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Pre 2008 projects

Project Name Division Funder Project Focus
Cooperation in Education between the Netherlands and South Africa [CENESA] SDS Department of Development Cooperation and the Department of Education and Culture in the Netherlands and the Royal Netherlands Embassy in SA A partnership programme between the Netherlands and South Africa providing technical support to the National Department of Education and the Provincial Departments of KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and North West.
District Development and Support Project [DDSP] SDS USAID To improve education service delivery, reaching 610 schools in four of the country’s poorest provinces: Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo [then Northern Province] and Northern Cape. The project was managed by a consortium, led by Research Triangle International [RTI].
Imbewu I SDS and ERD, with joint venture partners. Department for International Development UK (DFID) A major intervention providing support to the Eastern Cape Department of Education at provincial, district, school and classroom level, working directly with 523 primary schools in 22 districts. ERD conducted an initial baseline study followed by mid-term and final stage evaluations. The evaluation noted significant positive impacts at all levels of the intervention: in school management, community involvement and classroom practice. Imbewu I laid the foundation for a second phase of the project which saw further commitment from Department for International Development UK (DFID) for an additional five-year programme.
Intsika SDS. Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) Piloting a decentralisation model in three districts of the Eastern Cape Department of Education to devolve administrative decisions and functions from the provincial office to district level, in partnership with Copenhagen Development Consultants
Khanyisa Education Support Programme SDS Department for International Development UK (DFID) Provided support to the Limpopo Department of Education to improve service delivery and operational efficiency across the province’s education system – from Provincial and District levels to primary schools, secondary schools and training colleges – in order to improve the learning outcomes and life opportunities for young people and marginalised groups.
Learners with Special Education Needs [LSEN]   Danish Agency for International Development (DANIDA) Piloting the implementation of an Inclusive Education system – to accommodate learners with special education needs in the mainstream system – in Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and North West. JET managed the project which was implemented with the support of three consortia, led by the University of Fort Hare’s School of Government in the Eastern Cape, University of Natal in KwaZulu-Natal, and University of the Witwatersrand in North West.
Mahlahle Limpopo Department of Education and a range of service providers. Funded jointly by the Limpopo Department of Education and JET Trustees. Additional funding provided by a range of donors including, the Absa Foundation, DG Murray Trust, Hellie Robb Trust, Somerset-Engen and Teba Bank. A district and school development project, reaching 50 primary and 36 secondary schools in the districts of Giyani and Palaborwa in the rural north east of Limpopo, focusing on improving: district support to schools; school management, governance and resources; educator practice and learner performance in mathematics, science and language. One of the first projects that started with a baseline study, looking at the status of key indicators in the education system, and using these findings to inform the project interventions at district, school and classroom levels. Subsequent mid-term and end-term project evaluations provided comparative information. The final evaluation indicated improvements in district management and administration, as well as in school management and in teaching and learning in the classroom.
Mveledzandivho School Support Project SDS BHP Billiton Development Trust. An integrated school support project addressing: management, governance, curriculum development from Grade R to Grade 12, educational resources, school infrastructure, and youth and social development, in 29 schools identified by employees of BHP Billiton [SA], in six provinces: Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West and Northern Cape
National School Effectiveness Study (NSES) ERD as part of a consortium, which includes the HSRC, PRAESA and the Policy Consortium (CEPS and Wits EPU). Royal Netherlands Embassy (RNE) Building on past work on school effectiveness undertaken in South Africa in order to provide policy lessons for school development indicating the key levers in districts, schools and homes which are most likely to improve the quality of teaching and learning, with particular reference to reading, writing and numeracy; to refine large-scale research methodologies not utilised to any great extent in South Africa to date; to build capacity in government, universities and NGOs for undertaking and replicating research of this kind in SA.
NDoE / Department for International Development UK (DFID) Support Programme SDS Department for International Development UK (DFID) A wide ranging programme of support for the National Department of Education focusing on the Higher Education and Further Education and Training sectors, as well as in life skills development, development of learning and teaching materials and whole school evaluation
Pupil Progress Project ERD JET To examine how various factors interact in shaping the learning experiences and learning results of school pupils. The study was based on the recommendations in the JET-published book – Getting Schools Working [2003] – to correlate quantitative data on pupil performance with qualitative data on teaching and management practices and other variable factors. In partnership with the Western Cape DoE, it focused on a representative sample of 90 schools in three districts in the province and considered four categories of factors: Socio-economic conditions; Resources such as school buildings and pupil-to-teacher ratios, among others; Management practices throughout the schooling system and particularly at school and district levels; and Teaching practices in the classroom.
Quality Learning Project SDS Business Trust. Additional funding from Barloworld, the Hellie Robb Trust, Mindset Learning Channel and Teba Bank. A multi-level school reform initiative focused specifically on improving learners’ performance in mathematics and reading and writing across the curriculum, in Grades 8-12 in 524 of the country’s poorest secondary schools. The project covered 17 districts in all nine of the country’s provinces, and adopted a systemic approach. The National Department of Education provided guidance on the project’s design and implementation; the project was managed by JET, assisted by the National Business Initiative
Sisonke Inclusive Education Project SDS/ERD National Department of Education. Preparation of a human resources development strategy for Inclusive Education, involving research, development of training materials and delivery of training in identified districts and schools in all nine provinces. ERD conducted the situational analysis. The project was conducted in partnership with a consortium of specialist organisations.
Siyathuthuka Initiative SDS Royal Netherlands Embassy (RNE) Supporting management and governance at school and district levels, including community involvement, and curriculum support in mathematics, science and language at Grades 4-7. Focused in the Vryheid region, reaching 150 primary schools across four districts and 15 circuits.
Support to Education and Skills Development [SESD] SDS and Worked with National Department of Education, National Department of Labour, South African Qualifications Authority [SAQA], and nine FET Colleges, each with several campuses, in KwaZulu-Natal, North West and Western Cape DANIDA (Danish Agency for International Development) The development of Further Education and Training [FET] institutions with support in the areas of management, governance, curriculum development, and alignment and implementation of learnerships, to promote delivery of relevant, practical, labour-oriented education and skills training in the FET sector and contribute to higher employment levels among youth and adults..

JET PROJECTS 2008/9

Project Name Division Funder Project Focus
Accredited Programme for Language, Literacy and Communication (APLLC) ERD Gauteng Dept of Education Accelerating the language and literacy levels among learners in 350 schools, in partnership with gauteng Dept of Education and READ Educational Trust. JET’s role was to evaluate the programme, starting with a literacy profile of each school.
Beyers Naudé School Development Programme SDS Kagiso Trust Turning rural schools into centres of excellence by creating conducive learning and teaching environments, targeting 10 schools in the Thabo Mofutsanyana District in the Free State .
Bitou 10 ERD DG Murray Trust Evaluation of Bitou10 School Development Project in Plettenburg Bay.
Carnegie HE Transformation ERD Wits University Assisting the Transformation Office at Wits University with monitoring of 7 projects funded by a Carnegie grant.
Centres of Excellence Project SDS DG Murray Trust, Claude Leon Foundation and JET Providing training to district officials in office procedures and systems, planning, human resource management and capacitate them to improve school performance, in partnership with the Eastern Cape Department of Education.
CHESP F&A Ford Foundation and JET Supporting the development of pilot community-engagement projects in universities with the aim of establishing Community Engagement or Service-Learning as part of the curriculum in South African higher education institutions.
Dinaledi Schools Evaluation ERD National Government Assisting the DoE with monitoring progress in maths achievement in 6 of its Dinaledi schools.
Eastern Cape QUIDS UP ERD Eastern Cape Dept of Education Assisting the Eastern Cape DoE with analysis and reporting of a baseline study for the QUIDS UP Project .
EQUIP - Xstrata ERD National Business Initiative (NBI) Evaluating the NBI EQUIP Education improvement project to enable schools to provide quality teaching and learning by effective governance, quality management and strategic planning.
Family Literacy Project SDS/F&A/ERD National Lottery Fund and Liberty Life Improvement of literacy (reading and writing skills) for 500 Grade 1 learners in the Cofimvaba District Mtawelanaga Circuit, Eastern Cape Province through capacity building of teachers and training of parents of learners to assist with reading and writing homework. Baseline conducted by ERD used to design the intervention.
FET Graduate Tracer Study ERD JET A telephonic follow up of 250 graduates from 4 technical colleges, following on from the initial JET/HSRC study conducted in 2001-2003, entailing an in-college survey of students in selected disciplines, in 19 colleges, in four provinces. The 2nd survey tracked a subset of those students, now graduates, to determine what proportion are in employment, what proportion are pursuing further studies, and to answer questions around the transition to the workplace, career goals and related issues.
Gauteng Education and Development Trust F&A/SDS Gauteng Dept of Education Providing ongoing financial and administrative support to the Gauteng Education Department Trust, a partnership between the Gauteng Department of Education, National Department of Education and a number of private sector funding agencies set up to channel funds from the private sector and gauteng Dept of Education to education development projects in the province.
  • IEP Classroom Observation
  • IEP Learner Testing
  • IEP Master Teacher
  • IEP FFL
  • IEP Persal analysis
 ERD United Staes Agency for International Development (USAID) Conducting classroom observations in a sample of IEP schools and control schools in the provinces of KZN, NC, LP and EC in order to report on practices at the levels of classroom teaching and school management. • Testing learners in the project to determine whether project targets were being achieved at that level. • Analysis of and reporting on IEP content testing of master teachers who attended residential workshops. • Developing and managing the development of the Foundations for Learning tests in Grades 1-6. Providing technical assistance to the national DoE on how to analyse Persal database, also training on STATA.
INTSIKA F&A Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) School development in the Eastern Cape. F&A successfully provided fund holding for the project.
Khanyisa F&A Department for International Development UK (DFID) Managing funds of the Khanyisa School Improvement Project in the Limpopo Province.
Khanyisa COBS ERD Department for International Development UK (DFID) A comprehensive evaluation of the impact of the various intervention components of the Khanyisa Education Support Programme which aims to facilitate the delivery of quality education services in Limpopo by supporting the Limpopo Department of Education over a 7 year period from 2003 to 2009.
Khanyisa CPDP ERD Department for International Development UK (DFID) External evaluation of Limpopo’s continuous teacher development programme to improve teaching of science and maths in Further Education and Training phase.
Khanyisa Learner Testing ERD Department for International Development UK (DFID) See project above
Lesedi La Sechaba SDS/F&A The Kellogs Foundation Capacity building programme for a bead craft company.
Limpopo Secondary Analysis ERD Department for International Development UK (DFID) Secondary analysis of the Khanyisa project to determine what common trends are emerging.
Moses Kotane West School Development Project SDS/ERD Murray & Roberts Baseline study and impact evaluation for the project in 29 schools involving learner testing and class visits. Based on the systemic approach model, the programme targets all schools within a cluster, providing school management with specific support to implement the NCS, aiming to increase the number of learners passing maths and science.
Mveledzandivho Project SDS/ERD/F&A BHP Billiton Management of donor funds by F&A. ERD conducted learner testing and managed the project evaluation. The project was implemented in Gauteng, KZN, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape and the North West. Schools were provided with additional resources to improve their functionality and results.
National Curriculum Statement - FET SDS/ERD Gauteng Dept of Education and Gauteng Education Dept Trust Managingement by SDS and ERD of the service provider who that is conducting a longitudinal study that will provide quantitative and qualitative information to inform decision making and action plans for educator development.
Numeracy Challenge ERD Gauteng Dept of Education Conducting an eExternal evaluation of the Numeracy Challenge in the Gauteng province.
NW MIET ERD Zenex Foundation Learner testing, a component of the extended evaluation of the project.
ORT SA ERD ORT External evaluation of ORT SA’s maths improvement project in 12 schools in Alexandra (6 using the Singapore Maths Programme and 6 using the Maths for All Programme).
Paper for WITS (commissioned by Mary Metcalfe) ERD Wits University Commissioned paper on teacher supply and demand in South Africa.
Presidency Research ERD German Development Agency (GTZ) Dr Nick Taylor was invited to write a paper together with consultants from Wits on lessons learned in education reform in South Africa.
Provincial Assessment ERD Gauteng Dept of Education Province wide assessment of Grade 3 and Grade 6 literacy/language and numeracy/mathematics in all primary schools as part of monitoring and tracking of provincial performance in language and mathematics at these levels and for the resourcing of schools as per the QIDS UP programme requirements.
Provincial Mathematics, Physical Science and English Project Gauteng SDS/ERD Zenex Foundation Increasing the number of Maths and Science passes in 7 secondary schools and 13 feeder primary schools.SDS is managing the service providers who are working at management and educator level. ERD is conducting the external evaluation of the project in all four provinces (KZ, WC, GA and LP) with a formative and summative focus.
QIDS UP Boksburg ERD Gauteng Dept of Education Analysis of and reporting on gauteng Dept of Education learner testing of grade 4 learners in all schools in Johannesburg North district.
Research project on matacognition and reading comprehension ERD Wits University A study conducted among Grade 6 learners in mainstream government schools as part of a PhD research project that examined the effectiveness of metacognitive instruction on reading comprehension, as well as its to the Planning Attention, Simultaneous and Successive (PASS) Theory. JET tests were used to assess the impact of the intervention on scholastic achievement.
RNE School Effectiveness Study ERD Royal Netherlands Embassy (RNE) Investigation of the impact of the education system on a cohort of learners though grades 3 to 6 focusing on maths and language teaching and learner performance in those learning areas.
SAQA Impact Study ERD National Government Proposal for the evaluation of the impact of the NQF on SA education, training and employment.
Systemic Evaluation ERD Zenex Foundation Development of tests in collaboration with the Department of Education for the systemic evaluation at the grade 3 level Systemic evaluation is done to establish the health of the schooling system in delivering the new curriculum and entails assessing a national sample of children at grades 3 and 6.
Thusong Service Centres SDS Umsobomvu Youth Fund Training 150 youth based in 75 Thusong Service Centres across South Africa, providing them with the opportunity to become involved in government/community service and with skills and competencies that enable them to access meaningful careers.
Zenex Modeling ERD Zenex Foundation A modelling exercise on the Zenex funding strategy to direct their strategic planning