to interpret results as representative of children attending early learning programmes. Only 45.7% of the sample were On Track overall. Apart from Literacy and Language (54.7%), no other domain exceeded 50% On Track. Children who were better off socio-economically achieved higher scores (except for Gross Motor Development). Height-for-age measurements revealed a stunting rate of 5.1%, (>8.8% in one province). A mixed linear model analysis showed that age, sex, quintile, growth status, and socio-emotional score were significant predictors of the total ELOM 4&5 score, with growth status and quintile being stronger predictors. The results indicate concerningly poor preparedness for school. Two further surveys prior to 2030 will be undertaken and used to establish the country’s progress toward meeting Sustainable Development Goal 4.2: “all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education”.

Suggested Citation

  • Colin Tredoux & Andrew Dawes & Frances Mattes & Jan-Christof Schenk & Sonja Giese & Grace Leach & Servaas van der Berg & Jessica Horler, 2024. "Are South African children on track for early learning? Findings from the South African Thrive By Five Index 2021 Survey," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 17(2), pages 601-636, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:chinre:v:17:y:2024:i:2:d:10.1007_s12187-023-10093-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s12187-023-10093-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12187-023-10093-3
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s12187-023-10093-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nakajima, Nozomi & Hasan, Amer & Jung, Haeil & Brinkman, Sally & Pradhan, Menno & Kinnell, Angela, 2019. "Investing in school readiness: A comparison of different early childhood education pathways in rural Indonesia," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 22-38.
    2. Greg Duncan & Katherine Magnuson & Ariel Kalil & Kathleen Ziol-Guest, 2012. "The Importance of Early Childhood Poverty," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 108(1), pages 87-98, August.
    3. Toivainen, Teemu & Papageorgiou, Kostas A. & Tosto, Maria G. & Kovas, Yulia, 2017. "Sex differences in non-verbal and verbal abilities in childhood and adolescence," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 81-88.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Natasha V. Pilkauskas & Katherine Michelmore, 2023. "Who’s Caring for the Kids? The Earned Income Tax Credit and Childcare Arrangements," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 706(1), pages 37-64, March.
    2. Matthias Rosenbaum-Feldbrügge, 2019. "The Impact of Parental Death in Childhood on Sons’ and Daughters’ Status Attainment in Young Adulthood in the Netherlands, 1850–1952," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(5), pages 1827-1854, October.
    3. Carranza, Rafael & Nolan, Brian & Bavaro, Michele, 2023. "Intergenerational Poverty Persistence in Europe - Is There a 'Great Gatsby Curve' for Poverty?," INET Oxford Working Papers 2023-22, Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford, revised Dec 2023.
    4. Kee-Lee Chou & Kelvin Cheung & Maggie Lau & Tony Sin, 2014. "Trends in Child Poverty in Hong Kong Immigrant Families," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 117(3), pages 811-825, July.
    5. Schurer, Stefanie & Trajkovski, Kristian & Hariharan, Tara, 2019. "Understanding the mechanisms through which adverse childhood experiences affect lifetime economic outcomes," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    6. Brady, David & Guerra, Christian & Kohler, Ulrich & Link, Bruce, 2022. "The Long Arm of Prospective Childhood Income for Mature Adult Health in the United States," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 63(4), pages 543-559.
    7. Ge, Ting & Wang, Lin, 2019. "Multidimensional child poverty, social relationships and academic achievement of children in poor rural areas of China," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 209-217.
    8. Antonio L. Pérez-Corral & Amélia Bastos & Sara Falcão Casaca, 2024. "Employment Insecurity and Material Deprivation in Families with Children in the Post-Great Recession Period: An Analysis for Spain and Portugal," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 45(2), pages 444-457, June.
    9. Henrietta A. Asiamah, 2021. "Childhood Chronic Poverty Estimations: Looking Beyond a Count Index," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 14(1), pages 185-215, February.
    10. Nguyen, Lan & Connelly, Luke B. & Birch, Stephen & Nguyen, Ha Trong, 2025. "Origins and developmental paths of medical conditions from mid-childhood to mid-adolescence in Australia: The early-life adverse conditions and lasting effects," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1579, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    11. Kim, Janice H., 2022. "Preschool participation and students’ learning outcomes in primary school: Evidence from national reform of pre-primary education in Ethiopia," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    12. Turney, Kristin, 2020. "Cumulative adverse childhood experiences and children’s health," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    13. Brady, David & Gao, Manjing & Guerra, Christian & Kohler, Ulrich & Link, Bruce, 2024. "The long term relationship between childhood Medicaid expansions and severe chronic conditions in adulthood," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 58(1), pages 39-60.
    14. Claudia Schmiedeberg & Nina Schumann, 2019. "Poverty and Adverse Peer Relationships among Children in Germany: a Longitudinal Study," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 12(5), pages 1717-1733, October.
    15. Tophoven, Silke & Wenzig, Claudia & Lietzmann, Torsten, 2016. "Kinder in Armutslagen : Konzepte, aktuelle Zahlen und Forschungsstand," IAB-Forschungsbericht 201611, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    16. Carranza, Rafael & Nolan, Brian & Bavaro, Michele, 2025. "Intergenerational Poverty in Europe: A Latent Class Analysis," INET Oxford Working Papers 2025-07, Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford.
    17. Zachary Parolin & Rafael Pintro-Schmitt & Gøsta Esping-Andersen & Peter Fallesen, 2025. "Intergenerational persistence of poverty in five high-income countries," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 9(2), pages 254-267, February.
    18. Likhanov, Maxim & Wang, Fang & Lyu, Jianing & Wang, Li & Zhou, Xinlin, 2024. "A special contribution from spatial ability to math word problem solving: Evidence from structural equation modelling and network analysis," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    19. Pedro Gil Madrona & Sonia J. Romero Martínez & Nieves María Sáez-Gallego & Xavier G. Ordóñez Camacho, 2019. "Psychomotor Limitations of Overweight and Obese Five-Year-Old Children: Influence of Body Mass Indices on Motor, Perceptual, and Social-Emotional Skills," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-19, February.
    20. Yuxiang Xie, 2023. "Childhood Poverty Duration and Its Long-Term Effects on Income and Education in China: A Survival Analysis Based on CHNS Data," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 16(6), pages 2653-2677, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:chinre:v:17:y:2024:i:2:d:10.1007_s12187-023-10093-3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.