Census methodology: the key to improving the accuracy of a future census

Paper presented at the Workshop on Phase 2 of Census 1996 Review held on 3-4 Dece 1999 at the Wanderers Club, Johannesbur

Challenges experienced by Foundation Phase teachers in the implementation of the National Reading Strategy in the Foundation Phase

South African teachers of the Foundation Phase in rural primary schools are concerned and nervous and eventually find themselves in a predicament regarding the implementation of the National Reading Strategy. Approximately, 50% of the learners experience reading difficulties when they transit from the Foundation Phase to the Intermediate Phase. This may be attributed to the teachers’ lack of training, in- service training and workshops on the implementation of the NRS. The purpose of this study was to investigate the challenges experienced by Foundation Phase teachers regarding the implementation of the NRS in the primary schools of Dikgale area, Limpopo Province, South Africa. The study followed a qualitative research approach wherein a cross-sectional design was adopted. Ten (10) teachers from five mainstream primary schools were requested to take part in the study. Data was collected through interviews, observations and document analysis. Data was analysed using a thematic content analysis, which involved identifying common themes that emerged from the collected data. The preliminary findings were as follows: (a). Lack of teacher training in the form of workshops on National Reading Strategy, (b). The problem encountered in the interpretation of the National Reading Guidelines and (c). The attitude towards the implementation of the National Reading Strategy

Sex ratios in South African census data, 1970-96

Attention has been drawn to the low sex ratios for those aged 20-34 in the 1996 census of South Africa. Concern has been expressed that these low sex ratios are implausible and differ from what was found in earlier censuses. Some have suspected that they are an indication of the poor quality of the 1996 census overall. In virtually every country in the world, implausibly low sex ratios are found in the younger working ages, because geographically mobile young men of those ages are undercounted relative to women of the same age. When sex ratios by age are calculated based on those people born in South Africa and for which, as much as possible, similar geographic regions are included, a pattern similar to that seen in 1996 is found in all censuses since 1970. Like all national census offices, South Africa needs to seek ways to reduce the undercount of mobile young adults, especially mobile young men.