RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
4.2 Findings and Discussions .1 Analysis of questionnaires
4.2.2 Analysis of semi – structured interviews and document analysis
4.2.2.2 Component 2: Goals
113
The three participants are of the view that IKS should be included in the science curriculum.
This is evident in the responses of participants 2 and 3 who speak of IKS adding value to the science curriculum while participant 1 in agreeing with the inclusion of IKS is of the opinion that it could aid learners understand the need for individuals to sustainably use our natural resources. Agreeing with the idea of the inclusion of IKS on the above bases leads one to further identify that the participants of this study have a positive attitude towards IKS.
This positive attitude of the teachers of IKS could also be utilised to re enforce the identification of a personal reason for teaching Life Sciences which involves IKS as content.
Kilinc and Mahiroglu (2009) identified that teachers chose Biology (Life Sciences) to teach as a result of them having an enjoyable experience with the subject at school which fosters a positive attitude. The point of teachers’ having an enjoyable experience with a subject which influences their choice to teach that subject is in line with the personal vision as one of the characteristics of this vision is concerned with school being viewed as an enjoyable place.
This suggests that informed by their positive attitudes, the participants’ experiences in relation to their own schooling was one that they enjoyed.
114
is superficial or limited. This suggested superficial understanding of goals is illustrated by the participants not mentioning this specific aim in terms of it being an objective. There is also no mention of broad general aims of the curriculum as well more specific than objectives, outcomes. Stating the specific aim suggests that they view this as a general aim which is cause for concern as, in order to achieve a general aim, more specific goals need to be achieved which are not even referred to like objectives and outcomes. Objectives are short term teaching intentions which the teacher intends to cover in a particular area and an outcome is what learners should achieve at the end of a lesson. Being aware of this, in order for a learner to achieve the general aim he or she would need to firstly achieve an outcome and then secondly, an objective. This lack of understanding of goals which could be superficial and limited is in line with Khoza (2015a) who discovered that teachers did not understand the difference between aims and objectives.
The identification of the participants’ lack of understanding of issues around goals to be achieved is of importance in terms of the implementation and sustainability of a curriculum being successful Van den Akker et al. (2009) explain that each concept which make up the curricular spider web which is flexible yet vulnerable needs equal attention in order for the successful implementation of a curriculum to occur. The finding thus suggests that the implementation of the Life Sciences curriculum will suffer as a result of the participants’ lack of understanding of goals.
The implementation of the curriculum can be further discussed in terms of the different forms of curriculum identified by Van den Akker et al. (2009). These are the intended, the implemented and the attained curriculum. The intended curriculum has been stated in the policy document in the form of the exploration of the goals to be achieved. The implemented and attained curriculums are where the problem lies when considering the participants of this case study. Identifying that the participants have a lack of understanding of goals suggests that they will experience difficulty in interpreting the intended curriculum in order to implement it which would have a ripple effect on the attained curriculum where the attainment of learning outcomes is used as a measurement to determine the learning experiences perceived by learners.
115 4.2.2.3 Component 3: Content
What content are you teaching?
Participant 1 “All topics listed in the curriculum are taught as stipulated...”
Participant 2 “Diseases, especially the treatment part of the diseases. I think IKS lends itself quite nicely to that. Cellular Respiration, Microbes even the teaching of evolution...”.
Participant 3 “We tend mostly to focus on the science content and that IKS is usually taught as an add-on. For example, looking at bacteria, we look at the structure etc. and look very briefly at how bacteria are used in society and one of the things that we can talk about is the making of traditional beer...”.
The responses of the three participants suggest that indeed a performance approach to curriculum is being implemented in South Africa. The responses of participant 1 and participant 2 suggest that the policy document which contains the intended curriculum is followed in terms of identifying the content to be taught in relation to IKS as participant 1 speaks of all the topics listed in the curriculum including Microbes which involve the topic of Cellular Respiration that is mentioned by participant 2 which is stated in the policy document. These two participants following the policy document suggests that the content which is stated to be covered is envisaged to meet the needs of society as it has been decided to be covered by policy makers where the content is to be used as a vehicle to secure the aims of the Constitution where the transformative power of IKS in terms of healing the divides of the past and improving the quality of life is acknowledged. The reliance on the policy document by the teacher manifests in the teachers having control over the selection, the sequencing and pacing of the content which is in line with the characteristics of a performance approach of curriculum which also involves the identification that there is vertical knowledge (Bernstein, 1999) where the complexity increases through the levels. The identification of a performance approach to curriculum being implemented through the teachers’ responses to the question around the component of content can be used to comment on the earlier component of vision which has been explored. Although in their responses to the question around vision they did not illustrate a professional vision for teaching IKS. From the identification of a performance approach a professional vision can also be identified in
116
terms of a vision as their responses to the component of content imply it. Due to the fact that a professional vision the content is hierarchical in nature which a performance approach to curriculum advocates.
Participant 3 speaks of traditional technology of IKS in terms of only the uses of IKS in society such as traditional medicines and healers, beer, wine and cheese which also implies exposing individuals to knowledge which would improve their lives. A suggestion by participant 3 only refers to the uses that there is a greater emphasis on the science content which could be seen as western knowledge that is found within the policy document which also contributes in defining the curriculum being implemented as a performance one. In this approach to curriculum there is a greater emphasis on school knowledge (western/scientific knowledge). Evidence of this is seen in that IKS is viewed as an add-on by participant 3. A possible reason for this view may be that according to Durie (2004) there is a belief that western knowledge is superior to indigenous knowledge. Maurial (1999) in commenting on this inferior status of IKS in relation to western knowledge terms it as ‘subjugated knowledge’. This view of IKS being seen as an add-on through the perpetuation of it being inferior knowledge is a consequence of the type of curriculum which is implemented in South Africa. As mentioned before, the curriculum implemented in South Africa is deeply rooted in the performance approach to curriculum where there is a focus on formal school knowledge as opposed to everyday knowledge and experiences (Hoadley & Jansen, 2009).