The first section presented the data produced from the interview with the author of the teaching material for the social studies (SS) NPDE module. The third section presented a detailed analysis of a learning unit within the history section of distance learning material for social studies education.
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
This study focuses its attention on one of the mechanisms for the training of its teachers, that is, the NPDE programme. 3 school curriculum policy and train them to implement this new curriculum policy in their teaching of the learners.
PURPOSE OF STUDY
This study focuses on the second objective where teachers were being trained to develop their competence in teaching a newly introduced school subject, i.e. The focus of this study is specifically on the NPDE programme and on the teaching and learning of SSE intermediate phase (IP).
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Furthermore, the NPDE was envisaged as an intermediate qualification, designed to improve access routes into the new teacher qualification framework and intended to upgrade un- and under-qualified teachers. As the teachers in the schools were full-time, most were students who had to come to the university or study places and have face-to-face sessions and were supported by distance learning materials.
How was the NPDE learning material in social science education, intermediate phase conceptualised?
How was learning of social science education promoted through the distance education learning material for the NPDE students?
BACKGROUND OF THE NATIONAL PROFESSIONAL DIPLOMA IN EDUCATION (NPDE)
Nkabinde (1997) believes that many black teachers, as a result of poor training, cannot devise teaching aids and materials that suit the conditions found in their schools. Therefore, there is a need for reforms in teacher education for black teachers by raising the quality of black teachers.
The SS LA “does not entail the learning of historical and geographical facts off by heart or by rote” (NCS: 4). These skills are meant to support our democracy and their development is essential within the SS LA.
THEORETICAL/CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
In an attempt to understand this phenomenon, a case study of an institution, the researcher chose the SS NPDE program to further understand how the SS learning materials contributed to quality school education. Within the case study methodology, the researcher chose document analysis and discourse analysis to understand how the SS learning material contributes to the SS intermediate phase.
RATIONALE
This study contributes towards the discourse by looking at how the NPDE SS learning material has enabled quality development and training for the teachers so that they can develop both the content knowledge of the subject, as well as knowledge of how to teach the subject within the phases.
LIMITATIONS
CHAPTER SUMMATION
CONCLUSION
INTRODUCTION
TEACHER DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTH AFRICA SINCE 2000
- MIXED MODE OF DELIVERING TEACHER DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES
The most common form of teacher development was through blended delivery systems using a cascade model of teacher development. It also assumes a teacher development bias consistent with this study's focus.
DISTANCE EDUCATION AS A MODE OF TEACHER DEVELOPMENT
- IMPORTANCE OF DISTANCE EDUCATION (DE) IN SOUTH AFRICA
Course materials must be taught in a coherent way that engages students and also ensures that the course material is evaluated. There are enough contact sessions to ensure that learners can achieve the course outcomes.
TEXTBOOKS AS A LEARNING RESOURCE FOR EDUCATION
- SOCIAL SCIENCES: (HISTORY) ASPECT OF TEXTBOOK: A SHIFT FROM CONTENT TO PROCEDURES FROM OLD TO NEW
- GEOGRAPHY TEXTBOOK
- SOCIAL SCIENCES: GEOGRAPHY ASPECT OF TEXTBOOKS
- DESIGNING AND WRITING OF DISTANCE MATERIALS
- SOCIAL SCIENCE IN THE SCHOOL CURRICULUM
- THE SOCIAL SCIENCES LEARNING AREA (SSLA) IN THE RNCS
The spot on social sciences geography aspect of the learners‟ book covers sections such as: 1. According to the author of the SS (history component of the NPDE learner guide), he has never been in favour of the SS learning area. An understanding of the ways in which people and the environment interact in response to physical and human processes;.
CONCLUSION
Knowledge and understanding of the place where they live, of other people and places, the meaning of location and of how people and places relate and are connected to each other; Awareness of spatial relationships and insight into the changing world in a balanced, critical and empathetic way; An informed concern for the world around us and the ability and willingness to participate in actions for a sustainable environment; And.
INTRODUCTION
RESEARCH DESIGN: QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
The researcher wanted to explore how the social science education (SSE) distance education learning material enables the learning of SSE and the teaching thereof. This information could only be ascertained through a qualitative research design as the exploration needed to include an analysis of the conceptualisation of the SSE distance education learning material to get a sense of the intended learning process envisaged through the learning material. Further, the learning material needed to be analysed in a way that exposed the learning content and learning process with a view to understanding what was being taught and how it was being taught through the SSE learning material.
PARADIGM
Most case study research is interpretive and seeks to bring a case to life (Bartlett, Burton and Peim, 2001: 54). The strength of a case study design is that it is very useful for learning about situations that may be poorly understood or about which little is known, as in the case of the SS IP NPDE learning material (Leedy and Ormrod, 2001). . 40 A more appropriate method would be to explore the conceptualization of distance learning materials would be through a case study methodology, as this would allow for the exploration of a single, bounded process of conceptualizing distance learning materials through which rich, deep information can be produced to show, f .eg
Semi-structured interview with the author of the Social Science Intermediate Phase NPDE learning material
The researcher was a student of the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) and this gave her access to information about this programme. The researcher had the experience, knowledge and insights in the learning and teaching of SSE and therefore decided that this course choice would be the most appropriate choice for the boundaries of the exploration. Semi-structured interview with the author of the Social Science Intermediate Phase NPDE learning material.
Document analysis of the National Curriculum Statement (NCS) - Social Sciences
The NPDE program was initially chosen for this exploration, because this was a (then) ongoing program that focused on upgrading underqualified teachers with a further focus on training experienced teachers in teaching the newly introduced OBE curriculum for school education in South Africa. Africa.
Discourse analysis of the NPDE Social Science learner guide
INTERVIEWS AS QUALITATIVE DATA GATHERING
The researcher recorded the interview with a digital recorder and supplemented it with handwritten notes. Here are some questions that the researcher focused on when analyzing the context of the two documents (Cohen, Manion and Morrison. 44 The researcher focused on these few questions when analyzing the writer of the document (Cohen, Manion and Morrison.
Discourse analysis
The above-mentioned questions played a significant role in assisting the researcher while analysing the data. How is the text shaped by purpose, intention, or by what speakers are trying to accomplish. Finally engage in analysing the sentences, words and phrases and deconstructing the text, enables the researcher to analyse the power elements in the text.
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
The researcher transcribed the interview data with the author of the NPDE SS IP curriculum and then analyzed the data for common themes to answer the research questions. The data were therefore presented in three sets, and the sections were influenced by the data production process. The next chapter (Chapter 4) will present in more detail how the data were presented and analyzed.
TRUSTWORTHINESS OF THE DATA PRODUCTION PROCESS
47 Some authors suggest that this is a member checking process that contributes to the reliability of the data produced during the interview process. Therefore, reliability of data production and analysis was ensured by adhering to these questions in the initial reading process. Minor adjustments to these questions were made in the second reading process to gain deeper insights through the analysis process.
ETHICAL CONCERNS
This would then have given a holistic picture of the distance education through distance education learning materials. Considering document analysis of all relevant documents would have gone beyond the scope of a Masters‟ coursework research component of the study programme. This chapter has focused on the research strategies that were employed during the undertaking of the research.
INTRODUCTION
51 Looking at the data from different perspectives offered opportunities to identify key aspects in the texts and formed the first level of analysis. Document analysis provided guidelines for extracting key aspects from the identified documents through pre-defined focuses and questions.
SECTION ONE
This kind of approach to the development of learning materials for teaching a new school subject by un- and under-qualified teachers will most obviously result in the dominance of content knowledge rather than how the content would be taught, as suggested by the author of the SS distance learning material, shown in the above quote. One of the reasons for this kind of approach to the development of teaching materials, especially for distance learning as well as for unqualified and underqualified teachers, would be to avoid complex learning. 55 largely on developing content knowledge, as evidenced by the document analysis of the social science distance learning material developed to train unqualified and underqualified teachers within a temporary qualification that has the primary purpose of bringing unqualified and underqualified teachers to the status of a qualified teacher.
SECTION TWO
- The organisation of global learning across the social science learning material
- The history component of the learning material
- The geography component of the learning material
- Concluding comments on the global analysis of the social science learning guide
It seems that the content, which has been privileged deals with map work and the use of the atlas. The analysis of the global learning guide suggests that the learning of history and geography are compartmentalised. Further, there is no clear learning philosophy that informs the design of the learning material.
FINDINGS FROM THE TEXTUAL ANALYSIS OF A CHAPTER IN THE HISTORY COMPONENT OF THE SS LEARNING GUIDE
- Concluding comments on the content of learning in Unit 1, chapter 2 of the SS learning material
Unit 1, chapter 2 of the SS learning material is devoted to learning the history of Cato Manor, a local community on the outskirts of Durban city. The first section presented data produced through the interview with the author of the learning material for the SS NPDE module. The third section presented a fine-grained analysis of a unit of learning within the history section of the distance learning material for the SSE.
INTRODUCTION
Key finding 1
The first is that the subject content and the intention of the social science education subject are lost through the conceptualisation and construction of the learning material. The structure of the distance learning material is biased towards content knowledge learning rather than how to teach the sections of social science. The second implication of this formatting of the learning content is that integration of subject content knowledge is a difficult task for constructing learning materials.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The focus for learning social science education through the distance learning material is largely content knowledge rather than pedagogical content knowledge. This means that the learning material must be supported by other forms of learning engagement. An analysis of students' experiences of learning a new subject through distance learning.
CONCLUSION
This semi-structured interview schedule is aimed at the authors of the National Professional Diploma in Education (NPDE) intermediate social science learning materials. The purpose of this tool is to explore how the learning and teaching of the integrated social science curriculum takes place within the National Professional Diploma in Education, by conducting a critical analysis of the social science teaching materials in the National Professional Diploma in Education at the University of KwaZulu. Natal. How did you take this into account while writing the NPDE learning guide?
