Last month the 2030 Reading Panel convened in response to the most recent national election results and the urgent need to address the persistent challenges facing early grade reading in South Africa.
This session presented no new data on the reality of reading in the country as, quite frankly, the state of reading remains harrowing.
Instead, the briefing note consolidated key challenges and opportunities. In short, the dual education system — one for poor learners, the other for the wealthy 20% — was laid bare through the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2021. The main headline was that 81% of South African learners cannot read for meaning in any language. Additionally, the number of learners lacking basic literacy skills and who, in effect, cannot read at all, doubled between 2016 and 2021.
An analysis of PIRLS by Bianca Böhmer and Gabrielle Wills (2023) further highlights a widening in the country’s persistent inequality gap on socioeconomic and language lines. The disparity in performance between the highest performing learner testing in English and the lowest-performing African language almost doubled from 1.6 years in 2016 to three years in 2021.
In 2016, if you were in the poorest 70% of schools, you were five times less likely to be able to read. In 2021, this doubled to 10 times less likely. These learners are concentrated in provinces which will also be the hardest hit by teacher retirements and already suffer from some of the largest class sizes.
For the first time as the Reading Panel, we were joined by the minister of basic education, Siviwe Gwarube, who echoed these concerns in her keynote address, noting that “There’s a majority of mostly poor black learners who are going to be locked out of economic opportunities in perpetuity” and that “we are leaving behind 11-million learners who are solely dependent on the public education system ... locking an entire generation of learners into perpetual poverty, (which) should scare us all”.
What are the minister’s concerns? In its three years of meetings, the Reading Panel has made four urgent recommendations:
- a national budgeted long-term plan for reading, supported by provincial implementation plans;
- a minimum package of learner and teacher materials for every foundation phase classroom;
- universal assessments of all grade 2 learners; and
- an audit of Bachelor of Education degrees.
Gwarube identified reading and school safety as the two priorities. In terms of reading, she highlighted the following:
- a lack of a culture of reading, with middle-class learners afforded more opportunities to read and be read to by guardians;
- disparity in performance between learners in English, Afrikaans and African languages in the early grades, worsened by the change to English for about 75% of learners in grade 4; and
- that university courses focus on the theoretical aspects of teaching, and prospective teachers leave with little knowledge of the practical aspects of teaching children to read.
In addition, she pointed to a lack of standardised assessments in the early grades to track whether learners are performing at grade level and an obsession with matric results, as well as the need for quality universal early-childhood development and the establishment of a compulsory grade R year.
Clearly, the department of basic education shares our concerns about the challenges and urgency of the matter. But the question remains of what must be done in response. A significant body of South African research provides effective approaches to improve reading outcomes, and while we are implementing various small-scale interventions and campaigns we are just not doing enough at a scale proportionate to the crisis.
Internationally, countries such as Brazil, Kenya and Peru demonstrate that the formula for successfully improving education outcomes is not entirely complicated. It requires strong political will, upskilling and reskilling teachers, quality learning materials and assessments in order to prioritise, intervene and measure system progress.
As our February 2024 Reading Panel keynote speaker, Ivo Gomes, mayor of Sobral, Brazil, said: “There is no secret, really! It boils down to a strong focus on the basics, for example teaching children how to read by the right age, and making everyone and the system to coherently work towards that goal.”
Encouragingly, four provinces are implementing provincewide reading plans — Gauteng, the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Northern Cape. Additionally, most provinces have now produced reading plans, albeit a few are somewhat rushed, underbudgeted and unclear.
Regardless, reading is now firmly on their agenda, and effective leadership and guidance from the national department will be vital in guiding implementation, equitable interventions and accountability.
What are we watching out for? “In the context of tough fiscal conditions, we’ve got to ask ourselves what are we going to prioritise? But more than that, in the context where we are not performing well, we’ve got to ask ourselves, what are we going to prioritise?” said Gwarube.
The Reading Panel will reconvene at its annual event in February 2025 to assess progress towards the 2030 goal, highlight new evidence and offer recommendations. In the minister’s speech, it was emphasised that the coming months at the department will be dedicated to reviewing the cost-effectiveness and impact of their initiatives to reprioritise resources towards two primary goals: improving reading outcomes and enhancing school safety. We eagerly await a report on this process and the tangible reallocations to these critical priorities.
We know what works. We have models of success to emulate. What’s needed now is a clear and budgeted long-term plan to drive system-level change.
• Sipumelele Lucwaba, Secretariat, 2030 Reading Panel and the Right to Read
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