Unpacking Teachers’ Roles in the implementation of New School Curriculum

Abstract

Teachers play a vital role in the implementation of educational policies and inventions. Without a clear understanding of any programme that teachers have to implement, teachers may not deliver expected outcome. The purpose of this study was to examine the roles of teachers in the implementation of the school curriculum in Namibian schools. The study used a qualitative research methodology, which employed a case study design. Semi structured interview and open-ended questionnaire were used to obtain data from the participants and respondents. The sample was made up of teachers and schools principals who were purposively sampled because of their typicality to the subject of research. The collected data was analysed using thematic analysis method. Key findings reveal that teachers have key roles to play in facilitating the implementation of the new school curriculum. Teachers have a fundamental role to ensure quality implementation of the curriculum. Teachers play an important operational duty of implementing curriculum in the class, and without teachers’ concerted efforts, the quality of curriculum implementation will be compromised. Teachers should also serve as effective collaborators during curriculum implementations. Teachers alone in their own classrooms could hardly implement curriculum effectively, requiring them to collaborate with each other’s on how best they can implement the curriculum collectively. As teachers are key implementers, they should be actively involved in evaluating and assessing learning outcomes of the new curriculum, in order to inform continuous training for improved quality of learning outcomes. Teachers should be cognisant of the key roles that they have to play in ensuring an effective implementation of the new curriculum.