SNAP Survey of Ordinary Schools 2023
South Africa, 1997 - 2023
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zaf-dbe-snaps-2023-v1
SNAP Survey of Ordinary Schools 2023
| Name | Country code |
|---|---|
| South Africa | zaf |
Education Data
The SNAP Survey of Ordinary Schools collects data from all schools in South Africa each year. The data forms part of the national Education Management Information Systems (EMIS) database used to inform education policymakers and managers in the Department of Basic Education and the Provincial education departments, as well as to provide valuable information to external stakeholders. For example, data from schools in the survey is used to compile and maintain the Master List of Schools in the country for education planning purposes.
Survey data
Individuals and institutions
Version
Version 1 Edited, anonymised data for non-commercial use
2024
Version 1 of the SNAPS dataset was provided to DataFirst by the Department of Basic Education (DBE) on 12 March 2014.
Version 1.1 is this deposit, converted from an Access Database to Stata, and labelled with coding provided by the DBE.
Version 1.2: In the original upload the learner enrolment file was omitted. Version 1.2 includes this file. The other data files are still labeled 1.1 as no changes to these have been made. The new version number reflects the inclusion of the missing file only.
Version 1.3: In this version variables names have been changed to lower case. The “natemis” variable is also now numeric across all data files. As versioning is done at file level as well as dataset level the files are now reversioned to 1.2 except for the Learner Enrolment data file which becomes version 1.3. Further disclosure control was undertaken on the "General" file and therefore this file is also version 1.3. The dataset is versioned in line with the latest data file, and so becomes version 1.3.
Version 1.4: Includes the first versions of the 2014-2015 data publically released by DataFirst. These data files are versioned as 1.1 (with 1.0 being the original MS Access files received from the DBE)
Version 1.5: Includes the 2016 SNAPS and introduces, for the first time, results from national senior certificate (NSC) between 2014-2016 to the dataset. These data files are versioned as 1.1 (with 1.0 being the original MS Access files received from the DBE)
Version 1.6: Excludes the national senior certificate examinations data that was erroneously included in the previous version. These results have been collated into their own separate data file which can also be found on the DataFirst data portal. Note that the versions of the individual data files remain the same given that they were unchanged.
Annual datasets for the period 2017-2022 are not included as these have not yet been provided by DBE.
This is the data from the 2023 SNAP Survey. This version is a continuation of the SNAPS dataset provided by DBE to DataFirst with the previous rounds covering the period 1997-2016 (Version 1.1 to Version 1.6 ).
This data is Version 1 of the 2023 data. DataFirst will merge this data with the earlier data once we have the 2017-2022 data. The merged dataset will then become Version 1.7
Scope
School Data
School Name and email address, National EMIS number, Province, School level (Pre-Primary, Primary, Secondary, Intermediate or Combined), School Funding Type (Public or Independent), Ownership of school land [State, Church, Mine, Farm, Hospital, Trust, Company, Private Individual, Factory), Educational region, Educational district, and Circuit.
Earlier surveys collected data on Municipality, Nearest Town and Distance to Nearest Town (Km). Earlier surveys also collected data on Language of teaching and learning but from 2011 this data is no longer collected.
Learner data
Total number of learners by grade and gender
Staff data
Category (Educators, Practitioners, Professional non-teaching staff, Administrative staff, Support staff, Hostel staff); Nature of appointment (full-time or part-time, permanent, temporary, substitutes), gender and source of remuneration (Schools Governing Body or the State). The distinction between "staff" and "practitioners" in the data files is that 'practitioners' are found almost exclusively in schools with Grade R and are not qualified educators, but people who teach in or assist, usually in the Grade R class.
| Topic | Vocabulary |
|---|---|
| Primary Education | World Bank |
| Secondary Education | World Bank |
Coverage
The survey has national coverage
The data includes a variable for town.
The survey covers all Ordinary Schools in South Africa, both Public and Independent. In some data collection years information on special needs education schools was collected and in these cases this data is included in the data files from DataFirst
Producers and sponsors
| Name | Affiliation |
|---|---|
| Department of Basic Education | Government of South Africa |
survey_instrument
Data is collected with a survey questionnaire and educator forms. The principle completes the survey questionnaire and each educator (both state paid and other) in each school completes an educator form. Schools record their EMIS number provided by the DBE on the questionnaire and form for identification.
Data Collection
| Start | End |
|---|---|
| 1997 | 2023 |
- Mail Questionnaire
| Name | Affiliation |
|---|---|
| Department of Basic Education | Government of South Africa |
The Snap Survey for Ordinary Schools is completed by all ordinary schools, both public and independent. School principals are sent both digital (on a cd) and hard copy versions of the survey questionnaire and the educator forms. These are required to be completed on or as close to the survey date as possible. The principal returns the completed survey tools to the respective District or Regional DBE Office. School officials from the DBE Head Office and District officials periodically visit a random sample of 2% or 3% of schools to establish the accuracy of basic school information provided by schools in the survey.
Data Access
| Name | Affiliation | URL | |
|---|---|---|---|
| DataFirst | University of Cape Town | http://support.data1st.org | support@data1st.org |
Access under a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC (Attribution, Non-Commercial use only) License
Department of Basic Education. Snap Survey of Ordinary Schools 2023 [dataset]. Version 1. Pretoria: DBE [producer], 2024. Cape Town: DataFirst [distributor], 2024. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25828/1zt6-4a49
Contacts
| Name | URL | |
|---|---|---|
| DataFirst Helpdesk | support@data1st.org | http://support.data1st.org |
Metadata production
| Name | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|
| DataFirst | University of Cape Town | Metadata producer |
2024-08-14
Metadata version
Version 2