Changes in curriculum design

Curriculum restructuring in teacher education is a topical issue in many countries (Moon, 2003). The aim has been to make sure that teachers take the shift from traditional approaches to teaching to new forms of teaching. Bryan’s (2011) study on professional development, in a period of transition in rural Limpopo indicates that education transformation has necessitated that teachers arm themselves with new skills and methods which they never had or used before.

Teachers are threatened with a multiplicity of curriculum changes, contextual, managerial and administrative challenges in their practice. The changes demand that teachers participate in professional development activities, thus, teachers need to be motivated and understand the rationale behind their participation. The changing curriculum in the SA context has negatively influenced teachers’ personal and professional lives. In transforming the curriculum, more focus needs to be paid, mainly in disadvantaged communities, on the actual classroom teaching skills implemented by teachers, specifically methods geared towards raising learner academic improvement. Reconceptualising teacher development programmes into the daily activities of teachers seems to be an effective strategy.

In a study on professional development by way of teacher collaboration conducted in Tanzania, Kafyulilo (2013) recommends that when teachers are involved in curriculum design, it enhances the connection that exists between learner needs, the teaching context and the curricula itself. The argument is that teachers are change agents themselves in this education transformation, who are supposed to be involved in curriculum design. Teachers are the implementers of the curriculum, they are the agents who select which sections of the curriculum are to be taught to learners, they are armed with methodology to impart the curriculum to the learners, therefore, they have to be

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involved in the process of designing the curriculum, since it directly influences their SBTPD through teaching and learning. SBTPD has multiple impacts on the teachers’ performance in the classroom and thus, the involvement of teachers in curriculum design would mitigate the challenges experienced in SBTPD implementation.

Teachers are the major role players in curriculum implementation, and it is important that they should understand how different elements of the curriculum are combined to effectively enhance learner performance. A study conducted by Moon (2007) on building a new research agenda through school-based teacher development in Sub-Saharan Africa found that, in other countries, curricula remains systematised around the traditional concept of specialties in subjects, whereas in SA curriculum has been translated into an approach based on learner outcomes, with success in the classroom and improved learner achievement at the core of requirements. Despite these significant differences, a curriculum that is adjustable to local contexts, related to teacher professional activities, structured, providing continuous activity for both teachers and learners and promotes collaboration between schools, contributes significantly to the success of in-school teacher development programmes. It was therefore, compelling for this study to investigate from school principals and teachers how changes in the curriculum affect the implementation of SBTPD in schools and how involved teachers are in the design of their curriculum.

Tibbitts and Weldon’s (2017) study on determining a democratic future in post-apartheid South Africa through the history curriculum and teacher training argues that, when post-apartheid orientation workshops were conducted in an attempt to usher in the new curricula, there was no attempt to provide the kind of training that would enable teachers to begin to transform classroom practice. Though these new curricula have been properly piloted and resourced, their implementation has not always been carefully thought through. Tibbitts and Weldon (2017) further argue that the stresses and strains of the new curricula over-burdened principals and teachers in largely different educational contexts. In support of these views, Jansen and Taylor (2003) state that using the cascade model in training teachers for the new curricula was short-lived and detached from classroom realities and was therefore predestined for failure. The quality of teacher development in training teachers for the new curricula, were short and impractical (Pillay, Smit & Loock, 2013). Therefore, this study investigated from school principals and teachers how curriculum changes affected the implementation of SBTPD in the schools.

75 2.6.7. Lack of funding for TPD programmes

De Clercq and Phiri’s (2015) qualitative study on the encounters with school-based teacher development programmes in South Africa declares that one of the main TPD challenges is to mobilise all types of resources to deliver relevant and sustainable TPD activities. One of the findings of Mpahla and Okeke’s (2015) study on teachers’ strategies for CPD implementation, is that there was a complaint from teachers about transport costs to and from places where the Department of Education had organised for teachers to meet in order to facilitate its TPD programmes. The SA school system does not have a comprehensive policy on how out-of-school teacher development programmes are supposed to be funded by schools. Education authorities ought to consider this as a way to fix its CPTD implementation structures and systems. One of the reasons of formulating a funding policy that would cater for teachers attending any TPD activity away from their schools, is that teachers complained about the funds. A funding policy would be the solution to this problem since it is money-related (Mpahla & Okeke, 2016). In an exploratory study on teacher perspectives on professional development, Van Niekerk and Muller (2017) assert that the allocation of sufficient funds for CPTD in the school budget is another important factor; otherwise nothing might come of the good objectives regarding CPTD. Moon (2007) claims that the problem of the lack of funding for SBTPD is prevalent in emerging countries characterised by limited financial and material resources and schools with teachers who are without a teaching qualification or who are underqualified. The author further claims that government systems are aware of the funding problem but are yet to respond. Thus, this study had to investigate from school principals how their out-of-school TPD programmes were funded, how the type of funding they used impacted on the effectiveness of SBTPD, as well as how the absence of a financial policy for SBTPD impacts on its implementation.

Secondly, Delport and Makaye ‘s (2009) case study on how teacher professional development can be improved through clustering schools, conducted in Zimbabwe, revealed that, teacher activities are restricted by the restriction of funds. In this case study participants identified lack of funding and shortage of resources as the primary limitation to effective SBTPD. This means that the clustering of schools failed to implement its teacher development activities due to a lack of funds and resources. Clustering of schools facilitates collaboration which is an essential element of effective SBTPD. Thus, the poor funding and resourcing of schools has a negative impact on the

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implementation of SBTPD. The authors further suggest that the Department of Education has to own the funding of schools, particularly for SBTPD, to support collaboration and cluster activities, in addition, the authors concur with Mpahla and Okeke (2016) in that an explicit financial policy must have clear guidelines on how the funds should be used to support teacher development programmes. Case studies are not designed to make generalisations to the entire population, but my study took from this case study to investigate from school principals how the funding for SBTPD, or lack thereof, impacted on the collaboration and clustering of schools for SBTPD. Moon’s (2007) study on building a new research agenda for school-based teacher development in sub-Saharan Africa indicates that, in some African countries, those who are responsible for designing teacher training courses, seminars and workshops even talk in terms of venues where these workshops can be held. Within the in-service programmes and the implementation of the CPTD policy, it is a norm, in most countries, that teachers are taken away from schools and classrooms for extended periods, usually for workshops and trainings. The author further asserts that in most cases, their learners are left without a teacher for the period that their teacher is away on training. According to Mpahla and Okeke (2015), off-site teacher professional development programmes do not accommodate needs for a specific teacher, classroom and school. This view validates the point that PD is a contextual phenomenon as it tends to be effective when supported and implemented by specific people in a specific context. In their study on CPTD in one rural education district in SA, Okeke and Mpahla (2016) concur with Mpahla and Okeke (2015) because they found that teachers spoke in one voice that out-of-school strategies for CPTD deprived them of classroom time as they had to leave their learners.

All this points to the lack of funding policy specifically designed for SBTPD programmes. When these teachers are taken out of school for TPD programmes, learners are left untaught and the few financial resources that the school has are spent on these out-of-school teacher development trips. It was therefore, important for this study to investigate from school principals and teachers how they dealt with learners and subjects with absent teachers because of attending SBTPD programmes, as it impacts on classroom practice and learner attainment.

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