Chapter 5: INDUCTIVE ANALYSIS OF DATA
5.3 Description of the observed workshops
5.3.1 Provincial level: Content Workshop A (25-26 March 2016)
The purpose of the workshop was to reskill teachers on the content for genetics and the evolution section. According to the Subject advisor, the section on Evolution has been the most challenging topic for the teachers. He claims that the reason for Evolution to be challenging is the fact that it has recently been introduced in 2007.
What makes it to be viewed as new is the fact that most of the Life Sciences teachers were not taught Life Sciences at the tertiary institutions: they were taught Biology, so the topics in the Life Sciences curriculum that were not part of Biology are new to them. In addition, most of the teachers were not taught this topic during their schooling or initial teacher education:
For instance, we introduced a new topic – evolution. Teachers found it very difficult because they did not study the topic while they were at school, so the basic knowledge with regard to evolution was very little. (Mbinzi, Subject advisor)
The Subject advisor is giving reasons as to why the teachers are experiencing challenges in teaching Evolution. It is a new topic, which was introduced when the subject was changed from Biology to Life Sciences.
The purpose of the workshop was informed by the analysis done in the previous year’s examination: the teachers were going to be taught what genetics entailed and how to teach it. Genetics and Evolution are the two areas that the learners performed poorly on. This is done with the hope of improving the results at the end of the year, as confirmed by the subject head:
They will be capacitated, they will be taught here for certain days so that they can improve the results in their clusters and they are also responsible for their clusters in the sense that after a quarterly test or the June exams they are expected to analyse their results of their cluster. (Punky, Subject head)
125 Punky is a Subject head who has taught the subject both at High School (teaching Grades 10-12) and at the Teacher Training School. She has been teaching the subject for 23 years. She majored in Biology at tertiary level. She also did an Advanced Diploma in Biology. She now heads the province and is responsible for the curriculum delivery of the Life Sciences.
The above quote refers to the provincial content workshop and the purpose it seeks to achieve. The certain days that she is referring to are the two days that are spent with the teachers in the provincial workshops. The workshops are meant for all the LS teachers and the attendance is compulsory for under-performing schools, as the whole point is to assist with the performance of the learners.
In Genetics, the topics to be covered were blood types and genetic crossing. This topic was chosen because the learners are not performing well in this area. The workshop was held in the first term of the year. There were different categories of attendees. It was a provincial event and in attendance was the subject head (this is a provincial official), subject advisors from the four districts of the province, the 68 cluster leaders from 68 Circuits, and 204 teachers, mainly from under-performing schools. They were from 105 schools. All the clusters were represented. The session was over a period of one and a half days. They started in the morning on Saturday and carried on until Sunday at lunch time.
The subject advisor led the activities for both days. She welcomed everyone and outlined the objective to ensure that everyone was ready for the workshop:
• To analyse the previous year’s matric results; to analyse the previous year’s results. The purpose of this exercise is to help the teachers and facilitators deal with the problematic areas from an informed position. The teachers would be able to understand which areas contribute to the poor performance of the learners;
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• To focus on the areas that contributed to the poor performance of the learners; as mentioned above, the teachers would be better informed about the areas to focus on;
• To ensure that everyone was ready for the next term; in the next term they will be continuing with the syllabus they need to cover. The workshop has to equip them with the necessary skills to teach the second term topics.
This was followed by the subject advisors taking over and facilitating learning.
Teachers were given an opportunity to brainstorm around the topic, including how they teach it at their schools. This was followed by an activity on some areas. Each group had two or three cluster leaders. They facilitated discussion in their groups.
After the breakaway session the teachers had to report back. The areas the groups had to work on were:
• Evolution by natural selection, which entails the discovery of fossils and their ages;
• Lamarckism and Darwinism, which entails natural selection and the inheritance of acquired characteristics;
• Punctuated Equilibrium, which entails gradual changes that are taking place in living organisms.
This was followed by an analysis of the previous year’s Grade 12 results, done by the curriculum advisor. She then presented the overall performance of the learners according to the topics covered in the syllabus. She then pointed out that the biggest contributor to the poor performance of the learners is the section on Evolution and Genetics; hence, the focus of those two days was on Evolution and Genetics.
About 5 groups presented and each presentation was discussed, the clarity seeking questions were asked. The five groups shared the two topics:
• Lamarckism and Darwinism theories. This group started by defining the two theories: Lamarckism, which entails the law of use and disuse, things changing or under-developing because they were not used. They went on to give examples of snakes. The teachers said that according to Lamarckism because they were lazy they were not using their legs, so the legs shrunk.
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• On the other hand Darwinism theory suggests that living organisms adapt to the environment they live in.
What was expected of these three groups in the plenary was to teach the content, using the two theories: that nature selects the strongest characteristics. Their teaching had convince the learners (their fellow teachers) why, of the two theories, Darwinism is the more popular. This was done, using the examples that learners are familiar with.
• The other two groups’ task was to discuss Punctuated Equilibrium as opposed to Gradualism. Regarding Punctuated Equilibrium: in evolution there are changes that take place in a living organism. Growth takes place as a result of changes; however, there would be external factors (e.g., natural disasters) that affect the growth process. Change happens, growth stops as the genes adapt to new change. The growth process is punctuated and starts afresh as a result of climate conditions. In Gradualism, while change happens it is not as visible as in Punctuated Equilibrium: the growth continues gradually.
These entail the growth pace of living organisms. The growth happens in stages, e.g., Metamorphosis.
The objective here was for the teachers to be taught that life takes place in stages:
as organisms grow older, they change. The growth affects the behaviour, which makes them survive, e.g., the body of a lion can survive drought, as it is able to hunt and to run very fast.
The session was concluded by allowing teachers who are not experiencing problems to share the strategies they use in teaching the evolution topic. This was followed by discussion of the Annual Teaching Plan, moderation and setting of the exam papers.
An Annual Teaching Plan is a framework that guides teachers and controls their pace. It serves as a guide on what topics should be covered by when. It is a tool that is used by the department to monitor teachers’ performance and make sure that the syllabus is finished. The majority of the teachers were active and leading discussions throughout the session; the facilitator only presented the topic and the teachers were supposed to interact with what had been presented by the subject advisors. Those who were dominating included the examiners, some cluster leaders and some
128 markers. The examiners were vocal on what to cover and not to cover, to ensure that the teachers stick to the examination guide (section three of the examination guide outlines the content distribution, which covers the topics and the marks to be allocated. The document is attached as one of the appendices); and the cluster leaders dominated discussions because their learners perform better than the other teachers’ and, hence, they were appointed as the Cluster Leaders. This is confirmed by the respondents below:
Head office looks at the results, actually we look at the results for the past three years, then if the results are low in that particular year there are no negotiations, the cluster will be advised to get another leader: this one can’t perform and if he can’t perform there is no way he can start now, now that he’s a cluster leader. Sometimes you look at the past two years and find that the performance was poor, and this current year they are good.
You start asking what was wrong in the past two years; you find that the lady or gentleman was not a teacher in that school at that time. Mostly we need the best performance (Punky, the Subject head).
The basis is teachers who get good results and have more qualifications and experience, who can support other teachers. So it will be best performing teachers (Mbinzi, the Subject advisor).
The statements by the Subject Head and the Subject Advisor confirm the fact that, by virtue of having good results, the teacher qualifies to be nominated as a cluster leader. They are expected to guide and provide ongoing support to other teachers in the teaching of the subject. When appointing markers and examiners, the major requirement is the performance of the teachers in their classroom.