Thrive by Five Index 2024: National Findings
This report presents the national findings from the Thrive by Five Index 2024 and is organised into four sections, each of which can be read independently or as part of the full narrative: Section One introduces the objectives, scope, and design of the Thrive by Five Index 2024. Section Two provides an overview of the […]
Thrive by Five Index 2024: Technical Report
The South Africa Thrive by Five Index produces indicators on key child outcomes – Early Learning, Social and Emotional Functioning and Physical Growth – for 4-year-old children in South Africa, to assess and track child performance nationally. The Technical Report describes the key features of the 2024 Index study to ensure transparency, help guide analysis […]
Thrive by Five Index 2024: Recommendations Brief: Evidence to Action
The 2024 Index offers a clear overview of how young children in South Africa are developing in three key areas: Early Learning, Social-Emotional Functioning and Physical Growth (stunting). It highlights the most significant gaps, with notable differences based on gender and socio-economic circumstances (using ELP fees as a proxy). It also shows that some children […]
Thrive by Five Index 2024: Summary of Key Findings for Enrolled Children
South Africa early childhood development By the time a child turns five, the foundations for lifelong learning, health, and well-being are already in place. The Thrive by Five Index 2024 offers the most comprehensive picture yet of how well South Africa’s 4-yearolds are developing. These are the children who will enter formal schooling in the […]
Thrive by Five Index 2024: Summary of Key Findings for Non-Enrolled Children
An estimated 29% of South Africa’s 4-year-olds – around 350,000 children – are not enrolled in an ELP. Without reliable data, these children’s realities remain hidden. To shed light on this missing group, the Thrive by Five Index 2024 included a small sub-study of 272 non-enrolled children living in low-income areas in three provinces. While […]
Year-end update on the Thrive by Five Index 2024 data collection
Data collection for the second round of South Africa’s largest survey of preschool child development, the Thrive by Five Index 2024, concluded in November. Led by the Department of Basic Education and coordinated by DataDrive2030, the Index assessed a nationally and provincially representative sample of 4-year-old children enrolled in early learning programmes (ELPs) in all 9 provinces. The 2024 […]
2021 Baseline Assessment
Download the ECD Baseline Report 2022 to understand the context of early learning in SA. Access the 2021 Baseline Assessment HERE.
Thrive by Five Index Technical Report
The Thrive by Five Index Technical Report presents the detailed and comprehensive review of the design, data sampling method, and findings of the inaugural Thrive by Five Index, based on data recorded in 2021. Download the Thrive by Five Technical Report here.
Thrive by Five Index Report
The Thrive by Five Index Report provides a high-level outline of the key findings of the Thrive by Five Index Report, based on data recorded in 2021. The Report provides an outline of the background to the Index, the Methodology of the data collection and analysis, as well as the findings at a national and […]
New insights into the South African early learning context
The ECD Baseline Assessment 2022 report offers insights from a parallel survey conducted alongside the Thrive by Five Index data collection process in 2021. This survey assessed 545 of the Early Learning Programmes that took part in the Thrive by Five Index in order to understand the context in which early learning takes place in […]