DataDrive2030

💻 WEBINAR THIS WEDNESDAY 💻 Have you registered to join us for March's Early Childhood Systems webinar? This month's webinar will be on the topic: "Exploring the impact of austerity budgeting on South Africa's public services". 📅 Wednesday, 5 March 2025 ⌚ 11:00am-12:00pm SAST Registration link 👉 https://lnkd.in/du4G5gif    In this 60-minute interactive session, Thoko Madonko, a researcher at the Southern Centre for Inequality Studies (SCIS) Wits University, will unpack the importance of budget decisions and increased investment in key areas that support children's well-being, including the care sector (health, education, ECD, social development), the green economy, and public infrastructure. Join us in exploring the impact of austerity on child development, and how public spending can pay for itself, boost our economy, and ultimately improve the lives of children and their families. The Early Childhood Systems: Perspectives and Research webinar series is co-hosted by DataDrive2030, Ilifa Labantwana and RESEP (Research on Socio-Economic Policy) at Stellenbosch University to explore the latest perspectives and research on a range of issues affecting the early childhood development service-delivery eco-system. #ECD #earlychildhooddevelopment #earlyyears #austeritybudgeting #SouthAfrica 

In honour of International Mother Language Day on 21 February, we asked the DataDrive2030 team what their mother languages are. Have a look at the responses below👇 On an occasion that celebrates linguistic diversity, it's wonderful to see this reflected within our team. Our ELOM suite of early learning measurement tools take into account the diverse socio-economic backgrounds and are available in all 11 official South African languages (South African Sign Language excluded). Explore the suite of tools here 👉 https://lnkd.in/eM4jy7G3 #ELOM #earlylearning #earlychildhooddevelopment #InternationalMotherLanguageDay #language #linguisticdiversity

📢 OPPORTUNITY 📢 Sign up for assessor training on the ELOM 4&5 Assessment Tool. Training will take place from 7-11 April 2025 in 📍Johannesburg, Gauteng, hosted by Education Africa. The ELOM 4&5 Assessment Tool is a standardised tool that measures performance across the following five key developmental domains for children aged 50 to 59 months and 60 to 69 months: gross motor development, fine motor coordination and visual motor integration, emergent numeracy and mathematics, cognition and executive functioning, and emergent literacy and language. Training costs R5,500 per person excluding VAT per candidate, travel, and accommodation if required. Please complete this application form by 7 March 2025 👉 https://lnkd.in/gBvDxU9M Ideal candidates for ELOM assessor training enjoy working with children, have some technical know-how in using a smart device, are patient listeners and problem solvers, and most importantly, want to create change for children using data. Candidate ELOM 4&5 assessors require a minimum Level 4 qualification or equivalent, although an ECD or Foundation Phase qualification is advantageous. Candidate assessors also need to have at least 2 years of experience working directly with children between the ages of 4 and 7 years. Please share with your colleagues and friends who may be interested 🙏 #earlychildhoodeducation #earlychildhooddevelopment #opportunity #assessortraining 

Today, 21 February 2025, is the 25th anniversary of 🗣️ International Mother Language Day 🗣️According to UNESCO, "This milestone highlights a quarter-century of dedicated efforts to preserve linguistic diversity and promote the use of mother tongues." At DataDrive2030, we've been investigating language and its impact on test performance. Following established best practice and South African Language in Education Policy, the ELOM measures are consistently administered in the home language of the child. Children have been assessed over the past nine years on the ELOM tools in a number of settings in all South African official languages. However, because of diverse language enrolments in early learning programmes (ELPs) and Grade R classes (particularly, but not only, in urban areas), as well as parental preferences, many children who have African home languages attend facilities where the Language of Learning and Teaching (LOLT) is English. Furthermore, many children grow up exposed and familiar to multiple languages at home and in their communities, and there are also many young children attending ELPs who speak other regional languages at home. Towards the end of 2024, we embarked on a study to investigate how language of test administration affects children’s performance on the ELOM tools test performance, and whether and by how much, they perform better or worse in the home language or the ELP or school LOLT. The question was foremost:  ❓In which language should the child be assessed to obtain the fairest measure of their ability? 🌟 The results?  The study of children who had attended an English LOLT ELP confirms that administration of the ELOM 4&5 in the isiXhosa home language produced consistently better performance regardless of whether the English or isiXhosa version was administered first. This affirms South African Language in Education policy, and DD2030’s policy that the child’s home language should be the language of ELOM 4&5 administration. Learn more about our ELOM suite of tools here 👉 https://lnkd.in/eM4jy7G3 #ELOM #earlylearning #earlychildhooddevelopment #InternationalMotherLanguageDay #SouthAfrica

Thank you to everyone who attended our first Early Childhood Systems: Perspectives and Research #webinar 💻 of 2025 earlier this month. The webinar, "Early Childhood Development in South Africa: Current and Future Workforce Requirements", was presented by Dr Gabrielle Wills, RESEP (Research on Socio-Economic Policy) at Stellenbosch University, and Dr Grace Leach, DG Murray Trust. Dr Wills and Dr Leach explored the current and future demand for ECD practitioners based on their research using various data sources and population estimates. If you missed the session, the presentation and recording is available via our website here 👉 https://lnkd.in/dDEH3b8f 📄 The research report, which informed the webinar discussion, can be found below👇 The Early Childhood Systems: Perspectives and Research webinar series is co-hosted by DataDrive2030, Ilifa Labantwana and RESEP (Research on Socio-Economic Policy) at Stellenbosch University. #ECD #earlychildhooddevelopment #earlyyears #ECDworkforce #SouthAfrica 

💻 WEBINAR 💻 Register to join the webinar, "Exploring the impact of austerity budgeting on South Africa's public services". 📅 Wednesday, 5 March 2025 ⌚ 11:00am-12:00pm SAST Registration link 👉 https://lnkd.in/du4G5gif    In this 60-minute interactive session, Thoko Madonko, a researcher at the Southern Centre for Inequality Studies (SCIS) Wits University, will unpack the importance of budget decisions and increased investment in key areas that support children's well-being, including the care sector (health, education, ECD, social development), the green economy, and public infrastructure. South Africa's austerity budgeting has reduced government expenditures on public services, affecting children's vulnerability to poverty in South Africa. Per capita spending on public services such as health and education has decreased since 2019, from approximately R30,000 (about US$1,689) to approximately R28,000 (about US$1,576) in 2023. Although aimed at stabilising the economy and supporting long-term growth, research indicates that decreased public spending diminishes the quality of public services that support early childhood development.  Join us in exploring the impact of austerity on child development, and how public spending can pay for itself, boost our economy, and ultimately improve the lives of children and their families. The Early Childhood Systems: Perspectives and Research webinar series is co-hosted by DataDrive2030, Ilifa Labantwana and RESEP (Research on Socio-Economic Policy) at Stellenbosch University to explore the latest perspectives and research on a range of issues affecting the early childhood development service-delivery eco-system. #ECD #earlychildhooddevelopment #earlyyears #austeritybudgeting #SouthAfrica 

DataDrive2030, in partnership with the Eswatini Ministry of Education and Training and JET Education Services, have just spent an exciting week in Mbabane training ministry officials on the pilot instruments to be tested in this first phase of tool development. The ELOM-E pilot instrument will be tested on children all over Eswatini in the next few weeks, after which further refinements will be made. Watch this space! #ELOM #Eswatini #earlylearning #earlychildhooddevelopment 

💡 INSIGHT BRIEF 💡We've recently published an insight brief titled, "Quality counts - Exploring the quality of early learning programmes in South Africa". The aim of this insight brief is to explore the data collected to date to better understand the quality of ELPs in South Africa and the relationship with child outcomes. The quality of an early learning programme (ELP) is a significant factor in how much children benefit from it. This is supported by a significant body of global evidence that underscores the quality of early education interventions as a cornerstone for achieving optimal child outcomes. But while the global evidence is compelling, there is still very limited evidence of programme quality and child outcomes in South Africa. ✏️ The Learning Programme Quality Assessment (LPQA) forms part of DataDrive2030’s suite of assessment tools and has been designed to measure the quality of group learning programmes targeting children aged 3-5 years. The LPQA was developed to address the need for an easy-to-administer measure of programme quality that is aligned with the South African curriculum framework. Read the insight brief here 👉 https://lnkd.in/dBAsyJ9B Read more about our LPQA Tool here 👉 https://lnkd.in/eFUapMxG #insightbrief #earlylearning #earlychildhooddevelopment #earlylearningprogramme #learningprogrammequalityassessment #SouthAfrica

📢 PUBLICATION ALERT 📢 DataDrive2030's Research Manager, Dr Caylee Cook (PhD), is one of the authors of the recently published article, "Social Ecological Factors Influencing Children's School Readiness in Low-Income South African Communities" in the Early Education and Development journal. The 2021 Thrive by Five Index data revealed that only 45% of 4–5-year-old South African (SA) children are on track for early learning, with 65% of SA children attending early learning programmes services facing barriers to thriving. Greater understanding of what influences children's early learning is needed for effective mitigation of risks and amplification of protective factors within policy and practice so that early childhood development can be optimised. The study below begins to address this need by answering the following exploratory research question:  ❓What social ecological factors, at the child, home, and community levels, predict school readiness as an overall construct, as well as specific domains of school readiness (literacy, numeracy, social emotional, and motor development)? 🧒 Participants included 152 3–5-year-old children (not attending early learning programmes at recruitment) and their primary adult caregiver from low-income settings in Cape Town. The results are as follows: ✏️ Linear regressions found that, compared to home-and community-level factors, child-level factors (attending an early learning programme and executive function skills) were the strongest predictors of scores on the International Development and Early Learning Assessment (IDELA).  🏡 At the home level, household socioeconomic status positively predicted social-emotional scores, but not overall school readiness. Also at the home level, dysfunction in the parent–child relationship negatively predicted literacy and total school readiness scores (higher dysfunction = lower scores on literacy and overall school readiness).  🌱 At the community level, child exposure to community violence negatively predicted literacy (higher violence = lower literacy scores), but unexpectedly, positively predicted both social-emotional and motor skills scores. These results highlight the importance of both access to early learning programmes as well as the quality of the parent-child relationship. It also serves as a reminder that there are multiple factors impacting a child’s capacity to learn, and collecting child outcomes alone doesn’t always give us the full picture. This is why DataDrive2030's ELOM suite of tools measure a range of factors, such as the Home Learning Environment (HLE) Tool, which assesses the quality of the learning environment in the home. The full journal article can be found below👇 Learn more about our ELOM suite of tools here 👉 https://lnkd.in/eM4jy7G3 #ThrivebyFiveIndex #earlylearning #earlychildhooddevelopment #earlylearningprogrammes #research #SouthAfrica Taylor & Francis Group

As we all start planning our research studies and evaluations for 2025, it’s important to keep an ethical code front of mind. The issue of ethics must always be taken seriously when doing research but even more so when the research involves children. According to international research ethics guidelines, such as the Belmont Report and the Declaration of Helsinki, children are considered a vulnerable population in research. This classification acknowledges that children may not fully understand the research or its implications and are therefore at a greater risk of exploitation or harm. Luckily, the European Early Childhood Education Research Journal (EECERA) recently released a helpful framework for guidance for all those involved in early childhood research as well as the publication and dissemination of its results. Some key points from the framework: 📌 The need for ongoing assent during data collection: “Where very young or preverbal children are involved, researchers can use the principles of ongoing assent which take account of children’s nonverbal communications to ascertain their willingness to take part in the research process.” 📌 Consider power and privilege: “Researchers in a position of power or authority in relation to participants must indicate the steps taken to reduce the power differential.” This is crucial especially when there is funding or an intervention or programme linked to the research. 📌 Regular and open feedback to all participants: “All research participants, including young children, have a right to feedback on the research process and outcomes.” Linked to this: “Reporting should adopt a communication style which is accessible with clarity and fluency for those interested and involved in the research, and in a language that is appropriate to the intended audience.” The full journal article can be found below👇 #EECERA #earlychildhoodeducation #research #earlychildhooddevelopment Taylor & Francis Group