By Lebone Rodah Mosima
The Mpumalanga Department of Education and the National Education Collaboration Trust (NECT) on Tuesday launched a provincial dialogue in Nkangala district to address learning and teaching gaps in schools.
The Provincial Roadshow Dialogue on Learning and Teaching Gaps, held at Emakhazeni Boarding School, was marketed as part of an effort to move beyond national policy discussion and localise the response to weak learning outcomes at provincial and district levels.
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The department said South Africa’s education system continued to face persistent learning gaps driven by systemic inequality, socio-economic pressures, curriculum disruptions and uneven access to quality teaching and learning resources.
“These gaps are most visible in foundational literacy and numeracy, weak progression outcomes, and uneven achievement across provinces, districts and schools,” the department said.
“Critically, the rapid assessment conducted by the NECT indicates that gaps are also reinforced by day-to-day implementation realities in classrooms and schools including limited learner written work, inconsistent adherence to notional teaching time, weak early identification of learning backlogs, and uneven provision of learning support for learners who are behind.”
The department said that while national dialogues and policy frameworks had provided strategic direction, there remained a pressing need to localise those conversations within provinces and districts so that those closest to teaching and learning realities could help shape the response.
It said the provincial roadshow was intended to provide a structured, participatory platform to deepen understanding of the drivers of learning gaps, identify implementation bottlenecks and generate practical, context-specific solutions.
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“The roadshow will serve as a bridge between national priorities and provincial and district realities, creating spaces for inclusive dialogue, shared accountability, and coordinated action,” the department said.
“It will strengthen alignment between policy intent and implementation practice by grounding interventions in the lived experiences of classrooms, schools and communities, and by focusing on tangible levers for improvement such as instructional time on task, quality learner work, targeted learning support, and effective monitoring and support at school and district level.”
The department said the NECT rapid appraisal informing the programme had identified gaps in curriculum coverage, under-utilisation of workbooks and learning materials, and limited cognitive engagement in classrooms.
It said the roadshow provided a platform for dialogue between provincial department officials, teacher unions, district steering committees, Quality Learning and Teaching Campaign structures, school governing body associations, civil society and other provincial and district stakeholders.
According to the department, the aim was to build a shared, evidence-based understanding of the nature, causes and systemic effects of learning gaps across phases and transition grades, while highlighting context-specific challenges and opportunities affecting curriculum coverage, instructional practice, and learner engagement.
The engagement also sought to strengthen collaboration, coherence and alignment among key education stakeholders across governance, management, and classroom support levels, inform coordinated evidence-driven strategies, and encourage shared ownership of solutions and measurable improvement.
Its objectives include sharing evidence transparently, building collective ownership of learning gaps, aligning system actors around priority levers, generating province-specific insights, catalysing provincial action, and strengthening coordination structures to support systemic implementation and monitoring.
“By bringing together teacher unions, districts, district steering committees, QLTC, SGB associations, researchers, and teachers, the initiative will foster inclusive dialogue, evidence-informed action, and sustainable partnerships,” the department said.
“Through localisation of national priorities, co-creation of solutions, and strengthening of coordination structures, the roadshow will contribute to closing learning gaps and advancing quality, equitable education for all learners.”
