Abstract
Despite the worldwide interest on transforming curricula, a case study examination of what really happens within an ODeL South African university context, has been much limited. By using psycho-social and social identity theory, we highlight the complexities involved in the process of transforming decades of teaching and learning practices. The reports from five colleges highlighted three key themes namely curriculum responsiveness, decolonization and identity issues. From these we developed a framework to help capture some of the complexities, identified implications and charted a new direction for future studies within the South African post-colonial and post-apartheid arena.
Highlights
Whilst the important role that universities play in contributing to developed and developing countries citizens’ educational, socio-political and economic emancipation has been highlighted (Freire, 1996) previous studies have noted South Africa’s educational development in this area (Botha, 2002)
This paper has used college reports to analyse the implementation of curriculum transformation in one but in the University of South Africa’s seven colleges
A new framework that highlights curriculum responsiveness, decolonising curriculum content and practical pedagogy has drawn focus on the scholarly activities undertaken by colleges within MyUnisa
Summary
Whilst the important role that universities play in contributing to developed and developing countries citizens’ educational, socio-political and economic emancipation has been highlighted (Freire, 1996) previous studies have noted South Africa’s educational development in this area (Botha, 2002). The challenges of curriculum transformation are global (West, 2014) but the educational crisis in balancing teaching and learning content and its transformation have received limited attention (Mendy, 2018b; Spaull, 2013). Despite research highlighting the usefulness of curriculum transformation in society, localised higher education (HE) settings in which such renewal occurs have mostly gone unnoticed (Denson & Bowman, 2013). Curriculum transformation, referred to as curriculum reform or renewal, includes changes made to teaching and learning content (Esakov, 2009; Clark, 2002; Shay, 2015). The term/concept refers to the practices and processes that higher education institutions (HEIs) use as part of their social responsibility, engaging with and responding to concerns and problems such as the need for Africanisation (West, 2017).
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