Quality elements of after-school programmes: A case study of two programmesin the Western Cape province of South Africa

Abstract

The qualitative case study reported on here was commissioned and funded by the Western Cape Government (WCG) in partnership with the Cape Higher Education Consortium (CHEC) to inquire into attributes of well performing after-school programmes (ASPs) within the Western Cape provincei of South Africa. The research question of the study was: What quality elements of ASPs can be identified in 2 purposefully selected ASPs in the Western Cape province? In the multiple (double) case study we used interviews and archival data from the 2 ASPs. Using Mott’s Theory of Change (ToC) framework and Socio-Cultural Learning (SCL) theory as analytical lenses, we found that adaptability, strong management, staff commitment, involvement of current and former learners, family involvement, multi-stakeholder partnerships, continuous programme funding, and monitoring and evaluation were central to the success of the ASPs. Upscaling and replication efforts in the province and similar contexts should seriously consider embedding these quality elements in their logic models.