COVID-19 and inequality in reading outcomes in South Africa: PIRLS 2016 and 2021

7 COVID-19 AND INEQUALTIY IN READING OUTCOMES IN SOUTH AFRICA 2.4.2 South African response to learning losses and lost contact teaching time Large reductions in teaching time in 2020 and 2021 necessitated revisions to the curriculum policy (in particular, the Annual Teaching Plans or ATPs) to reduce the scope of curriculum content and to introduce more flexibility in the pacing of the curriculum a. [...] 10 COVID-19 AND INEQUALTIY IN READING OUTCOMES IN SOUTH AFRICA In addition to changes in when the test was administered, when comparing PIRLS results across 2016 and 2021 attention must be paid to variations in (a) the testing population, (b) the mode of test administration and (c) the length and content of the tests themselves (Kuhfeld et al., 2022). [...] Four variables, taken from the parent questionnaire, were used to determine the home SES: the number of books in the home; the number of children’s books in the home; the highest level of education and occupation of either parent. [...] Figure 8 contrasts the decline in the percentage of children who are able to read (reaching the low international benchmark) in the poorest 8 school deciles against the rise in the percentage of children reading in the wealthiest 20% of schools. [...] For these schools, as seen in the distribution of Figure 10, the pandemic worsened outcomes at the school level, reflected in a sizable shift in the 2021 distribution to the left of the 2016 distribution.