Some of the key issues we are in the process of tackling are the challenges that have been identified in the implementation of the National Curriculum Statement (NCS). Our curriculum has been a source of tension and its cumbersome administrative and reporting requirements have detracted from a focus on learning and teaching.
Since the beginning of 2010, Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga has taken a number of steps to act on the recommendations of the ministerial committee that was tasked with the review of the implementation of the NCS in 2009.
The purpose of the review is to deal with certain constraints in the implementation of the NCS to improve the quality of teaching and learning in our schools.
Key among those constraints are: the overload on teachers brought about by the assessment requirements of the NCS; knowledge gaps in some subjects in the transition from the foundation to the intermediate phase; curriculum overload in the intermediate phase; insufficient attention to teaching foundational knowledge in literacy and numeracy; and lack of national assessments in the early phases of the schooling system.
The minister has made it clear that curriculum reform is not something the system takes lightly and her message from the start of the curriculum review process has been that we need to work against change fatigue to build confidence and enthusiasm among all our stakeholders.
Therefore the process of curriculum reform is proceeding deliberately and decisively to effect the broad recommendations of the ministerial committee.
The review committee confirmed that teachers experience curriculum and administrative overload that prevents them from spending sufficient time on preparation and quality teaching in the classroom.
The minister has taken steps to provide short-term relief on these matters, including reducing the number of projects for learners, doing away with the need for portfolio files of learner assessments and discontinuing the common tasks for assessment for grade nine learners, with effect from January 2010.
Provinces have already informed their schools about the form of assessment that will replace the common tasks for assessment in 2010.
Earlier this year, the minister established three committees of highly respected experts to enable the smooth implementation of the main recommendations of the 2009 curriculum implementation review committee.
The three committees presented some of their recommendations to the council of education ministers at their meeting on June 29 2010 to consider these and other curriculum matters. Council accepted the recommendations listed below.
The main committee is ensuring that the NCS is repackaged so that it is more accessible to teachers. Every subject in each grade will have a single, comprehensive and concise curriculum and assessment policy statement that will provide details on what teachers ought to teach and assess on a grade-by-grade and subject-by-subject basis.
Currently, the design features of the NCS learning areas comprise outcomes and assessment standards. Assessment requirements are mapped on to the achievement of outcomes and assessment standards.
The new curriculum and assessment policy statements will repackage the existing curriculum into the general aims of the South African curriculum, the specific aims of each subject, clearly delineated topics to be covered a term and the required number and type of assessments, also a term.
In this way, outcomes will be absorbed into more accessible aims, and content and assessment requirements will be spelt out more clearly. Topics and assessments to be covered a term are being aligned to available time allocations per subject.
Mindful of the need for teacher orientation and development of appropriate textbooks and learning and teaching support materials, the department will start phasing in the curriculum and assessment policy statements in the foundation phase in 2011. The curriculum and assessment policy statements will be implemented in other grades in 2012 so that the necessary preparations can be made.
All learning areas and programmes will be known as subjects with effect from 2011.
The council of education ministers’ meeting agreed to call all learning areas and programmes subjects. In the general education and training band, subjects have been called learning areas, and programmes and subjects in the further education and training band. The term subjects will be used across the curriculum from grades R to 12.
The number of subjects in the intermediate phase (grades four to six) will be reduced from eight to six.
The council has further taken on board the recommendations of the review committee to reduce the number of learning areas in the intermediate phase from eight to six.
In grades four to six, technology will be combined with science, arts and culture will be combined with life orientation, and economic and management sciences will be taught only from grade seven.
A committee the minister established has investigated the implementation implications and confirmed that this can be done without destabilising the system and is, indeed, in the interests of teaching and learning.
These changes will be introduced only in 2012, after the necessary teacher orientation and development of appropriate textbooks.
The importance of textbooks in the achievement of quality learning and teaching has been re-emphasised.
The 2009 curriculum implementation review committee had recommended the increased and improved use of textbooks, a national catalogue of learning and teaching support materials, and greater efficiency in the pricing and procurement of textbooks and learning and teaching support materials.
The third committee has provided guidance on the procedures by which this can most effectively be achieved. This has been done in consultation with key stakeholders.
The department of basic education has committed to ensuring that each learner has the necessary textbooks and related material for a quality education. Research has repeatedly shown the importance of textbooks and other learner and teacher support material in delivering quality education.
To achieve this, the department will not only focus on the quantity of material reaching schools but also on the quality, through the initiatives listed below.
A national catalogue of approved textbooks will be developed in 2011. Rigorous selection methods, based on international best practice, will be used to ensure that only the best-quality material is offered to schools. Schools will still be given a choice of up to eight options from which to make a selection appropriate to their contexts.
Centralised textbook ordering and delivery tracking will be introduced in 2011 to save on costs and make comprehensive textbook provision affordable.
A sustained focus on improving the provision, management and quality of learner and teacher support material will be initiated by a specialised unit. This is in keeping with international trends in the best-performing educational systems.
Learners will be introduced to their first additional language in grade one from 2011.
The council approved the recommendation that, from 2011, the language chosen by the learner as a language of learning and teaching will be taught as a subject, or as a first additional language, from grade one and not from grade two, as is currently the case.
What this means is that the teaching of English, for instance, will occur alongside mother-tongue instruction for those learners who choose English as a language of learning and teaching in later grades. English will not replace the mother tongue or home language in the early grades. Each learner is taught in his or her mother tongue or home language in the early grades.
In higher grades, children are taught in the language of teaching and learning as decided by the school governing body. By introducing the language as a subject in grade one that will be used later, the learner will become more familiar with the language and will be able to acquire the basics of the language sooner. This will strengthen literacy skills.
The council further agreed on a weighting of continuous assessment and end-of-year examinations as follows:
- Grades R to three — 100% continuous assessment;
- Grades four to six — 75% continuous assessment, 25% end-of-year exam;
- Grades seven to nine — 40% continuous assessment, 60% end-of-year exam; and
- Grades 10 to 12 — 25% continuous assessment, 75% end-of-year exam.
In addition, the council agreed that the symbols or rating scales used to rate learner performance in grades 10 to 12 will, from 2011, be extended to grades R to nine, so that there is consistency across the curriculum.
It is important to note that all policy-related matters arising from the decisions of the council of education ministers will be put out for formal consultation according to our normal statutory and non-statutory procedures. Because some of the changes have policy implications, we will, in keeping with due process, publish and invite public comment on the decisions taken by the council of education ministers.
Granville Whittle is spokesperson for the department of basic education