A comparison of the South African and Indonesian teachers preferred curriculum ideology for school science

Abstract

South Africa and Indonesia are currently implementing revised school curricula, which are informed by various socio-scientific, political, and economic imperatives related to global educational reform. Teacher preparedness to implement these curriculum reforms could be affected by their teaching philosophies and preferred curriculum ideologies. The present research sought to determine curriculum ideologies preferred by Indonesian and South African teachers, as a preliminary investigation into teachers’ beliefs about the role of education in different teaching and learning contexts. The research question underlying this non-experimental comparative quantitative research asked: How do South African and Indonesian teachers’ preferred curriculum ideology for school science compare? Data were collected using a previously validated questionnaire from purposively selected science teachers from the two countries. Results indicate that the majority of teachers in both countries generally prefer the student-centered curriculum ideology for school science. Differences were observed between teachers concerning specific aspects of school science. It is concluded that teachers have specific preferred ideologies for school science; however, there are local context-specific factors that inform the preferred ideologies among teachers. Further research is required to determine the impact of the preferred ideologies on teaching and learning and curriculum implementation.