Cape Town teacher recognised internationally for research into Covid-19 reading losses - IOL

Llewellyn van der Ross has been honoured for his Masters thesis.

A Cape Town teacher, now serving as deputy principal at Edgemead High School, has received international recognition for his Master’s research examining how prolonged Covid-19 school closures affected the reading abilities of Western Cape learners. 

Llewellyn van der Ross said his research was selected for an award by the Antonio Meneghetti Scientific and Humanistic Research Foundation after his co-supervisor, Dr Shannon Bishop Swarts, nominated his work for consideration.

The Swiss-based non-profit foundation has consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. Van der Ross said receiving the news was surreal.

“I was honestly overwhelmed. There was a moment where I had to read the email again because it felt almost surreal,” he said.

His Master’s research focused on the impact of extended Covid-19 school closures on Grade 7 learners’ English Home Language reading comprehension at three Western Cape schools.

Using quantitative assessment data from 2018 to 2021, he examined what happened to learners’ reading comprehension during a period of unprecedented disruption to teaching and learning.

Van der Ross said his interest in the subject was rooted in his experience as a teacher and his passion for literacy.

“Reading comprehension is not simply about being able to read words; it is about being able to access, interpret and make meaning from information across the curriculum,” he said.

The pandemic, he explained, made him question the long-term consequences for learners, particularly those from communities where educational inequalities already existed before Covid-19.

He wanted to move beyond anecdotal observations and use evidence to understand the extent of learning losses.

One of the central concerns to emerge from the research was the loss of reading comprehension associated with prolonged disruption to schooling.

The study also highlighted the role of parental involvement and the differing levels of support available to learners outside the classroom.

“When formal schooling was interrupted, the educational support available to learners outside the classroom varied considerably,” he said.

“This demonstrated that learning does not take place in isolation from the social and economic circumstances surrounding a child.”

Van der Ross said educational recovery could not simply mean returning to the curriculum and continuing as normal.

Instead, schools needed to identify what learners had lost and provide targeted support, particularly in foundational literacy and reading comprehension.

For him, however, the recognition carries meaning beyond academia.

Van der Ross, who comes from the Cape Flats, said the achievement was proof that research rooted in local communities could receive international attention.

“I have never seen my background as something that I needed to escape in order to succeed. If anything, it has shaped the questions I ask, the work I value and the people I want my work to serve,” he said.

He added that the recognition showed that questions emerging from South African classrooms could contribute to broader international conversations about education, inequality and resilience.

“Sometimes we think that significant research has to come from somewhere else, or from someone else,” he said.

Van der Ross is now working towards developing aspects of his Master’s research for publication while exploring doctoral research focusing on multilingual learners and how they make meaning while learning through English.

His message to young people from the Cape Flats was to not allow their circumstances to define what they believed was possible.

“Study. Ask questions. Find people who will mentor you. Be willing to start small,” he said.