The findings from document analysis revealed that the CAPS is specific, strongly framed and classified compared to the NCS that was not specific regarding content to be taught in each grade. Lesson observations showed that nine out of twelve observed educators were not following the CAPS in their teaching. It was discovered through the interviews with educators and subject
166 advisors that they did not know why the NCS was changed to the CAPS. The DBE needs to make the intention of the curriculum more explicit to everyone, especially subject advisors, educators and authors of textbooks. If curriculum intentions are clear, then authors can ensure that their textbooks capture the ‘soul’ of each subject, that is, each textbook will include all the required content per grade. This would help in closing any knowledge gaps that the educators or learners may have, especially since some educators rely on textbooks for their teaching.
Additionally, to improve the quality of teaching and learning in South African schools, curriculum designers, subject advisors, educators and authors of school textbooks should be specialists in their field or discipline. It is therefore highly advisable that all school subjects be taught by subject specialists who only need a workshop on curriculum implementation and not on subject training. It is of paramount importance that when educators are on leave, that replacements are provided without delays. Preferably, these should be subject specialists to ensure that learners are not disadvantaged. Heads of departments (HoDs) should work closely with the replacement educator to ensure that they are brought up to speed with all current policies guiding the teaching. All this would ensure that learners learn what is appropriate in each subject at school, and that the transmission of the school code is ‘guaranteed’, thus avoiding the practice that occured in ALS, as explained earlier. This requires that experts rather than all stakeholders be responsible for curriculum designing and textbook reviewing. Although the above statement could be construed as politically incorrect, since it calls for the exclusion of some individuals (non-specialists), it is imperative for the benefit of all South African learners.
Those subject specialists should be encouraged with incentives to be lifelong learners, especially with regard to their subject area. Salaries that are based on minimum qualifications, that is matric plus three or four years of tertiary education (M+3 or M+4), might discourage some educators from improving their qualifications, especially in the subjects that they are teaching. The DBE should value education and encourage research among educators through incentives. Subject advisors, supported by the DBE, should hold annual symposiums during June or December holidays, where subject specialists from schools and higher learning institutions present papers. Peer reviewed papers should be circulated within the DBE subdirectorates for motivational purposes.
167 Research has shown that the majority of South African educators are not specialists in the subjects they are currently teaching (CDE, 2015). Therefore the provision of useful textbooks, as explained in the fourth paragraph in this section, could result in the improvement of the quality of education for all, even when the subject educator is not a subject specialist. Reducing the scope for educators’ selection of subject content could inversely affect selection mistakes. This implies that in future the DBE will have to plan well-coordinated programmes when changing the curriculum. As part of the programme, the DBE will have to ensure that subject advisors are thoroughly trained and informed about the new curriculum reform. Their thorough understanding of the reform might translate into the planning of proper workshops for educators. In schools, principals should ensure that all educators attend workshops for their continued professional development, most importantly when a new curriculum is being introduced. In this study, two teachers claimed that they did not attend any CAPS workshops, and as a result they were not sure of what they were doing. They lacked self-confidence and this was observable in their practice in the classroom. The researcher believes that when educators understand the purpose of curriculum change, they are most likely to be sympathetic to its intentions and implement it correctly.
Furthermore, it is imperative that every learner in school has a textbook for each and every subject to facilitate learning. Subject advisors could be tasked to ensure that all learners under their care have relevant textbooks, meaning that textbooks are thoroughly screened by subject specialists against the curriculum document currently used as policy.
Considering the challeges regarding the time for conducting workshops, as raised by the subject advisors and educators, the use of technology such as e-learning could minimize the problems mentioned earlier in this section. There is a government policy on e-learning, which should facilitate workshops for both educators and learners. To address these problems further, workshops for educators could be made available online. They could be broken down into a series of small sections and uploaded on the DBE website for educators. Access to these online workshops could be via cellular phones. Educators could thus be ‘taught’ by an expert on how to tackle specific topics in their subjects.
168 In addition, the use of e-books could solve the problem of textbook shortages or late delivery, because once books are uploaded, they would be available on time. This solution would work best once the roll out of free Internet access has been completed. E-tutors could be provided for support to ensure that quality education is accessible to all South Africans. The use of e-books might compel educators to plan their lessons before teaching, thus minimizing the tendency for educators to read from learner guides when teaching, as was observed during this study.
To ensure that learners are well informed regarding topics to be learnt each term, it is recommended that subject (discipline) specialists write out study guides that are less than ten pages long, where they outline concepts that form the core of each school subject. These concepts could be listed in the order in which they are supposed to be taught as per curriculum statement with a brief explanation for each concept. Then a diagram that shows the links or relationship between those different concepts and time frames should be included. These documents could then be circulated to ensure that learners have access to these guides. This is suggested because learners seem not have access to curriculum documents, resulting in a lack of knowledge and awareness of what they are supposed to learn in the schedule or how and when they are supposed to be assessed. Informing learners this way could empower them to take charge of their own learning. Dedicated learners could start learning concepts ahead so that they can fruitfully participate in a lesson when these are taught in class.
These study guides could be attached to learner guides (textbooks currently used in schools) that teachers seem to rely heavily on for their teaching. Attaching them to these books will cut down on the costs of producing a separate document. In addition, having these guidelines in textbooks could ensure that learners are taught everything they need to learn because the curriculum requirements are in front of them whenever they open their textbooks. Educators are encouraged to give learners detailed feedback after each assessment task to ensure that learners know what is expected of them, meaning that educators should provide learners with legitimate text to facilitate the achievement of the recognition and realization rules. Educators should reveal the subject content to learners, because what is not revealed might never be discovered.
169 Regarding non-teaching or teaching of wrong content that was observed in BEGD and ALS respectively, it is advisable that principals or the SMT members be visible to ensure that meaningful learning and teaching occurs daily in every classroom within a school. They should visit classes from time to time to see and hear what is happening inside each classroom. Principals or the SMTs could move around the school at the beginning of each session (in the morning and after each break) to ensure that all learners are in class and being attended to. This recommendation might be basic, but it is imperative in certain schools where class time and break time are often the same. In these schools, learners run around the school throughout the day, making noise that disturbs other learners and educators. This situation compromises the whole ethos of the school and raises questions about the credibility of the teaching and learning within that particular school.
Another suggestion that could help the principal and the SMT identify problem areas sooner is the use of anonymous suggestion or comment boxes. These could enable learners to voice their concerns without any fear of victimization. At first, learners might use them as a means of raising minor or irrelevant issues, but in the long run, they could become a source of important information for quality assurance. A dedicated team could be appointed, consisting of all stakeholders within a school, to compile monthly reports from the information obtained from the comment box. The team could consist of representatives from the school management team (SMT), the representative council of learners (RCL), the school governing body (SGB) and members from support departments.
7.4. CONCLUSION
This study has shown that the CAPS is strongly classified and framed compared to the NCS, although this was not emphasized when the DBE introduced it to all South Africans. Subject advisors and educators did not know why the NCS was changed to the CAPS. Some educators did not even know the differences between the two documents because they were not highlighted when the policy was introduced and the intentions of the new policy were not made explicit to all. This omission has resulted in serious repercussions for the CAPS implementation. Educators felt that the curriculum implementation was rushed and they were not given enough time to understand the CAPS beforehand. One educator in the study (A2) confessed that he/she was confused and no
170 longer had confidence in teaching. The study has revealed that nine out of twelve educators observed are not implementing the CAPS correctly, although they claimed to be exclusively following the CAPS. There is a need for further research in the management of new curriculum implementation within a school. What is the role of the SMT in the implementation of new curriculum reform?