Peer-reviewed article
Correlates of children’s travel to school in Johannesburg-Soweto—Evidence from the Birth to Twenty Plus (Bt20+) study, South Africa
Julia de Kadt, Alastair C. van Heerden, Linda Richter, Seraphim Alvanides ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examined factors influencing how far children travel to school in Johannesburg-Soweto, South Africa, using data from a birth cohort study. Fewer than 20% of children attended their nearest age-appropriate school, instead traveling to access higher-quality education. Black children, those in poor areas, and those attending better schools were most likely to travel long distances. The research highlights the substantial costs and burdens this imposed on families and children in the early post-apartheid period despite policies aimed at educational equity.
Key points
- Fewer than 20% of children attended the age-appropriate school closest to their home
- Black children, those attending higher quality schools, and those living in relatively poor areas were most likely to travel to school
- Travel to school had a strong positive relationship with maternal education and family socio-economic status in univariate analysis, but this relationship faded in multivariate analysis
- The research documents significant costs incurred by Black children and families pursuing high quality education despite post-apartheid educational policy aimed at redress
- The study reveals challenges of apartheid's inequitable geographical legacy in ensuring equitable access to quality education
Limitations
This is a descriptive analysis of correlates rather than an evaluation of an intervention, so it cannot tell us what solutions or policies effectively reduce travel distances or improve access to quality schools. The data is from 1997–2003, so findings may not reflect current patterns.
Abstract
Prior work on data obtained from the urban Johannesburg-Soweto based Birth to Twenty Plus (Bt20+) cohort has documented extensive levels of travel to school in the early post- apartheid era (1997–2003), with fewer than 20% of children attending the age-appropriate school closest to their home ( de Kadt et al., 2014 ). These extremely high levels of schooling mobility impose costs on children and families, as well as the educational system more broadly, and have contributed to the evolution of contemporary enrolment patterns. This paper analyses the relationship between travel to school and potentially related variables at the individual, family and community level. Our analysis indicates that Black children, children attending higher quality schools, and those living in relatively poor areas were most likely to travel to school. However, while travel to school has a strong and positive univariate relationship with both maternal education and family socio-economic status (SES), this fades out in a multivariate analysis. Our findings highlight the significant costs incurred in the pursuit of high quality education by many Black children and families, as well as those living in poorer areas, in the early post- apartheid era. This is despite post- apartheid educational policy with an explicit aim of redress. The paper contributes to understanding the challenges of apartheid’s inequitable geographical legacy in ensuring equitable access to high quality education for all in South Africa, as well as to the growing literatures on the geography of education and school choice in low and middle income countries.