During the years of apartheid (pre 1994) there were two main streams that one could follow while studying at school viz. academic or technical. The majority of South African learners followed the more traditional academic stream allowing some to enter careers as doctors, lawyers, policemen/woman, school teachers and the like, while the remainder ended up jobless. Those pupils who followed the technical stream were considered by some of the more academically inclined persons, to be the 'duller' type of pupil, who could learn a trade and end up as a blue-collar worker. As the cost of technical education has always been much higher than the purely academic courses, the number of schools offering technical subject courses in South Africa has always been in the minority. The entire scene changed after the banning of apartheid (post 1994) and the introduction of the notion of globalisation. Rapid developments suddenly appeared world-wide especially with the introduction of new technologies, mainly in informatics. Suddenly the world seemed to be a much smaller place as one could e-mail, fax, or use a cell phone anywhere in the world at the touch of a button. In order for South Africa to become part of the new world order, and to think about global markets, certain essential changes had to be made firstly to the local environment. A depressed economy needed rejuvenation. There was a growing awareness that serious change was needed in the way children think and learn at school and to start aligning ideas with international trends. To do this, the Department of Education in Pretoria (DoE), decided to radically transform the education sector by introducing a new system of education known as outcomes-based education (OBE). The new OBE system brought with it mixed reactions from the South African public and from the teachers within the system. Many teachers did not want to accept that education could be done in a different way than they had been used to, in the past twenty to forty years. Younger teachers on the other hand did embrace change but are still trying to get the right balance within the prescribed parameters laid down in national education policy documents. To try and achieve such balance, the minister of education called for an independent review committee to re-work the general education and training phase curricula in order for them to be made more 'user-friendly' as many complaints had been received about the policy documents being overly complicated and unmanageable in the normal classroom situation. This process was concluded in May 2001 and Technology education remained as one of the eight new learning areas within the general education and training phase (GET) of South African schooling. The first draft of the Technology education curriculum was handed out for public comment in October 1997 and was used as the basis for a pilot study at selected schools in 1998. This information was used as the basis for analyzing the design of the Technology curriculum at grade 9 level. Grade 9 was selected as it is the final exit from general education and training (GET) into further education and training (FET), and because it was the starting point for the pilot project in 1998. Valuable data was available at the pilot project school sites to be used in this study. Not all the provinces were able to initiate a pilot project due to a number of reasons but those that did viz. Kwazulu/Natal, Gauteng, and the Western Cape were visited individually to collect data. This study therefore 'unpacks' the Technology curriculum into component parts using an analysis tool developed from a theoretical framework. This unpacking of the parts allows one the opportunity to critically check whether or not certain important aspects of the design were omitted either intentionally or unintentionally by the design team (NTT). Chapter one orientates the reader and sets the scene from where I, as researcher, locate myself and what the prevailing conditions are like at South African schools. The study problem is highlighted as are the obstacles that have tended to have an impact on the final curriculum design. Chapter two provides an overview of the related theory associated with the field of curriculum study. Technology education is discussed as broadly as possible within the framework of the new OBE education system for South African schools. Chapter three discusses the methodologies applied to ensure reliability and validity of the findings. The design analysis tool is presented with an explanation of each of the eight components. Chapter four relates an interesting story about the findings. A description of the educational sites is presented together with descriptions of the educators at the six pilot schools, as well as some background of the national technology design team (NTT). All recorded evidence was gathered during personal visits to the schools and individual meetings with the design team members. Chapter five provides a discussion of the data to analyse the Technology curriculum. In this way the reader is directed to the problem areas that were identified and supported the purpose of this curriculum study. Chapter six firstly answers the three critical questions posed in Chapter one. An alternative model for curriculum design and development is presented. This theoretical model is intended to reduce the weaknesses of the present curriculum design if applied to any similar initiative in the future. This will allow educators greater freedom to do what they do best - to teach from a curriculum policy that they clearly understand and are trained to deliver. In this way South African schools and all learners will be rewarded by being well prepared for a variety of challenging careers in the global world that we live in. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Durban-Westville, 2002.

This thesis explores the origins of occupational therapy in South Africa and how its birth, at the end of the Second World War, in a post-colonial era, with an emerging apartheid government, gave rise to an epistemology that was flawed from the start. It was flawed by virtue of its origins within a Eurocentric, paternalistic and male dominated health milieu which itself was strongly under the influence of the reductionistic and prescriptive medical model. It was flawed by virtue of the unnatural and oppressive nature of the country’s governance at the time in which everything, including health care, was designed primarily to benefit those of European descent and disadvantage those of any form of brown skin descent. It was flawed in that it did not collaborate in the design of curricula and research with the very people it served, namely, people with disabilities and black South Africans. Using historical and other relevant documentation, own life experiences, focus groups and the narratives of people with disabilities as data, this thesis attempts to expose the flawed layers described above and exactly how this impacted upon the epistemology of occupational therapy in South Africa. It also explores the changing face of occupational therapy globally and locally as a changing interface between what was then, what is becoming and what has to become in the future. The thesis ends with a flexible model that has multi-dimensional properties that provide multi-dimensional possibilities both in portraying the historical influences upon professional development and in plotting identity and curricula changes. It suggests some inherent principles essential for restructuring the occupational therapy identity and curriculum to meet this identity. It draws sustenance from the resilience that the developing South African occupational therapy profession has displayed, despite all these odds, and attempts to reconcile the errors of the past with the fast-changing face of modern day occupational therapy as it relates to professional practice, theory, contexts, policy and research in South Africa today. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2007.

Curriculum 2005 was originally implemented in grade 1 in 1998. In 2002 it was implemented in grade 9. Similar problems and questions, which arose during the initial implementation, arose again during the implementation in grade 9. Implementation gave rise to many questions and uncertainties. Only in October 2001 was it finally decided to implement the curriculum for grade 9 in 2002. The result was that publishers, the national as well as provincial education departments as well as schools were not ready for the implementation in January 2002. This treatise aims to determine the amount of support offered to educators and the degree of uncertainty still being experienced by them. Information regarding these unnecertainties and problems has been obtained from educators by means of questionnaires, circulated to 38 schools in the Northern Cape Province, offering Natural Science. This sampling of schools is representative of schools offering Natural Science in the region. Data regarding the uncertainties from educators have been obtained from the SOC (Stages of Concern) questionnaires of Hall, George and Rutherford. The rest of the questionnaire concerned the biographical information regarding the educators as well as the support that educators have received during the implementation of the learning area. It emerged from the questionnaire that educators understand the importance of a new Natural Science curriculum for SA. They are however sceptical regarding the hasty manner in which the learning area was implemented; the fact that no textbooks or educational teaching aids were available prior to implementation was of concern. Educators are similarly concerned about the inadequate training prior to implementation and lack of support during implementation. Educators are also concerned about the administrative liability that the new curriculum will bring about.

M.Ed. (Curriculum Studies) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

The aim of the study was to investigate the educators’ perceptions of the Foundation Phase Mathematics Curriculum Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS). This was a case study of eight educators in two primary schools based in Cradock in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. There were six main findings. First, all participants displayed a good general knowledge of CAPS. They saw CAPS as different from NCS in that the former is content driven as opposed to outcomes driven in the latter. Second, all participants were happy that CAPS specifies what is to be taught grade by grade as opposed to NCS which specified outcomes and required educators to construct the content. Third, a feature which participants liked was the weighting of different components of the subjects taught. This was seen as an important guideline that indicates how much time should be spent on each component. Fourth, participants understood that CAPS is not a new curriculum; it is an amendment of the NCS. As such educators used the same teaching strategies and methods. Fifth, participants had reservations about the CAPS assessment guidelines as they were the same as those of the NCS and felt that the guidelines which require educators to discuss assessment criteria with children were not suitable for children in Foundation Phase. Sixth, participants were happy with the CAPS programme of assessment and workbooks .They felt the programme guides their teaching while the workbooks complement their teaching. It can be concluded that educators, on the whole, held positive perceptions about CAPS. They saw it as explicit about the content that is to be taught, and it has clear guidelines about assessment procedures. For this reason it can be seen as an improvement on the NCS. Given the findings, it can be recommended that further research be carried out on how educators’ understanding of CAPS is translated into practical teaching and learning in the classroom. To improve the delivery of CAPS, the Education Department must devise strategies aimed at educator empowerment activities that will enhance their work performance.

M.Ed. (Curriculum Studies) / This research focuses on the role the curriculum plays in the existence of certain types of private schools in the RSA. Private schools in South Africa currently number in excess of 500 and the number is increasing every year. The various private schools claim that they offer curricula suited to the specific needs of certain pupils. A structured interview was compiled and used to interview three different schools namely a volkskool (a people's school), a church school and an independent school. The responses received during the interview were then analysed and interpreted to reach certain conclusions and to put forward certain recommendations. It was inter alia concluded that: The volkskool (people's school) attaches importance to religion and ethnicity. The church school stresses the religious principles of a specific church. The independent school considers the economic demands of the world we live in as of importance. For a child to cope in the adult world he must be academically prepared and qualified. It was furthermore established that the processes of curriculum design and development do take place in private schools. This is inter alia evident from the specific subjects that are offered in certain private schools. While a subject like "Volksgeskiedenis" (History of the people) is offered at volkskole, Church History is taught at church schools, and independent schools concentrate on, for instance, Life Skills to prepare their respective pupils towards eventual choices of career. It is then concluded that to effect a stable education environment private schools should be given the greatest amount of freedom to compile their own curricula.

This study sets out to develop a framework for the analysis of a school subject and uses as a focal study the NAC drama syllabus developed in1994. Drawing in the main on Basil Bernstein's theory of curriculum, an analysis is made of how a syllabus is constituted through recontextualizing, using the theoretical concepts of voice and identity, classification and framing, and hierarchy. The discourses that have been recontextualized in the formation of the syllabus are identified. Two sets of discourses are identified: educational policy discourses (namely the discourses of progressivism, utilitarianism and reconstruction and development) and educational drama discourses. The specialization of voice in the syllabus marks out the academic identity, and is an indicator of educational drama discourses evident in the syllabus. The specialization of identity marks out projected social identities, indicating the recruitment of educational policy discourses in the constitution of the syllabus. The field in which the syllabus is constructed is also examined, which following Bernstein is defined as the recontextualizing field. The syllabus writers, located in this field, act selectively on the educational policy and educational drama discourses in constituting the syllabus. The rules for selection in the development of the syllabus are examined, and these are related to the syllabus writers' situation within the recontextualizing field. It is argued that the syllabus writers are positioned subordinately within the field, and that this factor to a large extent regulates the operation of educational policy discourses as rules for selection in the drawing up of the syllabus .

Thesis (M. Ed. (Educational Studies)) -- University of Limpopo, 2013 / This research was based on the challenges faced by lecturers in the implementation of the National Certificate Vocational (NCV) curriculum at Mopani South East FET College. The common idea was that the new NCV curriculum in South Africa was going to keep abreast of changes with the population. However, the implementation of the NCV curriculum was not as effective as expected. This was demonstrated by the fact that in 2007, numerous students in NCV Level 2, did not manage to progress to the next level. The through-put rate was low in almost all the programmes. Therefore, the researcher was led to believe that lecturers were finding it difficult to implement the new NCV curriculum. In order to explore challenges faced by lecturers in the implementation of the NCV curriculum at Mopani South East FET, the researcher discussed different perspectives of and the rationale for curriculum change and implementation in different parts of the world including South Africa. The curriculum changes and implementation were discussed considering some of the countries, such as Romania, China, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United States of America (USA), Malawi, Mozambique and South Africa. Scholars have proven that for effective curriculum implementation, there are a number of ideas, which cannot be undermined, especially when there are curriculum changes. It referred to issues, such as the availability of curriculum plans, proper curriculum implementation management and leadership and continuous development of all the implementers. The aim of the study was to explore the challenges faced by lecturers in the implementation of the NCV curriculum at Mopani South East FET College. There were three objectives to this study, Firstly, to establish obstacles, which hindered the implementation of the NCV curriculum, secondly, explore what the causes for these obstacles were, and thirdly, describe the extent, to which these obstacles affected the implementation of NCV curriculum. The challenges faced by lecturers in the implementation of the NCV at Mopani South East FET College were investigated in order to achieve the stated objectives. The findings of this study provided conclusions and implications to NCV curriculum lecturers as well as policy makers; and added a body of knowledge in curriculum implementation. v A qualitative research method was used for the purpose of this study. Interviews and document analyses were used in order to gather information. The findings from this research project focused on four themes a) physical resources; b) student matters; c) staff matters and d) management matters. After considering the findings and results from the interviews and documents analyses, the researcher was convinced that further research could be undertaken in line with the relevant lecturer qualifications, academic and staff development for the FET sector, articulation of the NCV curriculum by businesses, monitoring and evaluation of the NCV curriculum implementation by campus, college management, as well as relevant provincial and national officials. In conclusion, the researcher believes that this study would play a very significant role to assist lecturers teaching or lecturing the NCV programmes, additionally, add to the body of knowledge in curriculum implementation and be of use to policy makers. Eventually, it will assist in bringing the desired expectations by Mopani South East FET College and the Department of Higher Education and Training (DoHET) to fruition.

This study explores the meaning of relevant science in two townships in Cape Town. Reform in science education, both nationally and internationally has placed much emphasis on the fact that science education should be relevant. The research conducted in this study attempts to interpret different dimensions of relevance. This study explores not only how learners make meaning of their everyday lives, but what 'science' they deem to be relevant and worth learning within this context. It acknowledges the important role of teachers in establishing what learners perceive to be relevant. The theory of social constructivism is suited to this investigation, in its recognition of the roles of children's knowledge, purposes, social groups and interactions in learning. The children in this study often have personal lives steeped in poverty, abuse and violence. The curriculum design is also guided by social constructivist theories. However, a second version of constructivism, critical constructivism, is used to frame the second phase of the study. A critical constructivist approach raises questions about the type of knowledge learners interact with. In critical constructivism, science and its methods, the curriculum and the classroom are opened up to critical inquiry. Teachers' knowledge of their learners is used to design science lessons that are more meaningful, relevant and personalised. The individual lessons, as well as the lesson series that are used in this study are designed as examples of relevant science, while the lesson series also serves as a tool to elicit deeper understandings of what learners in this particular context experience as relevant to their lives. Although the main focus of this research is the relevance of using everyday knowledge in the classroom, bringing everyday knowledge into the classroom allows for the inclusion of a number of dimensions of relevance. The different ways in which learners respond to the science lessons in both phases are discussed as five outcomes. The findings of the research show that the essence of a relevant science curriculum lies in a particular design. This design accommodates many dimensions of relevance, such as relevant content, context and purposes. Such as design helps learners to negotiate the difficult border between the formal school environment and the informal home environment. A relevant curriculum acknowledges that science education is more than only science, but also recognises the implications for science curriculum development. This study is part of a larger project which is a comprehensive evaluation of the Primary Science Programme (PSP). The PSP gave the research its full support as the investigation of relevance may have an influence on curriculum design. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2005.

M.Ed. (Curriculum Studies) / The purpose of this study is to get parents of black pupils in the senior primary phase of state-aided (model C) schools to evaluate the curriculum. After a short period of gradually being opened to pupils ,of all races, schools which has obviously been-government schools became state-aided, or semi-private schools. This meant that school had the liberty to decide on their own admissions policy. Most English medium schools became-so called open schools, that is, they decided to admit pupils of all races. Although the target population for the curriculum had thus changed, there was no adjustment to the curriculum. Teaching carried on as it had always done, with there being no mention of any form of multicultural education; the schools became assimilatory schools. In order to determine the attitude of the parents and to gauge what could be done about this problem, this study was embarked upon. A literature study of the curriculum, multicultural education and parental involvement in their child's schooling, with particular reference to the curriculum, was conducted in order to serve as a theoretical background and to act as a yardstick against which conclusions and recommendations could be made.