Abstract
Post-apartheid South African curriculum reforms, from outcomes-based education (OBE) to the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS), resulted in different challenges. Teachers, in particular those teaching Physical Sciences in the Further Education and Training (FET) phase from Grades 10-12, were expected to cope with changes and master Physical Sciences curriculum for the attainment of good results, but were unable to do so because they were missing an understanding of curriculum concepts. The success of any curriculum depends on ten fundamental and broad curriculum concepts: rationale, goals, activities, assessment, accessibility, resources, content, roles, environment, and time. However, empirical findings show that Grade 12 Physical Science teachers in South African schools still struggle to understand and contextualise curriculum concepts in order to redefine specific CAPS Physical Science concepts. Consequently, this conceptual study uses Van den Akker (2004) curriculum spider web concept framework in reconceptualising Grade 12 CAPS Physical Science concepts. This study argues that teaching without knowing specific subject curriculum concepts can lead to poor teacher performance and poor subject results, this study concludes by proposing a formal, non-formal and informal framework for CAPS Physical Science to resolve this.
Highlights
The reconceptualisation of the curriculum started in the mid-20th century when Tyler (1949b) curriculum paradigm was critiqued as ‘traditional’, since it focused more on goals to be achieved, content to be covered, organisation/pedagogy, and assessment (Pinar', 1975)
The framework outlined ten fundamental and broad curriculum concepts that needs to be considered in order to reconceptualise any curriculum, which includes rationale, goals, activities, assessment, accessibility, resources, content, roles, environment, and time
In reconceptualising Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) Physical Science, the study synthesised ten specific curriculum concepts that need to be understood for effective teaching and learning in order to ensure good results
Summary
The reconceptualisation of the curriculum started in the mid-20th century when Tyler (1949b) curriculum paradigm was critiqued as ‘traditional’, since it focused more on goals to be achieved, content to be covered, organisation/pedagogy, and assessment (Pinar', 1975). Implement and evaluate it according to the plan (policy documents, the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement [CAPS]), as this leads to radical transformation of curriculum implementation This suggests that reconceptualisation of CAPS Physical science may assist teachers to have an in-depth understanding of the subject with its related implementation challenges, in order bring about necessary changes for effective teaching and learning. After the NATED curriculum was reviewed, Curriculum 2005 (C2005) was developed using the OBE approach and introduced in 1998 (second cycle); it was radically learner-centred and competence-based, driven by set outcomes, and included a statement of intention to be achieved by learners (Khoza, 2015a; Ramrathan-, 2010) This suggests that there was no specified learning content, but that teachers and learners were expected to select their own content in order to achieve the set outcomes that students needed to achieve life and industry skills.
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