Description
This report has two main aims. Firstly, it represents an attempt to systematically uncover the changes that have occurred within and around the education system as revealed by national household survey data during the post-apartheid period. This has not been an easy task given that much of this period in time has also been a period of learning in the arena of South African national household surveys. Thus, over time, education-related questions in the household surveys have changed or fallen away or been added and this has consequently led to problems of incomparability or incomplete data series. Nevertheless, for most indicators, it has been possible to find sufficient data to enable comparisons over time. Given the immense number of indicators investigated and given the number of nationally representative household surveys, this report focuses on four years, namely 1995, 1999, 2001 and
2003. The main data sources for this report are the October Household Surveys of 1995 and 1999, the September issues of the Labour Force Surveys of 2001 and 2003, the General Household Survey of 2003, and the 10% Samples of the national population Censuses of 1996 and 2001. The second aim is of a more methodological nature, providing an overview of the ability of existing national surveys to elicit useful education-related data and suggesting improvements or additions to the questionnaires that hope to improve researchers’ and policymakers’ grasp of the relevant issues.
