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The Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa

literacy research program in South Africa

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionApr 20, 2026
Entity authorityQ60786890 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa (PRAESA) is a multilingual, early literacy research and development organisation, affiliated with the University of Cape Town. PRAESA's work in literacy approaches, curricula, training, materials development and research has meaning making, stories and imagination as its compass point. PRAESA's aim is to ensure all young children from diverse language, class and cultural backgrounds have appropriate opportunities to become imaginative and critical readers and writers.

History

PRAESA was founded in 1992 by Dr Neville Alexander – a public intellectual, historian and educationist who spent 10 years on Robben Island (1964–1974) during the struggle against apartheid. By invitation from the University of Cape Town, PRAESA was housed in the Faculty of Humanities.

After South Africa's first democratic election in 1994, PRAESA organised the country's first national conference on primary school curriculum initiatives to bring together non-governmental organisations with government out of which a series of proposals was made to government on ways to transform the curriculum. The key idea was to promote unity, with a strong emphasis on multilingual education using African languages as well as English.

In 1995, Neville Alexander led a task group (LANGTAG) to develop a national language plan. Among its goals were that all South Africans should have access to all spheres of society through the development and maintenance of a level of spoken and written language appropriate for a range of contexts in all official languages; and that equitable and widespread language facilitation services should be established. The plan was presented to the Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology in 1996.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “The Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa” as literacy research program in South Africa. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1992, 1964, 1974, 1994—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1992. The account is most persuasive where Project, Study and Alternative can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as literacy research program in South Africa. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q60786890. Authority coordinates are -33.997, 18.474. None of the 3 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1992, 1964, 1974 and 1994.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “The Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow The Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa primary sources, The Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa archive and Project research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “The Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa”?
  2. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
  3. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “The Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.