Thesis (PhD (Education Policy Studies))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009 / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The core question that is addressed in this dissertation is: “How can we think differently about education in order to transcend the predicament that outcomes-based assessment poses for teachers and the practice of teaching?” This question is addressed against the background of my own narrative and experience in education in South Africa and in dialogue with the ideas of a number of contemporary philosophers. I assume an internal link between the outcomes-based discourse and its attendant assessment system. I argue that although outcomes-based education is proclaimed to be a progressive pedagogy, an alternative argument can be made that characterises it as an old behaviourist, management theory, overlain by a new policy technology called performativity. Thereafter, I engage critically with outcomes-based assessment as a prime example of performativity. In the next step I explore the ways in which outcomes-based assessment poses a predicament to teachers and to the practice of teaching. I then construct an alternative view of education that, in my opinion, provides a way to transcend the predicament that outcomes-based assessment poses for teachers and the practice of teaching. I also compare my alternative view of education with a new notion of education as therapy and standing in need of therapy, which is also presented as an alternative to instrumental approaches to education. Thereafter I consider the implications of my alternative view of education for teachers and assessment. I consider potential critiques against my argument at various stages in this dissertation. In the final chapter, I anticipate five more potential critiques against the argument developed in this dissertation and give initial responses to these. At the end of this dissertation I extend an invitation to deliberation in the spirit of my alternative view of education. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die kernvraag wat in hierdie proefskrif aan bod kom, is: “Hoe kan ons anders dink oor onderwys sodat die penarie wat uitkomsgebaseerde assessering vir onderwysers en die onderwyspraktyk meebring, oorkom kan word? Die vraag word beredeneer teen die agtergrond van my eie narratief en ervaring in onderwys in Suid-Afrika en in dialoog met die idees van ’n aantal kontemporêre filosowe. Ek veronderstel ’n interne skakel tussen die uitkomsgebaseerde diskoers en die verbandhoudende assesseringstelsel. Ek voer aan dat hoewel uitkomsgebaseerde onderwys as ’n progressiewe pedagogie voorgehou word, ’n alternatiewe argument gemaak kan word wat dit as ’n ou, behavioristiese bestuursteorie beskryf, wat oordek is met ’n nuwe beleidstegnologie genaamd performatiwiteit. Daarna gaan ek krities om met uitkomsgebaseerde assessering as ’n primêre voorbeeld van performatiwiteit. In die volgende stap verken ek die maniere waarop uitkomsgebaseerde assessering ’n penarie vir onderwysers en die onderwyspraktyk voorhou. Ek ontwikkel dan ’n alternatiewe beskouing van opvoeding wat, na my mening, ’n manier verskaf om die penarie wat assessering vir onderwysers en die onderwyspraktyk veroorsaak, te oorkom. Ek vergelyk ook my alternatiewe beskouing van onderwys met ’n nuwe konsep van onderwys as terapie en as behoeftig aan terapie, wat ook as ’n alternatief vir instrumentele benaderings tot onderwys aangebied word. Daarna oorweeg ek die implikasies van my alternatiewe beskouing van onderwys vir onderwysers en assessering. Ek oorweeg op verskillende stadiums in hierdie proefskrif potensiële punte van kritiek teen my argument. In die laaste hoofstuk antisipeer ek vyf bykomende potensiële punte van kritiek teen die argument wat in hierdie proefskrif ontwikkel is en gee aanvanklike reaksies daarop. Teen die einde van hierdie proefskrif rig ek ’n uitnodiging tot beraadslaging in die gees van my alternatiewe beskouing van opvoeding.

Thesis (PhD (Curriculum Studies))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / Bibliography / The implementation of OBE has significant implications for teachers’ work; adopting an OBE approach entails reconstruction of professional knowledge and a redefinition of planning procedures, teaching approaches and assessment practices. A teacher attempting to make sense of OBE, learning outcomes, assessment standards, band levels, NQF, etc. will inevitably bring his/her worldviews, past experiences and beliefs into the process of teaching and learning, and would also need to engage with new concepts to keep track of the changes in meaning and priorities. Within this changing education scenario OBE, as an initiative, offers opportunities for new pedagogies to flourish, marking a departure from the safe haven of traditional pedagogy. Therefore a perspective on teachers’ beliefs regarding OBE can provide an alternative interpretive lens for researchers through understanding teachers’ actions and thoughts. Purpose: The aim was to examine strategies teachers employ in their classrooms in response to their beliefs about OBE. Teachers’ epistemological beliefs were explored and linked to OBE pedagogical frameworks and classroom management practices. Their belief systems were divided into three categories – the teachers’ views about OBE, mathematics knowledge, and the teaching and learning of mathematics. This study was based on the belief that conceptions are specific meanings given to phenomena, derived from different experiences involved in helping individuals make sense of their world. Furthermore, those worldviews in turn influence how new information is perceived. Methodology: The researcher adopted a qualitative exploratory design. The method of choice for this study was a combination of elements of phenomenology and ethnography. Nineteen teachers were interviewed and observed. The sample was drawn from two former Model C schools and three township schools. Data were analysed qualitatively. Findings: The findings confirmed that there are multiple beliefs that constitute a personal epistemology. Therefore, to investigate some unique entities of the belief system such as OBE requires examining the broader belief system. The majority of teachers responded to OBE implementation with uncertainty, anger, frustration and anxiety. In the absence of certainty about OBE and faced with a myriad of classroom iv challenges, teachers relied on their experience to make decisions regarding what was important to know, they drew on their own personal teaching theories more than what they thought about OBE to make judgments of learning processes. This study concludes that the link between teachers’ beliefs, conceptualisation of OBE and teaching practice is weak. Their beliefs about the nature of mathematics knowledge, teaching and learning mathematics had stronger connections with, and represented the basis for teachers’ pedagogical purpose behind their preferred teaching practice.

1. This pilot study is a survey of practices of natural sciences educators at Cape College of Education to establish if they reflect the conceptual development, development of skills, change of attitudes and values that are the pillars of the Outcomes Based Education (OBE). Their approaches of lecturing have been assessed to determine if they incorporate investigative approaches based on social constructivism, the theory underpinning Curriculum 2005. The status of science education in the college has been analyzed to establish whether the curriculum can adapt itself to the specifications of the new curriculum. It has been concluded that the educators at Cape College of Education need to be empowered about strategies that will help them function along the principles embracing Curriculum 2005 specifications. The educators have shown not to be ready to practice social constructivism and the assessment strategies incorporated in their programmes do not embrace a variety of approaches that will enable their learners to develop conceptually, skill wise and enable them to develop change in attitudes and values. Investigative approaches to practical work appear to be lacking in the college teaching/learning and this also indicates that Curriculum 2005 will take time to be properly implemented at Cape College of Education. 2. This study is based on the practices of science educators in the squatter-camp school in Khayelitsha, a densely populated area for blacks near Cape Town. Teachers at Vuselela primary school were interviewed about their teaching assessment strategies to establish whether they incorporate a learner centred approach, which is the necessity for the Outcomes Based Education approach. Also some of the lessons they taught were observed in order to find out whether they validate what transpired from the interviews through a process of triangulation. It has become evident that the teachers are to some extent aware of the changes the education system is going through in South Africa. It also became clear from the study that the teachers are still lacking expertise as to how to practice along the lines of Curriculum 2005, the South African version of Outcomes Based Education (OBE). They also showed that they are keen to learn and practice OBE even though more opportunities need to be created for their epistemological empowerment as well as empowerment on the content of science.