Fostering a Multicultural Science Curriculum in South Africa

Abstract

In recognition of the broad cultural diversity of its citizens, South Africa’s school science curricula are premised on a multiculturalist position that science is culturally produced and that “cultures have disparate ways of understanding the natural world and that different ways of knowing should be recognised as science” (Le Grange South Afr J Higher Educ 18:82–91, 2004, p. 204). From a curriculum ideological perspective, the chapter traces forces that drove the transformation of curriculum policy that inflicted on South African learners a monocultural curriculum that was largely irrelevant to their cultural background, toward a curriculum that assumes a multicultural position where Western modern science and African indigenous knowledge are complementary. The chapter adds to the clamor of voices on the role of multicultural science education and the need for a multicultural science curriculum within the South African context. The authors also explore the validity of the accusation that the tenets of multicultural science, which underlie the new curriculum, remain entrapped in policy and are not being realized at the level of implementation. Accordingly, the authors engage the reader in an introspection of the current status of multicultural science in the country by reviewing research on classroom practices, teacher perspectives on challenges and affordances, and teacher education for a multicultural science curriculum. Based on this analysis, the authors plot a way forward for a multicultural science curriculum in South Africa.