Parliament and active citizenship

It was essential to establish whether the educators had any knowledge and understanding about Parliament as one of the democratic structures. Participants were asked to describe the roles and functions of Parliament and how one can participate in the processes and activities of Parliament.

This was crucial to determine the extent to which educators have been exposed to democratic structures such as Parliament since these educators have the responsibility to teach learners about participating in democratic structures, including Parliament.

Participants were asked to define public participation, which was crucial for the study since it directly links to the notion of active citizenship. The educators provided some definitions.

However, their responses were very limited in comparison to their overall responses to the other questions. This could be due to various factors which could include having limited exposure and understanding of the meaning of public participation. Even though they understand what it means to be an active citizen, this does not necessarily imply that they have ever actively

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participated in various democratic processes other than voting in elections. The following were the educators‟ responses:

School E (Educator E1): Knowing what you are going to do (sic).

School A (Educator A2): It’s your total involvement as a person, in the democracy of the country (sic).

When asking participants how they can participate in Parliament, the responses again were very limited and were mainly focussed on participating in local government as a democratic structure which links to an earlier statement about limited exposure to public participation mechanisms at Parliament. These were the responses:

School C (Educator C1): I think it starts in your community where you have got different wards and if there’s a local ward and there’s something affecting your local area and I think from there you can have input and I think from there it goes up (sic).

School E (Educator E1): If you know where your ward councillor is and you want to make a statement, you go to your ward councillor (sic).

Consequently, when asking participants to describe the difference between Parliament and Government it became clear that at the time of the interview, the educators did not completely understand the roles and responsibilities of the arms of state, specifically referring to the roles and functions of Legislature as one of the arms of state and the Executive as an arm of state.

Some participants provided the following perspectives on the difference between Parliament and Government:

School E (Educator E1): Just in terms of Parliament making the laws, it’s actually the legislature that implements them isn’t it? From here it goes up to Pretoria, that’s how they make sure that the laws that are made here are implemented (sic).

School A (Educator A1): I think the decision-making and processes are taken down to Parliament then government just approves (sic).

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This item on the interview schedule was intended to elicit the educators‟ opinions about whether information is a prerequisite for active citizenship and whether anything could be done differently at school to promote active citizenship. All the educators agreed that it is important to be informed about democratic processes in order to be able to actively participate as citizens.

They also provided some recommendations as to what can be included in the curriculum to promote active citizenship in a democracy. Regarding the importance of information, one participant noted:

School C (Educator C1): From the teacher, I think the teacher has to be empowered to have the information, so then once again, if we have one central book, that gives the learner or the teacher everything that person needs to know to be an active citizen or a participant in this whole process then it will be all good (sic).

With regard to the educators‟ opinion about what could be done differently in the curriculum the following was recommended:

School C (Educator C1): A simplified version of what the learner needs to know to be an active citizen (sic).

The following were final comments made by the educators during the closing session of the interview with regard to promoting active citizenship in a democracy:

School A (Educator A1): We need to get something out to the learners, that’s also teacher friendly, for the teachers to use, maybe a nice one handed out for the teachers to put up for the children, maybe a poster that the we can put up in our classes (sic).

In summary, the majority of the educators have good knowledge and understanding of active citizenship in a democracy and of related concepts including 'human rights', 'democracy', 'citizenship', and 'public participation'. However, there was a lack of understanding of inclusive education, especially in the context of active citizenship in a democracy.

All the educators are of the opinion that it is important to teach learners about active citizenship  

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and related concepts. However, they acknowledge that there is limited infusion of content relating to concepts such as 'human rights', 'democracy', 'citizenship', 'inclusivity', and 'public participation'. In addition, the educators felt that Grade 11 may be too late to introduce these concepts and that the curriculum should start informing learners from an earlier stage in a child‟s schooling. The educators stated that there is too much content overall in the CAPS curriculum, of which they are anticipating that they would not, for example, complete the Grade 11 LO curriculum by the end of the 2013 school year.

With regard to Parliament, educators had very little exposure to information about the structure and processes of Parliament. At the time of the interview, the educators have never visited Parliament before.

5.4 Document study

The document study was focussed on selected national curriculum policy documents and various parliamentary documents. The various documents that were studied depicted the content included in the LO curriculum about active citizenship and on information, including the roles and functions of Parliament specifically pertaining to active citizenship. The documents that were used to analyse the curriculum included:

Education White Paper 6: Special needs education: Building and inclusive education training system (DoE, 2001);

Policy Revised NCS Grades R-9 (Schools): Overview (DoE, 2002a);

Revised NCS Grades R-9 (Schools): LO (DoE, 2002b);

Revised NCS Grades R-9 (Schools): Social Sciences (DoE, 2002c);

Revised NCS Grades R-9 (Schools). LO: Teacher’s guide for the development of learning programmes-Policy Guidelines (DoE, 2003a);

NCS Grades 10-12 (General): LO (DoE, 2003b); NCS Grades 10-12 (General). Subject Assessment Guidelines. LO (DoE, 2008);

Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS): Life Orientation Grades 7-9 final draft (DBE, 2010a);

Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS): FET (10-12) Life Orientation final draft (DBE, 2010b);

Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS): Life Skills final draft (DBE, 2010c);

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Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS): Grades 10-12 History final draft (DBE, 2010d);

Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS): Education statistics in South Africa (DBE, 2010e);

Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS): Life Skills Foundation Phase (DBE, 2011a);

Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS): Life Skills Intermediate Phase (DBE, 2011b);

Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS): LO. Grades 7-9 (DBE, 2011c); Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS): LO FET (10-12) (DBE, 2011d); and

Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS): History FET (10-12) (DBE, 2011e).

The documents that were used to investigate Parliament included:

From Public Affairs to PCS (2007);

Parliament: Annual Performance Plan – 2013/14 – 2015/16 (2012);

Parliament. (2011a). PEO Business Plan 2012/2013;

Parliament. (2011b). Understanding Parliament: A teacher’s guide;

Parliament. Super Curriculum Proposal. (2010b);

Parliamentary website:

Public participation. Retrieved October 9, 2010a, from http://www.parliament.gov.za,

Submissions to Parliament. Retrieved July 30, 2013a, from http://www.parliament.gov.za/live/content.php?Category_ID=173,

Petitions to Parliament. Retrieved, July 30, 2013b, from http://www.parliament.gov.za/live/content.php?Category_ID=173,

Our Constitution. Retrieved, July 30, 2013e, from http://www.parliament.gov.za/live/content.php?Category_ID=173

Parliament since 1994: Achievements and Challenges (2006); and Constitution of the RSA (Constitution of RSA, 1996).

The research questions that were addressed through exploring the curriculum documents included:

 How does LO infuse human rights, democracy, citizenship, inclusivity, social justice and transformation and public participation in order to promote active citizenship?

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 Do Grade 11 LO assessment activities promote active citizenship in South Africa? and

 To what extent have Grade 12 learners who completed the Grade 11 LO curriculum during 2012 applied aspects of active citizenship in South Africa?

5.4.1 Infusion of human rights, democracy, citizenship, inclusivity, social justice, and transformation and public participation in the LO curriculum

The above listed curriculum documents provided valuable insight regarding the infusion of concepts relating to active citizenship namely 'human rights', 'democracy', 'citizenship', 'inclusivity', 'social justice', 'transformation', and 'public participation', in particular the infusion of these concepts in the LO curriculum. For example, the principles of the curriculum include aspects relating to human rights, social justice and transformation and inclusivity. The insight provided gives a clear picture of the aim of the national curriculum, especially as it relates to promoting active citizenship in a democracy in its attempt to develop a democratic society through the education system (DoE, 2002a; 2003b).

The curriculum aims to develop the full potential of each learner as a citizen of a democratic South Africa and seeks to create a lifelong learner who will be inspired by values including democracy, equality, human dignity, life and social justice and who would be able to participate in society as an active citizen (DoE, 2002b:3; DoE, 2002a:1; 2002b:1; 2002c:1; DBE, 2011a; 2011b; 2011c;

2011d).

Consequently, the curriculum has undergone various transformations which were discussed in detail in the literature review section of the study. However, its aims and purpose remains consistent from C2005 to RNCS to NCS and now CAPS. This is captured in the following extract (DBE, 2011a; 2011b; 2011c; 2011d; 2011e).

Furthermore, with regard to the aspect of inclusion, the documents reveal that the Education White Paper 6 was introduced in July 2001 and it places emphasis on the need for the education system to promote education for all, which will enable all learners to participate actively in the education process so that they could develop and extend their full potential and participate as equal members of society (DoE, 2001).

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The documents studied provided detailed information regarding the infusion of concepts relating to active citizenship, specifically in the LO curriculum. A number of LO curriculum policy documents were examined which elicited information regarding the purpose of the introduction of the LO curriculum, which is that LO is the primary vehicle for informing and empowering learners about active citizenship in a democracy.

LO focuses on skills that empower learners to relate positively and make a contribution to family, community and societal life in South Africa and these skills are developed in the context of exercising constitutional rights and responsibilities while displaying tolerance of fellow human-beings, their cultures, religions, values and beliefs (Constitution of RSA, 1996; DoE, 2002;

2003a; 2003b).

In summary, it is clear that, since the inception of democracy in South Africa, there has been concerted effort regarding transformation from an apartheid system to a democratic society by using the education system as one of the primary means to develop a just and democratic society.

The curriculum itself has undergone many shifts in order to achieve its objective of redress and its attempt to nurture learners that will become active and responsible citizens in a democracy.

With this in mind, it can be noted that the curriculum places considerable theoretical emphasis on the instillation of values, including active citizenship, democracy, human rights, citizenship and inclusivity, which significantly informs the objectives of this study. Consequently, the LO curriculum was given the responsibility to provide the focussed platform to instill values relating to active citizenship in a democracy.