Chapter Seven: Waiting to Learn - Pedagogy Under Curriculum 2005 PDF

Chapter Seven (Waiting to learn: Pedagogy under Curriculum 2005) This chapter details the “why” of teaching and learning (philosophical questions - interviews). The chapter is based on a study of classrooms shortly after the implementation of C2005 (1998). Four case studies of Grade 1 classrooms foc...

Chapter Seven (Waiting to learn: Pedagogy under Curriculum 2005) This chapter details the “why” of teaching and learning (philosophical questions - interviews). The chapter is based on a study of classrooms shortly after the implementation of C2005 (1998). Four case studies of Grade 1 classrooms focus on the nature of the pedagogic form that emerged in the early days of the first post-apartheid curriculum regime. The chapter presents an analysis of those classrooms, showing some of the consequences of the new reforms, especially the particular interpretation of learner-centred pedagogy observed in the classrooms and the consequences of the abandonment of knowledge signalling in the curriculum described in Chapter 6. …a focus on what was being transmitted in the classrooms (descriptive questions – document analysis). …how content was transmitted (operational questions - observations). The schools and classrooms They were in Khayelitsha township, approximately 30 km from the city of Cape Town, under the Department of Education and Training (DET). Teachers 1 and 2 were from School P1, and Teachers 3 and 4 were from School P2. Most learners were from a nearby shack settlement. Most parents of learners had not completed high school, and most were engaged in manual labour, particularly domestic labour (survey). The four classrooms had sufficient desks and chairs for all learners, a teacher’s table, bookshelves, a chalkboard, and a washbasin. The official student: teacher ratio at the time was 40:1 at the primary level. Absenteeism rates were very high. Many learners showed signs of physical neglect, such as sores on their bodies and heads and other challenges. About 50% of the learners did not wear school uniforms. Learners brought very few of their resources. Both schools participated in a school feeding programme. The school day generally began half an hour to an hour after the school bell rang in the morning. There was a free flow of learners between the school and the surrounding area during school hours. Looking in classrooms Three observers observed (scheduled) the classes between 3 and 18 November 1998 (8 days or 44 hours) after the teachers were trained to enact C2005 in 1997. Observed activities comprised both pedagogic activities (time structured for learning purposes) and non- pedagogic activities (time allocated for eating, going to the toilet, break, etcetera) Specialization of time and space for learning 58% of the total observation time was allocated to pedagogic activities, 32% to non- pedagogic activities, including breaks, praying, eating, going to the toilet, and periods of unstipulated activity, and the remaining 10% (over 4 hours) of time was lost to late starting. There was a surface, bureaucratic specialization of time and space in that the school day had a beginning and an ending time, and there was a classroom space marked out for the pedagogy to take place. Selection and sequencing – free association pedagogy and pace Selection (strong) was mostly based on themes and relations of free association (cow and ihagu) on the part of the teachers. Learners were not required to produce their texts in this strong framing over selection (shapes – rugby). No differentiation of pacing: Teachers exerted strong control over the pace, and this was evidenced especially in teachers determining the start and end of activities, regardless of whether learners were finished or not (errors) Evaluative criteria and Classroom discourse patterns There were very few statements (assessment – oral, singing…) with regard to the result or intended outcome of the learning provided, and the criteria for successful learner productions remained implicit. Classroom discourse patterns involved chorused responses to low level questions or the chanting of content (generally rhymes and songs) by the whole class and a series of questions and answers between the teacher and the learners. The questions demanded responses dependent on simple recall of information (first created person or mom). These were unelaborated, with very weak framing over evaluative criteria. The classification of knowledge The content of classroom talk was localized, referring to domestic, proximate, and everyday meanings, inhering topics such as food, animals, Bible stories, and well-known tales. The teachers instructed learners to move from one task to the next, often without assessment or mediation, or closure. No books for reading except two bibles and the other three books (single words or letters – unable to write their name accurately). Very little mathematics was introduced into the classrooms. A story of a grandfather who walks from his home, rests, and then carries on to a pension office. Rather than facilitating understanding of the number line, the recruitment of an everyday example confused the learners. Classroom control and the social relations of the classroom The regulative discourse of the classroom and hierarchical relations were strongly framed. Communication between teachers and learners was minimal, and the teachers managed many unruly children in aggressive tones. The authoritarian form of social relation probably contributed to the fact that learners rarely asked unsolicited questions or offered a comment during the lessons. The model of the teacher and the learner The pedagogy strongly connected learners to their local context through the very localised content. Learners were passive. They were required to restate texts, primarily by reciting or recalling what they already knew. The teacher identity resembles early socializer, where the activities are localized, close and domestic. In relation to learners nearing the end of Grade 1, they represent a form of surface learning inappropriate to this level and are unlikely to give children access to formal learning and school/specialised knowledge of early schooling. The demise of knowledge-to-be-taught During interviews, the teachers articulated a specific understanding of some of the main tenets of the progressivist discourse underlying C2005/OBE, such as learner-centredness, the teacher as facilitator, and exploratory learning. The teachers understood their role as not providing students with knowledge. The teachers’ comments could account for the extent to which the learners are left to work independently, with little mediation and assessment. Teacher knowledge and the new scripture From a wide range of research, the argument is made that under C2005, in former (mostly white) historically-advantaged, schools, teachers continued to teach basic reading, writing, and number concepts. Integration was relegated to the Life Skills component of the curriculum, while Language and Mathematics remained strongly classified. Utilizing existing and new resources, these well-trained teachers could put together their own, well-established programmes of learning without content specification in the curriculum.