Article: New chapter in schools curriculum

The South African school system has officially entered a new phase with the finalisation of the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS), which is aimed at improving the quality of education.

A total of 195 CAPS were developed and are now ready to be uploaded onto the Basic Education website for easy access by teachers and stakeholders.
 
While I can't really make any judgements myself as I don't know much about these CAPS, I am quite sure anything is a step in the right direction considering what a disaster the education system is in at the moment. Let's hope it gets improved!
 
Hmmm, lets just hope this works. The government better sort out two things in the next ten years else South Africa will collapse, and that is educating kids properly (get that matric pass rate up to 80%) and pump out tons more Artisans, without either of those, we are in deep shyte.
 
So now we move from OBE to CAPS - just when are our beloved guys in charge of education going to realise that trying to re-invent the wheel every 15 years is not a good idea... :rolleyes:
 
Fazda said:
So now we move from OBE to CAPS - just when are our beloved guys in charge of education going to realise that trying to re-invent the wheel every 15 years is not a good idea... :rolleyes:
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Actually it's still OBE , CAPS is just a fancy acronym for what kids are supposed to be taught in each subject in every grade and how they will be assessed against certain standards
The fancy acronym and big press release are only there so that guavamint can justify the exorbitant amount of budget they've used to "develop" these CAPS

I can remember teachers having to set their own curricula for each year based on minimum requirements set by the education department

... but you're right Faz, clueless bunch of poephols at the top have no clue what's really necessary to get education on track
 
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McSack said:
Actually it's still OBE , CAPS is just a fancy acronym for what kids are supposed to be taught in each subject in every grade and how they will be assessed against certain standards
The fancy acronym and big press release are only there so that guavamint can justify the exorbitant amount of budget they've used to "develop" these CAPS.
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There is **nothing** wrong with OBE if it’s implemented properly. You don’t even need ‘CAPS’ for correctly implemented OBE. OBE gets bad press in SA because it makes a useful scapegoat to blame appalling results on. In addition, the Education Dept. doofuses don’t know an objective from their arsehole.
 
Palimino said:
There is **nothing** wrong with OBE if it’s implemented properly. You don’t even need ‘CAPS’ for correctly implemented OBE. OBE gets bad press in SA because it makes a useful scapegoat to blame appalling results on. In addition, the Education Dept. doofuses don’t know an objective from their arsehole.
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Palimino, I know that we've had this discussion before, but teaching OBE "by the book" is a bloody nightmare. I know that it sounds great, but it has been a disaster wherever it has been implemented in the past, and sadly absolutely no reason to believe that we can do it any better in SA.
 
Fazda said:
Palimino, I know that we've had this discussion before, but teaching OBE "by the book" is a bloody nightmare. I know that it sounds great, but it has been a disaster wherever it has been implemented in the past, and sadly absolutely no reason to believe that we can do it any better in SA.
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I’m not suggesting teaching OBE ‘by the book’. Individual teachers need the latitude to define the objectives in teaching their own material. Within the constraints of the limits laid-down by the Edu. Dept. they should have free rein. What it does require is an in-depth understanding of OBE and a categorisation of the required educational objectives. Something like ‘Bloom’s Taxonomy’ (although there are others).
 
Palimino said:
I’m not suggesting teaching OBE ‘by the book’. Individual teachers need the latitude to define the objectives in teaching their own material. Within the constraints of the limits laid-down by the Edu. Dept. they should have free rein. What it does require is an in-depth understanding of OBE and a categorisation of the required educational objectives. Something like ‘Bloom’s Taxonomy’ (although there are others).
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Which gets us back to the point that your average rural teacher in SA does not have the latitude nor the ability to do anything BUT teach by the book. We are dealing with a totally different type of teacher to the one dreamed of by the people who designed the OBE system. That alone is fundamental in the downfall of the system in SA.
 
Fazda said:
Which gets us back to the point that your average rural teacher in SA does not have the latitude nor the ability to do anything BUT teach by the book. We are dealing with a totally different type of teacher to the one dreamed of by the people who designed the OBE system. That alone is fundamental in the downfall of the system in SA.
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This is true, but where the problem lies is in the inability of the Edu. Dept. to define the outcome ‘performance envelope’ correctly. If they did the job properly and disseminated it to the schools, some would screw-up (true) but some would get it right (half-a-loaf is better than none). If they get it wrong (which is happening) **everyone** screws-up because the foundations are sand. All it requires is the required expertise right at the top (Edu. Dept.) to define the outcomes correctly. Maybe the average rural teacher stuffs-up but not all teachers do. Once the problems have been identified (rural OBE ignorance) they can be addressed. There is little hope if ignorance comes from the top.
 
Palimino said:
This is true, but where the problem lies is in the inability of the Edu. Dept. to define the outcome ‘performance envelope’ correctly. If they did the job properly and disseminated it to the schools, some would screw-up (true) but some would get it right (half-a-loaf is better than none). If they get it wrong (which is happening) **everyone** screws-up because the foundations are sand. All it requires is the required expertise right at the top (Edu. Dept.) to define the outcomes correctly. Maybe the average rural teacher stuffs-up but not all teachers do. Once the problems have been identified (rural OBE ignorance) they can be addressed. There is little hope if ignorance comes from the top.
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So, scrap the bloody system, as it's simply not working. The old Bantu Education had a better success rate!

Guidance from the top? It's not going to happen!
 
Fazda said:
So, scrap the bloody system, as it's simply not working. The old Bantu Education had a better success rate!

Guidance from the top? It's not going to happen!
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Three points mitigate against this.

#1 “So, scrap the bloody system, as it's simply not working.”
There is nothing wrong with it. Whatever replaces it will be used as the scapegoat for poor performance (as OBE is now used). Lots of money – same result. And education in SA gets worse. Rinse and repeat.

#2 “The old Bantu Education had a better success rate!”
This is opening a whole can of PC worms. Bantu Education has a bad rep. So unless you are suggesting reducing the whole country to Bantu Education status – and calling it something more PC than Bantu Education – it won’t work.

#3 “Guidance from the top? It's not going to happen!”
You are assuming an ongoing effort where year-by-year, OBE is ignorantly defined. This is not true. It only has to be done correctly ONCE for all years and, provided there are no curriculum changes, it will last indefinitely. Lesson plans and content can be generated for substandard teachers – they would operate as facilitators in the classroom presenting and clarifying only. Even the burden of generating evaluation questions (an underestimated craft) can be removed as after a few years, a substantial database of questions will exist which can be randomly selected for exams.

Your suggestion would put us back to square one.
 
Once again you and I are going in circles, so this is probably a pointless exercise even answering.

I know that you think OBE is God's gift to the system, and I have made my feelings very clear.

Even if we went back to the pre 94 system and called it whatever goddam acronym is PC at the moment, we would probably be better off in the long run, but I know that you cannot accept that, just as I cannot accept your pro OBE stance.

As far as I recall OBE was about to be scrapped at the end of last year....unless the big guy spoke to you, that is...:p
 
Fazda said:
Once again you and I are going in circles, so this is probably a pointless exercise even answering.
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So you’ve got nothing. We must be heading for a ‘rinse and repeat’ scenario.
 
Palimino said:
So you’ve got nothing. We must be heading for a ‘rinse and repeat’ scenario.
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Yes, quite, rinse and repeat the exact argument that the two of us had last year - a pointless exercise as I am not going to change your mind, and you are nowhere near changing mine.
 
The old apprenticeship programmes in SA worked just fine and they were outcomes based . The principle of outcomes based training is sound... implementation is the bunfight at the moment. Dept Edu went and made the work around admin more than actual training getting done , that's the fsk up.
Also, you have to admit, teachers have not been trained in SA for at least 10years. Your average rural teacher wouldn't be able to cope with any system
 
McSack said:
The old apprenticeship programmes in SA worked just fine and they were outcomes based .
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They did! For technical issues, this is perhaps the best option as they don’t really depend on reading & writing skills to be useful. SA is (arguably) woefully short of technical skills. I don’t think it would generalise well into other areas. Mentorship perhaps?
 
The CAPS will provide clear guidelines on what teachers ought to teach and assess on a grade-by-grade and subject basis.
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So its OBE with a lick of paint & new acronym?
 
Can't they just bring back Bantu education and give it a new fancy name - will be an improvement on the current system...
 
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