South Africa
Successful pilots in both Eastern and Western Cape provinces lead to full rollouts in 2019 and 2020..Project Start Date
2018Implementing Partner
Universal Learning SolutionsGovernment Partners
Provincial Departments of Education
Eastern Cape Province was the first province in South Africa to implement Jolly Phonics in all public Primary schools in English as a First Additional language (EFAL). In 2018, the Jolly Phonics pilot study was conducted in 6 government schools in the Eastern Cape Province with very good results. The sampled pilot which were identified and supported throughout the year. The Endline Test results showed a remarkable increase in the learner’s proficiency in the test scores for letter recognition, word & passage reading and comprehension. In 2019, Jolly Phonics was rolled out by the implementing partner, Universal Learning Solutions. where 3598 grade 1 teachers were trained in Jolly Phonics across the 23 districts in the Eastern Cape. This province had benefitted from the Jolly Futures donations of all the materials supplied to teachers and learners. Western Cape was also involved with the pilot study in 2018 and the good results motivated the province to implement Jolly Phonics in 2020. Training was completed in all 8 districts in January 2020 and 1212 grade 1 teachers were trained to implement Jolly Phonics as English, Home language. ULS have provided on-going mentoring, remote refresher training and daily lessons in response to the on-going Covid-19 pandemic. To date, these provinces have been implementing the Jolly Phonics programme since 2019. Western Cape has very successfully embedded the programme into their policies and implementation plan. They have developed a scope and sequence guideline that incorporates the teaching methodologies and practical ideas to strengthen the teaching of synthetic phonics. Every term teachers are invited to refresher sessions to address any gaps and provide additional support. ULS and the province work closely to support the teachers and managers. Eastern Cape have experienced challenges to fully implement the programme since 2020, however the Jolly Phonics programme is part of the 5-year reading strategy for the province. There have been positive meetings to work towards full implementation.
Kwa Zulu Natal(KZN) pilot in 2019 showed a remarkable increase in the learner’s progress across the 5 areas of the early grade reading assessment. The pandemic caused disruption to further plans.
There have been several other successful pilots in Mpumalanga, Northern Cape and Limpopo.
The pilot in Northern Cape began in February 2020 with the administration of the Baseline Assessment however due to the pandemic the Endline Assessment could not be administered. The teachers from the pilot programme continued receiving support and anecdotal reports were received from the Subject advisors and teachers. The feedback was very positive and the Provincial Managers are working with ULS for a rollout for 1500 Grade 1 teachers in 2023.
Free State completed a large pilot study with 20 schools in 2022. The endline assessments were administrated by a team comprising of Dr Daisy Reddy, the ULS Country Director, Ms N Matselili, the Provincial Foundation Phase Curriculum Planner, and Ms P. Ngxaki the District Curriculum Advisor. Both the officials were very pleased with the results and their assessment ensured an unbiased outcome of the results. The total number of sampled learners who were assessed in the Jolly Phonics classes was 335 and, in the control classes were 117. A total of 452 learners were assessed for the Endline assessment. The total number of learners who participated in the Jolly Phonics pilot programme was 1030. Findings from the pilot study demonstrated that Jolly Phonics learners had a much higher mean score than the control learners at the endline stage on all 5 tests of letter sound, word and passage reading and comprehension. The following factors have also influenced the excellent results: • Number of Jolly Phonics Lessons Per Week • Jolly Phonics Pupil Books Used in Lessons • Jolly Phonics Lessons App Used to Support Lessons These excellent results have lead to the Province planning to implement the Jolly Phonics Programme in all the grade 1 classrooms in 2023. Approximately 1350 teachers will be trained, and 38 400 learners will benefit from the programme.
The Department of Basic Education (DBE) is supporting the implementation of the Jolly Phonics programme. ULS received a very positive and powerful endorsement from DBE which supports advocacy efforts with other provinces.
6 out of 9 provinces in South Africa are using Jolly Phonics at various stages of implementation.
Take a look at the project in action...
Project Reports and Documents
Free State Province Pilot Report - Final.pdf
Project Contacts
Gary Foxcroft
Director, Universal Learning SolutionsProjects: All nationwide
Daisy Reddy
South Africa Country Director, Universal Learning SolutionsProjects: All nationwide
Project Partners
