SCHOOL-BASED CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT AND ITS NATURE

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Implication in administration

Whether education is administered and controlled centrally or locally affects the nature of its influence on SBCD. In most countries with tight administrative control of the curriculum, there is a reluctance to abandon power, and the further the administration is from the school, the more threatening this prospect seems. Even when autonomy has been granted for the curriculum – or some part of it, – the supervisory capacity does not overstep central guidelines (Mortimore 1993: 91 ). As it is not possible to enumerate all the constraints developed by different administration systems, a few general points will be listed. First, it matters little if the central control is « rational » or « provincial »: either way the centre of control is comparatively remote from the schools, and the main constraint will be the reluctance of both politicians and administrators to abandon control.

Financial shortcomings

South Africa’s yearbook (1998:320) shows that the R40-billion eduction budget accounted for 21,3 per cent of the govrnment’s total 1997/98 expenditure. This equals 6.5 %of the gross domestic product. There are two major financial constraints to SBCD. 87 First of all the process itself is expensive; it involves teacher-time spent on other than teaching activities, new materials and support services outside the school. The amount of money needed is often underestimated when the conditions are created to permit SBCD. But SBCD also implies a certain flexibility when the financial cake is divided up within the school (Bush et al. 1993: 1 09).

Equifinality versus standard structure

Stoll and Fink (1992:84) indicates that the traditional management of school systems emphasizes the function of organizational structures and standard procedures. In external control management, it is assumed that there should be standard methods and procedures to achieve management goals, and that they are suitable for all schools. Therefore, the major means of managing schools is only by inspection from outside, of the extent to which the standard structures have been used. On the contrary, school-based management is based on the principle of equifinality, a modern management theory assuming that there may be different ways to achieve goals. Flexibility is emphasized and schools should be managed by themselves according to their own conditions.

Decentralisation versus centralisation

Decentralization and centralization represent two entirely different principles of management. Centralization is consistent with the principle of standard structure, both looking for controlling procedures to avoid creating problems in schools. Being carefully controlled by the central authority, schools have little power of decision-making and have to consult the central authority on nearly everything. As a result, the problems and crises 90 a school runs into cannot be solved or attended to quickly. This management style has become increasingly ineffective, especially since educational tasks have become more complicated and changeable. Decentralization is an important phenomenon of modern school management reform, which is consistent with the principle of equifinality.

Self-managing system versus implementing system

In the whole education system, schools are often regarded as a tool to achieve educational policy goals, or as a passive implementing system which needs careful external control. The role of the school is to receive orders from the central authority passively, and no initiative, power or accountability are explicitly assigned to it. School-based management does not deny that schools need to achieve policy goals, but there should be many different ways to achieve them (i.e. principle of equifinality). Therefore, it is necessary to let schools become a self-managing system under the umbrella of major policies and structure, possessing considerable autonomy to develop teaching objectives and management strategies, distributing manpower and resources, solving problems and accomplishing goals according to their own conditions. As the schools are self-managing, they are more likely to take the initiative for their own responsibility (Slater and Tedlie 1992: 247-248).

TABLE OF CONTENTS :

• INTRODUCTORY ORIENTATION
• 1.1 INTRODUCTION
  • 1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
    • 1.2.1 Background to the problem
    • 1.2.2 Formulation of the problem
  • 1.3 OUTCOME OF THE RESEARCH
    • 1.3.1 Background to the outcome
    • 1.3 .2 Formulation of the outcome
  • 1.4 RESEARCH METHOD AND DESIGN
    • 1.4.1 Literature study
    • 1.4.2 Qualitative research
      • 1.4.2.1 Literacy
      • 1.4.2.2 Numeracy
      • 1.4.2.3 Life skills
• 1.5 RESEARCH MOTIVATION
• 1.6 CLARIFICATION OF OPERATIONAL CONCEPTS
  • 1.6.1 Grade 1 teacher
  • 1.6.2 Involvement
  • 1.6.3 Curriculum and its dimensions
  • 1.6.3 .1 Overt curriculum
  • 1.6.3 .2 Covert curriculum
  • 1.6.3 .3 Null curriculum
  • 1.6.4 Curriculum development, decision-making and meta-orientations
    • 1.6.4.1 Transmission orientation
    • 1.6.4.2 Transaction orientation
    • 1.6.4.3 Transformation orientation
  • 1.6.5 School-Based Curriculum Development
  • 1.6.6 The Northern Province
• 1.6 SYNTHESIS
• 1.7 FURTHER PROGRAMME AND CHAPTER DIVISION
• CHAPTER 2 THEORIES OF SCHOOL-BASED CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT (SBCD) AND OUTCOMES-BASED EDUCATION (OBE)
  • 2.1 SCHOOL-BASED CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT AND ITS NATURE
  • 2.1.1 Features of SBCD
  • 2.1.2 Characteristics of SBCD
  • 2.1.2.1 School mission
  • 2.1.2.2 School-based activities
  • 2.1.2.3 Management strategies
  • 2.1.2.4 Assumptions about human nature
  • 2.1.2.5 School organisation
  • 2.1.2.6 Decision-making style
  • 2.1.3 Categories of SBCD
  • 2.1.3.1 External factors
  • 2.1.3.2 Internal factors
  • 2.1.4 Approaches to SBCD
  • 2.1.4.1 The simplistic SBCD approach
  • 2.1.4.2 The teachers competence approach
• CHAPTER 3 QUALITATIVE RESEARCH AS A STRATEGY TO ADDRESS PROBLEMS IN SCHOOL-BASED CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT (SBCD)
  • 3.1 THE CONCEPT OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
  • 3.2 AN INTRODUCTION TO QUALITATIVE METHODS
  • 3 .2.1 Types of qualitative methods
  • 3 .2.1.1 Participant observation
  • 3.2.1.2 Case studies
  • 3.2.1.3 Focussed interviews
  • 3.2.2 Research methodology in qualitative research
  • 3.2.3 Themes in qualitative methods
    • 3.2.3.1 Making decisions about methods
    • 3.2.3.2 Naturalistic inquiry
    • 3.2.3.3 Skills required in conducting qualitative research
    • 3.2.3.4 The rationale for conducting qualitative research
    • 3.2.3.5 Who qualifies for conducting qualitative research
    • 3.2.3.6 Essential elements of qualitative research
    • 3.2.3.7 Inductive analysis
    • 3.2.3.8 A holistic perspective
  • 3.3 CHARACTERISTICS AND OUTCOMES OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
  • 3.4 QUALITIES OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
• CHAPTER
  • RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS, FINDINGS AND DATA ANALYSIS
  • 4.1 RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS
  • 4.1.1 The interview
  • 4.1.1.1 Interviewing skills in the study
  • 4.1.2 The questionnaire
  • 4.1.2.1 Types of questionnaires
  • 4.1.3 Classroom observation
  • 4.1.3 .1 Report on classroom observation
  • 4.1.4 Trialling
  • 4.1.5 Diaries
  • 4.1.6 Cassette recorder
  • 4.1.7 An independent decoder
  • 4.2 OUTCOMES OF THE INVESTIGATION
  • 4.2.1 Piloting the study
  • 4.2.2 Correspondence
  • 4.2.3 Research ethics
  • 4.2.3.1 Protecting the subjects
  • 4.2.3.2 The right to non-participation
  • 4.2.3.3 The right to confidentiality
  • 4.2.3.4 Researcher’s responsibility
  • 4.2.3.5 Personal integrity
  • 4.3 RESEARCH FINDINGS OF THE STUDY AND DATA ANALYSIS
• CHAPTERS GUIDELINES FOR GRADE 1 TEACHERS’ INVOLVEMENT IN SBCD
• CHAPTER6 RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUDING REMARKS

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GRADE 1 TEACHERS’ INVOLVEMENT IN SCHOOL-BASED CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT IN THE NORTHERN PROVINCE