Unit 2
Chapter 1: towards an outcome based system
Chapter 2: a learner-centred classroom
(Wessels, M. and Van der Verg, R. 2005. Language learning: Oxford University Press)
Chapter 1
What is the NQF?
- Standards for education and training (unifies vocational and conventional)
- Aims to free up our system of qualifications and the learning and career pathways
open to learners
- Past systems tended to produce passive learners and has been too content-loaded and
fragmented (and unable to transfer their skills/knowledge into different contexts)
What are Outcomes?
- The result of learning and involves demonstrations of performance
- Department of education: results of learning process and refer to knowledge, skills,
attitudes and values within particular contexts. Learners should be able to demonstrate
that they understand and can apply the desired outcomes within a certain context.
- Outcomes are broad, integrative capabilities that draw on understanding of underlying
principles and processes; not narrow, predictable and mechanical behaviours
Reasons for shifting away from content heavy curricula:
1. Explosion of information: rather give children the skills to access and evaluate
knowledge rather than just memorisation of content
2. Relevancy of knowledge: emphasis on application and transferability of knowledge
(contextualised> decontextualised)
What is curriculum 2005
“Design down” process
- Educators work backwards from agreed upon outcomes in order to design
programmes of learning that help learners achieve these outcomes
Based on the following processes:
- Promotes critical thinking and lifelong learning, application and integration to
different contexts
Critical cross-field and training outcomes
1. Identify and solve problems in which responses display responsible decisions
using critical and reflective thinking have been made.
2. Work effectively with others as a member of a team, group, organisation or
community
3. Organise and manage oneself and one’s activities responsibly and effectively.
4. Collect, analyse, organise and critically evaluate information.
5. Communicate effectively using visual, mathematical and/or language skills in
the modes of oral and/or written presentation.
6. Use science and technology effectively and critically, showing responsibility
towards the environment and the health of others.
7. Demonstrate an understanding of the world as a set of related systems by
recognising that problem-solving contexts do not exist in isolation.
In order to contribute to full personal, social and economic development, the individual must
be made aware of the importance of:
1. Reflecting on and exploring a variety of strategies to learn effectively.
2. Participating as a responsible citizen in the life of local, national and global
communities.
3. Being culturally sensitive across a range of social contexts.
4. Exploring educational and career opportunities.
5. Developing entrepreneurial opportunities.
Department of education identified 8 learning areas for the school curriculum:
1. communication , literacy and language learning
2. Mathematical literacy, mathematics and mathematical sciences
3. Human and social sciences
4. Natural sciences
5. Arts and culture
6. Economics and management science
7. Life orientation
8. Technology
Curriculum 2005 document of April 1997 for general education and training phase of
schooling
- Specific outcomes for each learning area
- Assessment criteria for each specific outcome.
Outlines the evidence needed to show that the learners has achieved an outcome
- Range statements
Indicates levels of complexity at which specific outcomes should be demonstrated at
different phases, and suggest critical areas of content and context with which the
learner should deal.
- Critical outcomes, specific outcomes, assessment criteria and range statements are all
fixed and cannot be changed by a facilitator
- Performance indicators
Helps the facilitator guide students towards achieving specific outcomes
Suggestions for kinds of activities that learners can do to demonstrate the
understanding, attitudes, values and skills which will prove that they have progressed
towards achieving the specific outcomes
- Three phases in general education and training phase
1. Foundation phase
2. Intermediate phase
3. Senior phase
What are the outcomes for the language literacy and communication
learning area?
Rationale
Language, literacy and communication are intrinsic to human environment development and
central to lifelong learning
Language and language learning empower people to:
- Make meaning
- Negotiate meaning and understanding
- Access education
- Access information and literacies
- Think and express their thoughts and emotions logically, critically and creatively
- Respond with empathy to the thoughts of others
- Interact and participate socially, politically, economically, culturally and spiritually
- Understand the relationship between language and power, and influence relationships
through that understanding
- Develop and reflect critically on values and attitudes
- Communicate in different contexts by using a range of registers and language
varieties
- Use standard forms of language where appropriate
The seven specific outcomes developed by the language, literacy and communications LAC
are as follows:
- Make and negotiate meaning and understanding
- Show critical awareness of language usage
- Respond to the aesthetic, affective, cultural and social value in texts
- Use information from a variety of sources and situations
- Know and apply language structures and conventions in context
- Use language for learning
- Use appropriate communication strategies for specific purposes and situations
Skills-related assessment criteria for the language area: languages, literacy and
communication
What are the implications of these outcomes for the facilitator?
- Makes the outcomes more explicit/transparent
Critical outcomes and the language outcomes demand assessment that:
- Involve applying skills rather than recognising/reproducing facts or ideas
- Lead to performance of complex tasks
- Lead to real products/solutions
- Are set in a meaningful context that connects different ideas
Formative assessment: blurring between learning and assessing
- Does the task relate to a real-life problem/context?
- Is it non-routine and multi-faceted? Can it be made “multi-media”?
- Does it enable the learner to draw on many different sources, and to use and apply this
information?
- Does it encourage the learner to reproduce a quality product or performance?
- Could it involve collaboration between learners to develop a product?
- Does it involve any evaluation by the learner of the effect on the audience?
- Is it a learning opportunity as well as an assessment task?
Chapter 2: A Learner-Centred Language Classroom
The Complexity of Identity
(Who Am I?- Tatum, D. T.: pp 5-8)
Dominant culture
- Absence of dissonance
- In opposition to “the other”
- Assigns the roles to the subordinate that reflect the latter’s values
- Saturated the culture for all to learn
Self-definition
subordinate/targeted
- Focus on survival
There is no hierarchy of oppressions
Chapter 6: religion
Stewart, Paul, and Johan Zaaiman, eds. Sociology: A Concise South African Introduction.
Juta (Pty) Limited, 2018. Chapter 6: 137-162
Introduction
