Little Stars in Gauteng
Donor: Sanlam Foundation
Partners: Gauteng Department of Education
Duration: 2024-2025
Location: City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality
Project model:
The Little Stars Project in Gauteng, funded by the Sanlam Foundation to implement the foundation’s early learning intervention, provides Wordworks with the opportunity to work directly with practitioners from five ECD centres, selected by the education district.Practitioners, having been trained and resourced to implement the language programme in their classrooms, are also trained to run parent workshops to equip parents of children in their care with the skills to support early learning at home.
Sustaining the intervention:
District education officials attend training, are provided with regular programme updates and are capacitated to conduct site visits to support and sustain implementation. In addition, after the project period, education officials and trained ECD practitioners will become members of Wordworks online programme network,granting them access to resources, courses and programme support systems.
Research and results:
We do not have evaluation results from this particular project but you may find it useful to look at a randomised control trial funded by the British Academy in 2022. The intention of the study was to investigate the impact of the Little Stars early literacy classroom programme when implemented in challenging socio-economic conditions, with a minimal training and support model. The study found that the Little Stars programme enhanced early literacy outcomes, boosted teacher confidence, and improved classroom practices. In subsequent projects we have been able to develop models of teacher training and support to improve effectiveness and impact.
In the field:
