Our Executive Director, Sonja Giese, recently hosted a fireside chat alongside Palesa Nkabane, eCares Project Lead at the South African Department of Basic Education (DBE), at the SmartStart Constellation of Stars conference.
The core theme, “From Data to Insights – What the Evidence is Telling Us?”, invited the ECD ecosystem to consider that a child’s progress depends not solely on what happens in the classroom, but also on the world around them.
Sonja broke down five factors that impact the quality of Early Learning Programmes (ELPs) and child outcomes in South Africa:
1. ACCESS MATTERS
A child’s environment and circumstances influence their ability to access early learning programmes. Children from more disadvantaged households face significant inequalities in early learning. Factors such as household poverty, education, and unemployment levels, as well as access to social services can influence whether and how children access ELPs. Children from more socio-economically disadvantaged households are more likely to fall behind in their early learning than their more advantaged peers.
2. QUALITY MATTERS
In line with the South African government’s goal of achieving universal access to quality early learning by 2030, the quality of early learning programmes (ELPs) remains critical. The quality of an ELP has a significant impact on children’s developmental outcomes. Children in poor quality programmes make fewer developmental gains than children in good-quality programmes. When access, attendance and programme quality are inconsistent, children are at greater risk of poorer developmental outcomes.
3. THE QUALITY OF THE INTERACTION BETWEEN THE PRACTITIONER AND THE CHILD MATTERS
Practitioner-child engagement is often overlooked in teaching strategies. Positive engagement with children has a significant impact on their overall development and outcomes. Positive interactions, such as engaging in conversations with children, encouraging their natural curiosity and supporting independent learning, can improve their outcomes.
4. SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL FUNCTIONING MATTERS
Good learning outcomes do not depend only on good learning inputs. Social and emotional functioning is a key predictor of outcomes. Children’s social and household environments can directly influence their cognitive development. Emotionally regulated children tend to have better learning outcomes. For example, children who are stunted are, on average, around six months behind their peers developmentally at the age of four.
It is important to understand and recognise the whole child within the context in which they live.
5. EVERY CHILD HAS THE RIGHT TO A SAFE, HIGH-QUALITY CHILDHOOD
Longitudinal data is being leveraged to build a strong argument that early investment is critical not only to realising children’s rights, but also to the development of human capital.
A child’s progress in the classroom can be a key indicator of the wellbeing of their surrounding environment, as these factors frequently intersect. For example, socio-economic background can influence not only a child’s access to ELPs, but also the quality of the ELP they attend and their overall social and emotional functioning. When we speak about closing the access gap, we are also required to look at the broader systemic change needed at institutional and societal levels.
Sonja makes a powerful point that, “Data is not an end in itself. It really is just a means to an end. And for data to be useful, it needs to be actionable.” While it is important to recognise that data and evidence matter, if data does not move beyond policy to inform action and make a difference in communities, it remains just data.
The democratisation of data calls on ECD actors – from practitioners to policymakers – to ensure that data is accessible and that evidence can be understood at every level.
Beyond this call, how can we collaboratively leverage this evidence and data to address broader systemic challenges?
