An official announcement by Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga on changes soon to be implemented in the Outcomes Based Education (OBE) programme has been issued to the public.
An official announcement by Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga on changes soon to be implemented in the Outcomes Based Education (OBE) programme has been issued to the public.
A high failure rate in the mid year results has been a catalyst in these alterations. Educators will have to do away with unnecessary paper work used for assesment while projects will be reduced.
Common Tasks for Assessment (CTAs) for Grade 9s will be discontinued and interphase learning areas will be reduced from eight to six. According to the minister’s statement, provinces have already informed their schools of the assessment that will replace CTAs.
Meanwhile, Makana Primary School Principal Mthetheleli Kulati who disagrees, saying that schools were shocked to hear the announcement on the news as none of them were alerted of the changes beforehand.
“To us the announcements are just lip service, they are only discussed by those at the top, we have not been approached by the department.”
Reflecting on the lack of support from the department he says “We fail in resources, the classrooms are overcrowded, we are supposed to have a school library and a laboratory for practical subjects.
Students are not motivated due to the lack of involvement from parents back home.” English teacher and Head of Department at Makana Primary, Nomvula Lubelwana feels that “the minimisation of subjects will make teaching much easier and the portfolio work and filing have never given us enough time to concentrate on the learners”.
Samuel Ntlebi Primary School which educates Grades 1 to 4 in the heart of Makanaskop area feels the new OBE changes will not affect them much.
Grade 2 teacher at the school, Nontuthuzelo Zondani says that since a majority of Foundation Phase teachers are experienced, it will be easier for them to adapt to different teaching situations.
Zondani also mentioned the insufficient training provided by the Education Department to equip OBE educators.
“The teachers should be trained for at least a year and not a short period like a few days. A lot of changes are done without our consultation and even now our learners are dealing with irrelevant topics [in their assessment work].”
Zondani feels that there are loopholes in the curriculum such as interventions that let learners pass without sufficient volumes of work being submitted.
She believes that the department is likely to lose teachers because of these changes. Seventh Day Adventist Primary School Principal Sondezwa Hobongwane feels that the curriculum is great and has proven to be beneficial for learners although it requires unnecessary written work for teachers.
“We have no problems with the curriculum, we will continue with it and even now we await the changes that are to come and we will follow them,” she said.
The minister announced that since the department is mindful of the need for teacher orientation and development of appropriate textbooks, learning and teaching support materials, it will start phasing in
the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements in the Foundation Phase in 2011 while other grades will be phased in in 2012 so that the necessary groundwork can be laid down.
