Leadership for Literacy 2017

South Africa, 2017
Other Open Research Data

Research on Socio-Economic Policy (RESEP)

Identification

IDNO

zaf-resep-lfl-2017-v1

Title

Leadership for Literacy 2017

Country

Name	Country code
South Africa	zaf

Study type

Education Survey [es]

Series Information

Research on Socio-Economic Policy, Stellenbosch University. Leadership for literacy 2017 [dataset]. Version 1. Stellenbosch: RESEP [producer], 2019. Cape Town: DataFirst [distributor], 2019. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25828/c5we-fj61

Abstract

Leadership for literacy is an education research project led by a multi-disciplinary team of researchers from Stellenbosch University, the University of Cape Town, JET Education Services, the University of South Africa and the Department of Basic Education in South Africa. The project focuses on the under-explored area of high performing rural and township schools in South Africa. The specific aims of the project were to:
Identify exceptional rural and township primary schools
Gain new insights into school leadership and management (SLM) practices that support high achievement in these schools
Develop a new SLM instrument that captures the behaviour and practices of school teachers and principles in challenging school contexts
Determine the predictive validity of this SLM instrument
Establish early grade reading norms and benchmarks of SA learnings in challenging contexts

Kind of Data

Qualitative and quantitative data

Unit of Analysis

Individuals and institutions

Version

Version Description

v1: Edited, anonymised data for public distribution

Version Date

2019-02-14

Scope

Notes

The study used a mixed methods approach to collect data on literacy levels of grade 3 and grade 6 learners. Case studies of 8 of the high achieving schools collected data from principles and teachers on school leadership and management practices in these schools.

Topics

Topic
School management
School leadership
School performance
Literacy

Keywords

Keyword
School leadership
School management
Literacy
School performance

Coverage

Geographic Coverage

The data covers schools in three South African provinces: Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, and Limpopo

Geographic Unit

The data is at the level of individual school

Universe

The study covered grade 3 and grade 6 learners in the sampled schools, and principals, teachers and schools in the 8 schools selected for the case studies.

Producers and sponsors

Primary investigators

Name	Affiliation
Research on Socio-Economic Policy (RESEP)	Stellenbosch University

Funding Agency/Sponsor

Name	Abbreviation	Role
UK Economic and Social Research Council	ESRC	Funder

Sampling

Sampling Procedure

A purposeful school sampling approach was used to identify 30 exceptional rural and township primary schools in South Africa. Three provinces (KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and Limpopo) were chosen to represent different levels of administrative functionality: Gauteng (a highly functional administration), KwaZulu-Natal (medium functionality) and Limpopo (low functionality). System-wide low stakes testing data, the Annual National Assessments were used to identify top performing primary schools in these regions. This information was corroborated against a large dataset of "good" schools compiled by RESEP of from recommendations by stakeholders such as district officials, school principals and administrative clerks, education related NGOs, and unions. 30 schools which performed less well but were located in the same geographic locations as the higher performing pairs were also included in the sample. The schools in the final sample were also selected based on language, namely Sepedi, Xitsonga or Zulu needed to be their language of instruction or the dominant student language in the school.

Data Collection

Dates of Data Collection

Start	End
2017-02	2017-11

Data Collection Mode

Other [oth]

Ethics Approval for Data Collection

Written approval for the study was received fom the Director General of the National Department of Basic Education, and from each of the provincial education departments in the three provinces. This approval granted the project permission to use the Annual National Assessment data and to conduct fieldwork in the schools. Ethics clearance for the research was granted by the Stellenbosch University Research Ethics Committee, which also involved the approval of administered instruments. All interviews and learner testing commenced with obtaining consent from research participants. Additionally, opt-out forms were sent to schools prior to learner testing. If parents returned an opt-out letter via the learner, then learners did not participate in the testing.

Data Collection Notes

A mixed-methods approach was used for data collection, including literacy tests administered to grade 3 and grade 6 learners, and survey questionnaires administered to learners, principals, and teachers at the sampled schools.

Data Collectors

Name	Abbreviation	Affiliation
Research on Socio-Economic Policy	RESEP	Stellenbosch University

Questionnaires

Survey instruments included literacy test sheets, questionnaires to collect contextual information, and school management and leadership questionnaires.

Access policy

Access authority

Name	Affiliation	Email	URL
DataFirst	University of Cape Town	support@data1st.org	support.data1st.org

Contacts

Name	Affiliation	Email	URL
DataFirst helpdesk	University of Cape Town	support@data1st.org	www.support@data1st.org

Access conditions

Public use files, available to all

Citation requirements

Metadata production

Producers

Name	Affiliation	Role
DataFirst	University of Cape Town	Metadata producer

Date of Metadata Production

2020-04-22

DDI Document version

Version 2

Leadership for Literacy 2017

South Africa, 2017 Other Open Research Data

Identification

Version

Scope

Coverage

Producers and sponsors

Sampling

Data Collection

Questionnaires

Access policy

Metadata production

South Africa, 2017
Other Open Research Data