This project is a partnership between ourselves, the DoE and the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC). The DoE has provided tremendous assistance and expertise in helping get this project off the ground. So the short answer is yes, they are involved.
No. We want to see what effect increasing the time spent on Maths and English has on other learning areas. We're looking for the links rather than just helping learners achieve better Maths and English test results.
This project does not look at the efficacy of mother tongue instruction. It looks at the current system of instruction and probes the linkages in performance between subjects.
Mother tongue education is the idea that a learner is taught the fundamental concepts of a topic in their first language. Once they learn these concepts they can theoretically reapply them to an English curriculum. The idea being that children absorb concepts easily in their own familiar languages and can gain a fundamental understanding of them. But in a second language they simply become words that are learnt, but not absorbed.