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30 2.3.1 Curriculum Transformation in the General Education and Training (GET) Band The transformed curriculum in the South African context was referred to as Curriculum 2005 (C2005). The principles of C2005 are different from the principles that drove apartheid education (Fataar, 2001). C2005 was introduced for the GET band, which covered Grade R to Grade 9 in January 1998 (Taylor & Vinjevold, 1999).The goals of C2005 was to achieve the Critical Outcomes (COs) and the Developmental Outcomes (DOs) which were derived from the Constitution, through an outcomes-based philosophy which underpinned the curriculum.
C2005 is not the same as outcomes based education (OBE).
(a) Critical Outcomes (COs) and Developmental Outcomes (DOs)
The preamble of C2005 focused on the critical and developmental outcomes, which were derived from the principles of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (1996). These critical and developmental outcomes could be regarded as the goals of education in South Africa.
The critical outcomes anticipate that learners will be able to:
Identify and solve problems and make decisions using critical and creative thinking.
Work effectively with others as members of a team, group, organisation and community.
Organise and manage themselves and their activities responsibly and effectively.
Collect, analyse, organise and critically evaluate information.
Communicate effectively using visual, symbolic and/or language skills in various modes.
Use science and technology effectively and critically to show responsibility towards the environment and the health of others.
Demonstrate an understanding of the world as a set of related systems by recognising that problem-solving contexts do not exist in isolation.
(DoE, 2003a).
The above-mentioned critical outcomes that underpinned C2005 required that learners are able to develop and use higher order thinking by being able to criticise, evaluate, analyse, synthesise, construct and apply their knowledge rather than recall and regurgitate information like the pre-democracy curricula were perceived to do.
31 The developmental outcomes expect learners who are able to:
Reflect on and explore a variety of strategies to learn more effectively.
Participate as responsible citizens in the life of local, national, and global communities.
Be culturally and aesthetically sensitive across a range of social contexts.
Explore education and career opportunities.
Develop entrepreneurial opportunities.
(DoE, 2003a).
The Department of Education envisaged that the above-mentioned developmental outcomes would help learners to develop personally and also lead to the social and economic development of the country at large (DoE, 1997b). The above-mentioned critical and developmental outcomes provided the impetus for the development of specific outcomes for each phase and learning area in C2005.
(b) Relationship between C2005 and OBE
Several policy documents on the new curriculum refer interchangeably to C2005 and OBE (Chisholm, Volmink, Ndhlovu, Potenza, Mohammed, Muller, Lubisi, Vinjevold, Ngozi, Malan, & Mphahlele, 2000, p.5). This has caused a great deal of confusion among the various stakeholders in education.
C2005 is a common name given to the National Curriculum Statement (NCS). The NCS is similar to the ‘National Curriculum’ of the United Kingdom for example. The NCS was implemented gradually grade-by-grade from 1997. It has been commonly referred to as C2005 because the South African government envisaged this new curriculum to be implemented in all grades by the year 2005.
The NCS grounds itself on an outcomes-based educational philosophy. In addition, the NCS is underpinned by principles such as redress, access and equity. In order to achieve these, ‘different’ methodologies which promote active learners, learner-centeredness, skills-based, teachers as facilitators, relevance, contextualised knowledge and co- operative learning has to be employed. C2005 also emphasised ‘learning by doing’, problem-solving, skills development, and continuous assessment (Christie, 2002, p.
174). These ‘methodologies’ also underpin inquiry-based teaching and learning in science.
Hence, C2005 outlines the content that has to be dealt with in each subject/learning area in each grade, while OBE is an education approach, in other words the methodology
32 that is used to teach. In fact it is one of the many methods that may be used during teaching and learning (DoE, 2002).
Within the context of the current study investigative practical work (IPW) is seen as an example of an OBE approach to teaching and learning in order to meet the requirements for the Life Sciences in the NCS.
(c) Introduction to changes in classroom practices
As indicated in the preceding section, C2005 places a great deal of emphasis on the learners, by virtue of its principles of learner-centeredness, activity-based and teacher as facilitator. This therefore advocates a significant shift from the traditional transmission mode of teaching and learning. Table 2.2 compares the old transmission model of teaching and learning to the new outcomes-based model, which was proposed by the Ministry of Education (DoE, 1997a).
Table 2.2: Comparison between the old and new models of teaching and learning.
Source: Department of Education (1997a).
ASPECTS
OLD TRANSMISSION MODEL OF TEACHING
AND LEARNING
NEW C2005 OUTCOMES- BASED MODEL OF
TEACHING AND LEARNING THE LEARNER * Passive learners * Active learners
ASSESSMENT
* Graded
* Exam-driven
* Exclusionary
* Continuous assessment
ROLE OF THE TEACHER
* Teacher-centred
* Textbook bound * Learner-centred;
* teacher as facilitator;
* teacher constantly using group work and team work
CURRICULUM FRAMEWORK
* Syllabus seen as rigid and non-negotiable
* Emphasis on what teacher hopes to achieve
* Learning programmes seen as guides that allow teachers to be innovative and creative in designing programmes
* Emphasis on outcomes-what the learner becomes and understands
TIME FRAMES AND LEARNER PACING
* Content placed into rigid
time frames * Flexible time frames allow learners to work at their own pace
33 In theory the proposed C2005 outcomes-based model of teaching and learning seemed plausible to implement as opposed to the old transmission model of teaching and learning. However, the implementation of C2005 in the classroom posed a great deal of challenges for educators, which was supposed to be addressed through the review, revision, streamlining and strengthening process.
2.4 REVIEW, REVISION, STREAMLINING AND STRENGTHENING OF C2005