Scaling up a preprimary year (Grade R) in South Africa

1. Scaling up a preprimary year (Grade R) in South Africa Linda Biersteker Africa ECCD Initiative Workshop Cape Town July 2010 research@elru.co.za

2. Outline • South African context (history, indicators, service access) • Brief description of the Reception Year Programme scale up • Successes and challenges

3. History of neglect and inequity of ECD services • Disparities in both quality and access by population group, age, rural/urban divide, few children with disabilities in ECD programmes • Very limited public funding and provision • Service fragmentation • Lack of accredited training opportunities for ECD workers • Absence of minimum standards and guidelines for registration of service providers

4. Some key indicators • Population 0 – 4 years approximately 5 million 5 years approximately 1 million • Infant mortality rate 45.7 per 1000 • Under 5 mortality rate 68 per 1000 • 66% of under 5s are poor • 23% of 1- 3 year olds stunted, 11% underweight • 28% of pregnant women HIV +

5. University of Oxford Centre for the Analysis of South African Social Policy

7. Scaling up Grade R • ECD White Paper 2001 • Reception year for five year olds as first year of schooling system by 2010 under Department of Education (in 2009 revised to 2014) • 85% in public schools, 15% in community schools • Approved training for all educators without a specialised qualification for Reception Year • Funding from provincial education departments – poverty targeted

8. Drivers • Attempts to fix bottle necks, poor schooling outcomes and drop outs in early primary schooling (started pre-democracy) • Strong child rights commitment of the new democratic government • Strong community based ECD sector to build on, some of whom moved into key government ECD posts • Champions in and out of government

10. What worked • Period of piloting interim policy, development of accredited training programmes and national audit • Selling Grade R on basis of savings within system and incremental scale up on a lower cost model • Conditional grant (ring-fenced funding) to kick-start programme • Legislation of funding norms and standards – pro poor funding formula • High political will seen in budget increases

11. Expansion in ECD Budgets 2001/2 – 2010/11

12. Key Challenges – access but especially quality • Lack of infrastructure, learning materials and insufficient qualified ECD teachers • Provincial budgeting process (and variation in salaries and subsidies) • Insufficient officials in provinces and districts to administer, monitor and support • Grade R is not fully part of formal schooling – due to different funding model and teachers not yet falling under norms and standards for educators

13. Resources and interventions to address challenges • Teacher training opportunities • Infrastructure provision in budget • Norms and standards for funding –minimum inputs specified, provide for monitoring outputs • Draft standards for quality learning programme • Model schools, curriculum guidance and additional national monitoring of provincial programmes

14. Infrastructure and Materials

16. Programme

18. Lessons • A clear policy intention that Grade R was the first year of compulsory schooling and legislated public funding provision make the programme sustainable in terms of access • Location within the established schooling system with some available infrastructure and existing curriculum but also built on community sector and NGO training providers • Grade R is a single service and targeting is simple

19. Lessons cntd • Only one department is responsible, so while there needed to be alignment across two levels of government, there was no need to draw in stakeholders with very different service mandates • Value of accredited training system with multiple pathways • Challenge of adding to an already stretched and challenged primary school system • Need to create sufficient capacity and numbers of government officials as well as teaching staff • Need for an advocacy/communication strategy

20. Summary Service package A single child directed service Target All five year olds (1 m) (underage enrolments a problem) Policy and legislation Constitutional commitment to a year of compulsory schooling and legislated norms and standards prescribe public funding Funding Committed public funding and funded start up process

21. Summary ctd Infrastructure Located within schooling system with some available infrastructure Human resources Insufficient trained staff both to offer the service and to provide departmental support and monitoring Data systems for M&E EMIS system which captures data regularly which is helpful for planning and monitoring but needs more information on programme quality