SUMMARY,RECCOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION
4.3 Emerging themes from the data
4.3.1 Significance of Policy
When the ten educators discussed the significance of proper policy implementation in the schools, they emphasised the need for a clear understanding of what policy is all about. This aspect is important for them because educators are implementers of policy. When educators were asked about the significance of the Foundations for Learning policy, it became clear that educators viewed the policy as significance in different ways. Some educators believed that it was meant to help the teachers in their teaching and other activities such as planning, teaching and assessment of learners. However, others looked at it as a way of helping educators to improve the quality of teaching and learning in schools. Educators believed that the Foundations for Learning Policy may eventually impact on learners’ reading, writing and the understanding of Mathematics.
Sharon, a Grade 3 educator in School-A, stressed that by saying:
Foundations for Learning is a procedure to be followed. When it was introduced to us, we were told that we had to strictly follow it. It gives a clear break down of what we have to teach each term.
Sharon believed that the Foundations for Learning Policy laid down the procedures for teachers to follow in their teaching. The educators who held the point view were apprehensive about the
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role of the Foundations for Learning policy because they were told to strictly stick to these guidelines. This sounded like a top down approach in teaching. However, she stated that the assessment tasks were clearly written down in the Foundations for Learning Policy document.
Educators gave me an impression that they were satisfied with it thus had a positive attitude towards the Foundation for Learning policy document, which they regarded as useful.
Mimmie, another educator who taught Grade 2 in School-A, contradicted what was said by her colleague when she stated that FFL policy was only a guide that had to be implemented with some element of discretion. Sharon also echoed a similar view by stressing that the educators’
implementation of the Foundations for Learning Policy depended on the level of learners’
intelligence. Educators had to take note of where the learners were in terms of their capabilities and performance. She added that the Foundations for Learning Policy was just like a syllabus that has to be followed, and the learners progressed, depending on the educator’s initiatives and creativity. Mimmie also believed that the Foundations for Learning Policy presented guidelines for the educators to understand how they can go about achieving the milestones for the term.
She further stated that the given number of milestones in the Mathematics, it is evident that teaching it cannot be completed within a term. She stressed this by saying:
There many milestones that need to e completed in one term. This makes us to rush without considering whether each milestone has been achieved or not
All three educators from School-A and some educators from School-B, believed that the policy was good and that it was some kind of a framework or guidelines which teachers could follow in order to improve their teaching of Literacy and Numeracy. All the educators from School-A agreed that the Foundations for Learning Policy helped them in planning and assessing for their learners’ work. They felt that it made their work easier because they had to merely follow the procedures thus achieving the required milestones. Another educator in School-B expressed positive comments about the policy, stating that it was a good thing to have because its
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implementation was national and that all educators would teach the same concept at the specified time.
Kim, a teacher from School- B, had a different view about this policy. She mentioned that the Foundations for Learning Policy did not cater for her learners. She stressed this by saying:
“All my learners are isiZulu speaking children. The policy is in English and English is their second language”.
She expressed reservations about the policy itself, saying that she had to basically teach English before she could teach mathematical concepts. Furthermore, she had to first explain the questions, instructions and procedures in English. To her, a Mathematics lesson had become an English lesson. Lorraine said that she liked the Foundations for Learning Policy, but also cautioned that it was not suitable for her children because they did not understand English which is the language of teaching. This made it difficult for these learners to understand the concepts.
The children at her school were performing at a much lower level in terms of literacy and numeracy. The teachers acknowledged that schools faced a number of challenges and that the learners’ performance depended on the context within which the policy is implemented.
The HODs’ understanding of Foundations for Learning was a bit different from those of the educators in their departments. When comparing the two HODs understanding of the Foundations for Learning policy, they mentioned that their understanding of the policy mostly dependant on their experiences in the phase, as well as their mentoring and supervisory skills.
HOD-A was not a fully appointed HOD; she was acting in the post. She expressed that by saying:
I am in the acting capacity as an HOD and I have no knowledge of the Foundation Phase content. I got help from the neighbouring schools’ HODs. I think I gained a lot of information from those HODs.
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The HOD-B explained that the Foundations for Learning policy was introduced as results of the systemic evaluation of Numeracy and Literacy which was conducted worldwide. The systemic evaluation results showed that Numeracy and Literacy results were very poor in South Africa and the Foundations for Learning Policy was then developed and gazetted. According to HOD- B, the Foundations for Learning policy was a four year campaign which consequently had subjected the learners to the Annual National Assessment exercise. She provided more explanations by saying that the milestones and the learning outcomes were designed to serve as a benchmark to monitor learners’ progress in the learning of Numeracy and Literacy.
In view of the information presented by the educators and the HODs, it became clear that some of them did not give full details of the policy background but that they did understand the purpose of the Foundations for Learning Policy. All educators that participated in this study believed that it was a policy that gave them some direction in terms of their teaching. This meant that the teachers accepted the Foundations for Learning Policy but some experienced challenges during the implementation process. Some of the challenges that they raised were that the learners still experienced difficulties with regards to their reading, writing and counting skills.
This is despite the fact that the Foundations for Learning policy had been implemented in schools.