An outcome evaluation of the SHAWCO Saturday School Programme

This dissertation reports on an outcome evaluation of the Student Health and Welfare Centres Organisation (SHAWCO) Saturday Schools Programme. This is a professionally-run catch-up educational programme that engages two hundred Grade 12 Cape Town based students. Broadly, the goal of the programme is to provide learners with quality teaching with a view to increase their chances for acceptance into university education. According to the literature, there remain some inconsistencies in the effectiveness of catch-up programmes across various contexts and subject areas. Some proponents of catch-up education programmes continue to assert that such programmes have positive effects for underprepared pre-university students. However, some other researchers maintain opposing views. Additional evidence is thus required to unlock further the value of these programmes, as the need for their existence is well warranted within the realm of pre- and post- secondary school education. To evaluate the SHAWCO Saturday School Programme, a single-group, pre- and post-test quasi-experimental design was used. The evaluation used both the 2010 and 2011 cohorts of high school learners who came from 36 secondary schools located within underprivileged communities in Cape Town. Secondary data were obtained from the SHAWCO programme managers who use a nonprobability criterion sampling technique to select learners onto the programme based on a predetermined criterion (performance on two standardised academic potential tests). The selection criterion is such that only the first 200 high-performing learners get selected into the SHAWCO programme.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Institute for Monitoring and Evaluation

Year dc:date.issued

2012

Author dc:creator

• Muzigaba, Moise

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Louw-Potgieter, Joha

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/10918

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/10918