Poor families need more support to break the chain of low education - StatsSA study

The majority of young people aged 20-34 in South Africa have a higher level of education than their parents. But the same families tend to constitute the most educated group from one generation to the next.

These are amongst the findings from an analysis on Educational Enrolment and Achievement for 2016‚ which Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) has released‚ under the title "Overturning Verwoerd’s legacy: is this generation better-educated than their parents?".

Data from the Community Survey 2016 was used to analyse intergenerational educational mobility‚ meaning whether or not children realised higher educational attainment than their parents.

Positive trends were observed across all educational categories‚ with the largest improvement being seen in the completed secondary category – as compared to 17‚9% of parents who had completed secondary schooling‚ 45‚2% of their children aged 20-34 had completed secondary schooling‚ a 27-percentage point difference.

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Stats SA said when comparing the educational attainment of individuals aged 20-34 to their parents’ educational level‚ it was found that close to 70% of those who had completed secondary schooling were first-generation high-school graduates. Similarly‚ just over 70% of those who completed post-secondary education were first-generation post-secondary qualification holders.

"The data shows that the higher the parent’s education level‚ the more likely the children are to achieve upward educational mobility."

Amongst children aged 20-34 who had completed a post-secondary educational qualification‚ 51% had parents with some or completed secondary schooling‚ and 19% had parents with some or completed primary schooling.

Stats SA noted that while most white children with post-secondary qualifications also had parents with similar qualifications (56%)‚ intergenerational transmission of similar qualifications was achieved by 28% coloureds‚ 27% Indians and 24% black Africans.

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"The largest escalation in intergenerational mobility was observed among black Africans‚ with 76% of those who completed a post-secondary education having achieved a higher education level than their parents.

"However‚ differences in intergenerational mobility have remained significant across population groups. The same families tend to constitute the most educated group from one generation to the next. Economists refer to this as the under-education trap‚ as some families remain unskilled from one generation to the next.

"Educational systems are set to promote learners solely on merit that is based on achievements in examinations and tests. Children with the required support‚ which includes better-educated parents‚ would pass these examinations and tests; hence‚ they would be better off compared to children with less educated parents. Consequently‚ until human capital convergence occurs‚ the under-education trap would persist.

"A fair education system would provide a path to upward mobility for the poor families. The South African education system is neither completely closed nor completely open to the poor‚ but the results in this report show that past structural inequality is still at play in educational mobility."

See the full report here.