SOUTH AFRICA
4. Curriculum Development: Programmes and Resources
4.1 RESULTS OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE
4.1.5 Recommendation Five
Brief summary: A strong environmental education element in the school curriculum should be encouraged.
Ten of the thirteen respondents answered this question. Three of these respondents simply agreed with the statement. Four other respondents agreed with the statement, substantiating their agreement with comments such as including environmental education into all curriculum, not just at school level and getting education departments involved in such programmes as the SADC- REEP. The comment was also made that the School's Environmental Policy and Management Plan Resource Pack9should be adapted for other countries.
Two of the respondents expressed the concern that curriculum should be developed at a local, or regional level. Another participant expressed the frustration that they had experienced in trying to do this (it is not known which country is being referred to). This respondent suggested that one needed to
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9 The School's Environmental Policy and Management Plan Resource Pack is a resource developed by Share-Net to assist schools in developing environmental policy for their school.
"identify an individual in curriculum development within the ministry to champion this" (quoted from the questionnaire responses 1999).
4.1.6 Recommendation Six
Brief summary: Emphasis should be placed on the development ofcapacity to produce materials and training courses in all SADC countries.
Nine of the thirteen respondents replied to this question. All nine respondents commented favourably on this recommendation, with the following comments and advice being expressed. (These have been paraphrased for clarity.)
• The need to involve other training institutions to provide basic skills, such as media, editing, etc.
• This will develop out of the training and networking, but will take time.
• This is a priority
• Zimbabwe has the expertise but not the money
• The Attachment Programme should be extended to fourteen days, to include more resource development.
• The Attachment Programme should be extended to other centres and institutions, with SADC-REEP as overseer.
• If funds are available, regions should be subdivided for capacity-building.
4.1.7 Recommendation Seven
Brief summary: To overcome the 'bureaucratic protocols' the REEC should have greater flexibility and more autonomy. More rigorous and effective reporting and accounting procedures should be developed.
Seven respondents answered this question. Three merely agreed with the statement. The other four respondents agreed, but added comments. It was felt that as long as the REEC reported in a clear and regular way, it should have more autonomy. The comment was made that the REEC needed to remain transparent, but that too much reporting took up valuable time. Two respondents commented that this would allow the REEC to be more effective, but one respondent expressed the concern that the REEC must not compete with other NGOs, but promote unity.
4.1.8 Recommendation Eight
Brief Summary: A consultant should be appointed to develop a "plan of monitoring" REEP.
Seven of the thirteen respondents answered this question. Five of the respondents agreed with the statement, four of these giving further comment.
One comment was that "monitoring and evaluation should be an integral part of the programme" (quoted from the questionnaire responses 1999). One respondent suggested that this should be done by one consultant.
The other two respondents expressed re$ervation.One suggested that if it did come to a need for this, careful selection of the evaluation process should be made. The other respondent questioned if a consultant was the best way and
felt that perhaps it should be done at a national co-ordinator network meetill9, to ensure practical developments.
4.1.9 Recommendation Nine
Brief summary: Urgent attention must be given to the staffing and resourcing of REEP.
This recommendation was answered by only three of the thirteen respondents.
All three agreed emphatically with this suggestion to ensure that the SADC- REEP could move forward and for "the programme to reach every corner of the SADC" (quoted from the questionnaire responses 1999).
4.1.10 Recommendation Ten
Brief summary: A clear process of planning for another three-year phase is required.
Six of the thirteen respondents answered this question. All six respondents were in favour of another three-year plan. The initial three-year plan of operation for the SADC-REEP is almost over. One suggestion was to create a
"rolling plan". Two of the respondents expressed the desire that all stakeholders be involved in this process.
4.1.11 Summary of Responses to the Questionnaire
On~ of the concerns of the questionnaire was that respondents simply agreed with the recommendations. Many of the comments raised, however, were valuable not only in providing direction for the interviews and content analysis, but also in substantiating the recommendations to the SADC-REEP.
The following chapter of this report looks at the integration of the above questionnaire with other findings of this research. Some of the clear indicators , that the questionnaire raised were: networking, the involvement of more countries, training in own countries, resource development, technical training such as the Internet, and environmental education in school curriculum. These indicators were especially looked at when doing the content analysis of the application forms.
The following section documents the results of the interviews. Although the recommendations of the Parker and Murray report had bearing on the interview questions, some of the interviews had already been completed before the results of this questionnaire were tabulated.