Grade repetition remains one of the most debated issues in South African education. While it is often viewed as a sign that a learner or the education system has failed, new research from the 2030 Reading Panel advisory note suggests the conversation is more nuanced. The advisory note finds that learners who narrowly missed the promotion threshold in Grade 1 or Grade 4 achieved meaningful academic gains after repeating a grade compared with similar learners who progressed. At the same time, the research cautions against increasing repetition rates, highlighting the need to balance the benefits for individual learners with the financial, systemic and personal costs, while considering earlier interventions that prevent learners from falling behind. To unpack this further Bongiwe Zwane spoke to Ros Clayton, Researcher and PhD candidate at Research on Socio-economic Policy at Stellenbosch University