The objective of this study was to evaluate the implementation of the new History curriculum at Grade 10 level of Further Education and Training band in the Qumbu district of the Eastern Cape Province. The focus of the study was on evaluating: (a) the extent to which the new History curriculum was implemented as intended; (b) concerns harboured by History educators in relation to the new History curriculum; and the (c) degree of support undertaken by principals in the implementation of the new History curriculum. A review of literature related to the implementation, evaluation and support in curriculum implementation was done. It was the basis for establishing a theoretical framework. The approach used in the study was the survey method. Data was gathered by means of a Stages of Concern (SoC) questionnaire and principal intervention questionnaire. The sample was made up of 15 educators from 15 high schools. The findings indicate that History educators have intense concerns about the new History curriculum. Also, the data shows that principals provide support during the implementation of the new History curriculum. However, the data indicates an occurrence of a disjuncture. It seems that there is no correlation between the intensity of educator concerns and the degree of support undertaken by the principals. It is acknowledged that due to the limitations of this study, further studies on curriculum implementation should be done. It should encapsulate the use of an interview schedule and observation method of data gathering. It is recommended that principals should be trained by the Eastern Cape Department of Education by using stages of concern as the diagnostic tool of evaluating the degree of curriculum implementation. Principals should undertake to provide relevant and effective support to educators during curriculum implementation. Support should be provided according to the findings of the study.

In schools in the Amathole District and throughout the rest of South Africa efforts are being made to encourage learners to pursue the Science and Applied Science curriculum stream in Grades 10 to 12. The aim of this study was both to determine and to explore those factors which, according to grade 9 learners, would either attract them to or deter them from following the Science and Applied Science curriculum stream from Grade 10 onwards. The study also sought to ascertain the views of teachers regarding the issues raised by the learners. A sample comprising 346 learners and 3 teachers were involved in the study. Using both quantitative and qualitative methods within the context of a post-positivist paradigm and utilising questionnaires and interviews, the study found that, consistent with existing research, there are both intrinsic and extrinsic related factors which play a role in the intention of learners to consider pursuing the Science and Applied Science curriculum stream. The intrinsic factors include learners‟ enjoyment of practical work and love for the Science and Applied Science. Extrinsic factors include perception that jobs in the field of Science and Applied Science compensate well. However, it was the intrinsic factors that pushed the learners to have the intention to follow the Science and Applied Science curriculum stream. Sociological, economic and personal dynamics seem to account for these patterns in the results. By contrast, two key sets of factors deterred the learners from the Science and Applied Science curriculum stream. One relates to factors in their internal loci of control, and the other to factors in learners‟ external loci of control. The internal locus of control factors had a greater influence, which suggests, according to attribution theorists, that the learners were inclined to look within themselves for the reasons that deterred them from the Science and Applied Science curriculum stream. In addition, a cluster analysis was conducted to ascertain whether the demographic profiles of the learners played a role in respect of their intention to pursue the Science and Applied Science curriculum stream. This cluster analysis revealed that, in terms of gender, males were more inclined than females to follow the Science and Applied Science stream. However, it was also significant that peer influence played an important role in attracting males to the Science and Applied Science curriculum stream, whereas it was career interest factors that attracted the females. In terms of ethnic groups, Indians and blacks were more inclined than coloureds and whites to follow the Science and Applied Science stream with whites being the least attracted to this stream. Career choice dynamics provide some explanations for these outcomes. The key contribution of this study lies in the fact that the study has shown that practical work as a teaching strategy may result in greater learner participation in the Science and Applied Science curriculum stream. The study recommends that, in order to promote greater participation in the Science and Applied Science curriculum stream in schools, strategies related to teaching in terms of which both genders are taken into consideration should be implemented. Other recommendations were also made. Nevertheless, it must be borne in mind that the study is a case study and that it is, therefore, not possible to generalise the findings.

Bibliography: pages 299-310. / This study explores the contribution that the learners and the teacher made to curriculum development in a process approach to English as a second language for adults. The research was carried out with a group of workers attending a basic English course in an adult education programme on the East Rand. This study covers the entire sixteen month period from 1986 to 1987, and was carried out by the teacher-as-researcher. The research methodology was a form of illuminative evaluation, using syllabus accounts. These accounts provided a record of what took place in the classroom and were organised into three main themes. Subsequent analysis of the accounts focussed on learner and teacher roles in determining the learning experiences generated in the classroom. These findings were then re-examined in the light of the literature on process approaches. Conclusions were drawn about these roles and the implications for teacher development and learner training. Subsequently these conclusions were presented as illuminative data to reflect upon the curriculum framework underlying process approaches. The conclusions drawn in this study challenge the assumption that learners and the teacher jointly and equally negotiate learning in a process approach. Instead they suggest that the teacher is very much in control as the overall manager of curriculum development, and that learners are secondary agents in this endeavour. The roles of both parties are also more complex and more interlinked than the literature implies. Following this, conclusions were drawn about the roles that learners and the teacher played in curriculum development in this study. The research went on to examine the broader implications of these findings, by assessing the feasibility of a process approach for large-scale adult basic education work in South Africa. From this assessment, a new 'hybrid' approach was proposed which retains important features of a process approach while modifying it to make it more accessible and appropriate for South Africa's needs. Finally, the study identified future research directions.

Educational Studies / DED (DIDACTICS)

Thesis (masters)--University of South Africa, 2001.

Post-1994 South Africa adopted a new education system that would break the past practices of the apartheid education system. The immense disparity in the provision of education for the vast majority of South Africans was the main reason for educational transformation. Curriculum change emerged as key focus in restructuring the educational system and strong emphasis was placed on effective management and leadership of curriculum in schools. The changes in curriculum meant that school principals had to operate within new paradigms of management and leadership of curriculum; this potentially brought about many challenges. A qualitative research design was employed to answer the research questions which would be integrated with the aim of the study in a logical way. The aim of the study was to explore the challenges faced by primary school principals in curriculum management. Data was generated by means of open-ended interview questions and non-participative observation to provide a rich description and explanation of what challenges principals face in managing the curriculum in their particular contexts. The literature review revealed that principals do face many challenges in the quest to effectively manage the curriculum to achieve the desired goals. As curriculum leaders, they have an important role to play in setting the tone to provide direction, executing their roles as both curriculum leaders and managers, and building democratic schools. To keep up and cope effectively with the constant and rapid educational change, principals are also urged to be supportive, demonstrate supporting leadership and professionalism, and acquire new learning and thinking skills to manage the curriculum. Therefore, by developing a better understanding of the curriculum, the principal will be able to give effective direction and empower his staff, by guiding and supporting them in curriculum practices. Ironically, leadership skills are essential for providing effective leadership; the leader must possess a sense of purpose and direction. The challenge is to develop leaders’ sensitivity and knowledge so that they know when to be directive and when to act within a collaborative framework. The research findings indicated that principals try to fulfil their roles and responsibilities as curriculum leaders but face some challenges such as lack of knowledge, resources, low motivation of educators and a large workload, among others. The study concludes by pointing out that although principals try to perform their roles and responsibilities as curriculum leaders, they still require training and ongoing support to execute certain aspects of their duties. / Educational Leadership and Management / M. Ed. (Education Management)

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The provision of quality education for all South African learners has been an issue of central concern since the advent of the democratic dispensation in 1994. One initiative since 1998 was the implementation of a new curriculum for South African public schools, C2005 as it was then called. This curriculum was later revised and streamlined as the NCS. There was a mixed reception to this new curriculum. Some perceived it as a progressive initiative by the Ministry of Education, while others argued that it was ambitious and that it undermined the conditions and context of South African schools. Essentially the curriculum policy implementation was intended to change the entire system and introduce new ways of doing in all sectors of education. This links strongly to processes of systemic change and that is the considered policy backdrop to this research. In this study I work from an interpretive perspective and draw on the cognitive sense-making framework to develop in-depth, understanding of teachers’ roles as interpreters and enactors of education policy change in South Africa related to the implementation of the NCS. More specifically, the study examines the ways in which six Arts and Culture school teachers in six diverse South African educational contexts experienced and responded to the implementation of the NCS. Data from the study indicates that teachers found it difficult to adjust to the more complex and demanding teaching methodologies, which took up a great deal of time and required very different roles in the classrooms. Data from the study also suggests that the way teachers come to understand and enact policy or reform initiatives is influenced by their prior knowledge, the social context within which they work, and the nature of their connections to the policy or reform message. The study further suggests that teachers adapt a curriculum rather than adopt it as it is, and that their prior understandings and beliefs about knowledge, beliefs and experiences combined with their contexts in which they work frame their classroom practices explaining why policy is not enacted as intended. Conceptualising the problem of policy implementation in this way focuses attention on how implementing agents construct the meaning of a policy message and their own behaviour, and how this process leads, or does not lead, to a change in how they view their own practice, potentially leading to changes in both understanding and behaviour. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die voorsiening van kwaliteit-opvoeding vir alle Suid-Afrikaanse leerders was ʼnsentrale besorgdheid na die totstandkoming van die nuwe demoktratiese bestel in 1994. ʼnInisiatief was die implementering van ʼn nuwe kurrikulum vir Suid-Afrikaanse openbare skole sedert 1998, die C2005 of NKV soos dit tans bekend staan. Die instelling van hierdie kurrikulum was op verskeie maniere ontvang. Sommige het dit as ’n progressiewe inisiatief van die Ministerie van Onderwys beskou, terwyl ander verskillende perspektiewe het en geargumenteer het dat dit ambisieus is en die toestande en konteks van SA skole ondermyn. Vir onderwysers was die resultaat na die oorgang van meer komplekse en veeleiesende onderrigmetdologie moeilik, omdat dit baie tyd geverg het en swaar gerus het om hulle rolle in die klaskamer te verklaar. Wat belangrik was, is dat die doel van hierdie kurrikulum beleidsveranderinge daarop gemik was om die totale skolestelsel te transformeer tot ’n vernuwende manier van hoe dinge in alle sektore van die onderwysstelse egter behoort gedoen te word. Dit sluit sterk aan by prosesse van sistemiese veranderinge en hierdie is die oorwegende beleidsagtergrond van hierdie navorsing. Die doel van die studie was om maniere te ondersoek hoe ses Kuns en Kultuur onderwysers in verskillende onderwyskontekste die NKV ervaar en hoe hulle daarop reageer, veral in die Kuns en Kultuur leerarea omgewing. Die studie was meer spesifiek daarop gemik om te eksamineer hoe onderwysers die KK leer-area in die klaskamer aanneem, aanpas en implementeer. Die studie openbaar, deur die kognitiewe raamwerk te gebruik, dat die wyse waarop onderwysers die beleid of hervormings-inisiatiewe verstaan en begryp, beïnvloed word deur hulle bestaande kennis, die konteks waarin hulle werk en die aard van hulle verbintenis tot die beleid of hervormings boodskap. Die studie suggereer verder dat onderwysers ’n kurrikulum aanneem soos wat dit is en dat hulle bestaande begrippe en opvattings in verband met kennis en opvattings en ervaringe gekombineer word met die kontekste waarin hulle werk en dat dit hulle klaskamer praktyke vorm en hierdeur word verduidelik waarom beleid nie kan plaasvind soos wat dit beplan is nie.

Thesis (MEd (Curriculum Studies))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / This thesis analyses the potential of resource materials to facilitate NCS (National Curriculum Statement) curriculum development processes related to the teaching of Natural Science in the Primary School. The resource, We Care learning support materials, was presented to teachers within the context of an INSET programme. During the course of investigating two teachers’ curricular activities as they engaged the We Care materials, their professional development is traced as an outcome that parallels their curriculum activities. Case study research, consistent with the interpretive paradigm, served this study. With respect to the evidence acquired, the curriculum development activities and associated indications of teacher learning were scrutinized concomitantly. Working within a guiding framework, I chronicled the teachers’ involvement with the We Care learning support materials and detailed their curricular processes. At the same time, I monitored indications of professional development that associated with these processes. Likewise, professional development indicators were used to establish teacher learning.

Thesis (MPhil (Curriculum Studies))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / Curriculum changes that have occurred in most South African dental schools have been influenced by several factors such as organizational outlook (the dental school as a learning organization), legislative frameworks that have had an influence on higher education in South Africa and epistemological interpretations of these changes by educators within dental schools. Very little is known about how medical and dental educators experience curricular change or innovations that in effect may contest their established pedagogical views. They themselves (especially those who have been teaching for many years) are products of a teacher-centred approach to learning. This, therefore, means they may have a product orientation rather than a process orientation to curriculum development. What may have been overlooked is that challenges and successes of curricular reform or revision may also be influenced by challenges to the established identity and role of teachers involved, and that some teachers’ perceptions about teaching may be in conflict with the recommended changes or innovations. The purpose of this study therefore, was to explore the influence (if any) on South African dental educators’ perceptions towards curriculum change or innovation which has occurred in the dental schools and to assess their orientation to modern pedagogic practice. The objectives of the study were twofold. Firstly to determine the South African dental educators’ perceptions and pedagogic practices to the following trends in health sciences education viz. curriculum organization, education for capability, community orientation, self-directed learning, problem-based learning, evidence-based health sciences education, communication and information technology and service learning. The second objective was to determine the influence of socio-demographic variables to the dental educators’ perceptions and pedagogic practices. Data was collected through a questionnaire which was sent to all educators at dental schools. At the time of conducting this study there were 220 educators; 168 educators responded to the questionnaire. There was a 76% response rate to the questionnaire. The data was processed utilizing responses and coding them into a computerized data set. It was coded, edited and checked using the procedures provided by the Statistical Analysis System (SAS) in order to work out the various calculations relevant to the study. The SAS FREQ procedure was used to calculate the descriptive statistics needed. The study indicated that the teacher-centred paradigm is still predominant, even though the educators claimed to be using some aspects of modern pedagogic practice. One socio-demographic variable that had a significant influence (p<0,05) on community orientation was the age of the educator. Another variable that had a significant influence on evidence-based health sciences education was number of years in academic dentistry.

Thesis (MEd)--University of Stellenbosch, 2002. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Presently(2002) South Africa finds itself in the centre of a transformation process as far as the provision of education is concerned. Curriculum restructuring is an ongoing process. An exciting development which is coupled herewith is the dissemination of curriculum information, in order to implement outcomes directed curriculum development successfully. This implies that educators must be able to handle these challenges; it demands that they have to be empowered in respect of appropriate curriculum knowledge and skills. In the concept document "Revised National Curriculum Statement for gr. R-9" specific mention is made of the fact that pupils should in future become familiar with the process of writing, which includes prewriting, concept writing, revision, editing and publishing. Indeed a great challenge for educators, acting as facilitators. When learners write, they must follow the aforesaid process. The fact that language, oral as well as written, assists pupils in brightening their thoughts and conveying their observations while they are forming and testing ideas, researcher is of the opinion that more time should be spent on the purposeful teaching of writing in the intermediate phase (gr. 4-6). In the light of the aforesaid the aim of this thesis was to establish, by means of a questionnaire, whether primary schools, and more specific the intermediate phase (gr. 4- 6), are implementing a writing development programme in which the process approach to writing forms an integral part of the teaching. The gathered information was used to suggest strategies for the implementation of a process approach to writing development. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Tans (2002) IS Suid-Afrika midde-in 'n transformasieproses In soverre dit onderwysvoorsiening betref. Kurrikulumherstrukturering vind voortdurend plaas. 'n Opwindende ontwikkeling wat met hierdie herstrukturering gepaard gaan, is die disseminering van kurrikulurninligting om uitkomsgerigte kurrikulumontwikkeling suksesvol te implementeer. Dit impliseer dat onderwysers in staat moet wees om hierdie uitdagings te kan hanteer; dit vereis dat hulle ten opsigte van toepaslike kurrikulumkennis en vaardighede bemagtig moet word. In die konsepdokument "Revised National Curriculum Statement for gr. R-9" word spesifiek daarna verwys dat leerders moet leer dat skryfwerk 'n proses is wat die volgende insluit: preskryf, konsepskryf, hersiening, redigering en publisering. Wanneer leerders dus skryf, moet hulle dié skryfproses volg. Omdat die gebruik van taal, mondeling sowel as skriftelik, leerders help om hulle denke te verhelder en hul waarnemings oor te dra terwyl hul idees vorm en toets, is navorser van mening dat meer tyd aan skryfonderrig in die intermediêre fase (gr.4-6) afgestaan moet word. Die probleem wat in hierdie tesis ondersoek is, is of 'n prosesbenadering tot skryfonderrig, waarin die onderwyser sy onderrig aan die hand van die kurrikulum en leerderkennis en - insette uitbou met doelbewuste onderrig van die skryfproses, en 'n daarmee gepaardgaande geleide komponent waaronder verstaan word die onderrig van skryfvaardighede, 'n bruikbare metode vir skryfonderrig in die intermediêre fase (gr.2-6) is. 'n Empiriese vraelysondersoek is by laerskole gedoen, en die verkreë inligting is gebruik om voorstelle aan die hand te doen waarvolgens 'n prosesgerigte skryfontwikkelingsprogram geïmplementeer kan word.