SOCIAL SCIENCES (SP)

TEACHING 1
SOS16W0

By Miss Z.Nonkula
LO1: Demonstrate understanding of the curriculum

 AC1.1 Curriculum and curriculum changes in Social Sciences are defined.

 AC2: Types of curriculum are explained.
 AC3: Reasons for changes in the curriculum are explained.
What is curriculum?
• Curriculum is a roadmap describing about various learning activities focused on measurable outcomes
that are aimed to be undertaken by students or The curriculum is a series of guidelines and educational
aims that teachers follow in order to teach children from when they start school (Rajurkar, et al., 2019).
 Derived from Latin: ‘currere’
 Means to run the course
 Literal meaning- course
 Figurative meaning- career
 Popular: curriculum vitae; national curricula
• What should we teach in schools and how should we teach it? Who decides what should be
taught?.......how should we prepare the next generation of teachers for the 21st-century classroom?”
 The South African Curriculum
• Is a series of guidelines and educational aims that teachers follow in order to teach children
from Grade R to 12 right through to the FET stage.
• According to South African constitution, it states that it is compulsory for children to attend
school and receive an equal education.
• The current curriculum is National Curriculum Statement Grade R-12
• The major forces that influence and shape the organization and content of the
curriculum include: 1. Educational philosophy and understandings about the nature of
knowledge 2. Society and culture 3. The learner and learning process 4. Learning theories 5.
The nature and structure of subject matter to be learned.
 South African curriculum and it’s history
 Minister of Department of Basic Education is Ms. Angie Motsega
 In the apartheid era, education was segregated
 After South Africa got it’s democracy, it became a constitutional right that everyone should have access to a good
basic education
 SA curriculum was developed to heal the divisions of the past, improve quality of life (see CAPS doc) what was
the SA curriculum developed for?
 1997: Outcome-based education to overcome the curricula divisions of the past; learner-centred
 2000 OBE was subject to review and;
 2002: Revised National Curriculum Statement Grades R-9 & NCS grades 10-12 were developed
 Due to ongoing implementation challenges, RNCS Grade R-9 and NCS Grades 10-12 were also reviewed in 2009
 2012: NCS Grades R-12 was developed, combining the two previous curricula into one single curriculum
National Curriculum Statement (NCS)GRADE R-12
 Replaces the following documents; The subject Statement, Learning Programme
Guidelines (LPG) and Subject Assessment Guidelines ( SAG)
 These following documents are currently in use;
 Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS), for each approved subject
 National Policy pertaining the programme and promotion requirements of the NCS Grade R-
12, and
 National Protocol for Assessment Grade R-12
Aims of curriculum in South Africa
• The National Curriculum Statement Grades R-12 gives expression to the knowledge, skills and values worth
learning in South African schools.
• This curriculum aims to ensure that children acquire and apply knowledge and skills in ways that are meaningful to
their own lives.
• In this regard, the curriculum promotes knowledge in local contexts, while being sensitive to global imperatives
(CAPS Document, 2011).
• 1. To provide access to further education.
• 2. To guide and monitor the learning and teaching process.
• 3. To provide learners with knowledge, skills and values to participate in society as citizens of a free country
The National Curriculum Statement Grades R-12
serves the purposes of:
• Equipping learners, irrespective of their socio-economic background, race, gender, physical ability or
intellectual ability, with the knowledge, skills and values necessary for self-fulfilment, and
meaningful participation in society as citizens of a free country.
• Providing access to higher education
• Facilitating the transition of learners from education institutions to the workplace; and
• Providing employers with a sufficient profile of a learner’s competences.
 The National Curriculum Statement Grades R-12 Principles:

• Social transformation: Redressing the education imbalance of the past and ensuring equall educational
opportunities are provided equally to all members of the population.
• Active and critical learning: encouraging an active and critical approach to learning, rather than rote and
uncritical learning of given truths.
• High knowledge and high skills: Setting specific minimum standards of knowledge and skills to be
obtained at each grade.
• Progression: A progression from simple to complex in the content and content of each grade.
• Human rights, inclusivity, environmental and social justice: infusing the principles and practices of
social and environmental justice and human rights as defined in the Constitution of the Republic of South
Africa
• The National Curriculum Statement Grades R-12 is sensitive to issues of diversity such as poverty,
inequality, race, gender, language, age, disability and other factors;
• Valuing indigenous knowledge systems: acknowledging the rich history and heritage of this country as
important contributors to nurturing the values contained in the Constitution; and
• Credibility, quality and efficiency: providing an education that is comparable in quality, breadth and depth to
those of other countries
Curriculum and curriculum changes in Social Sciences are
defined
• Education in South Africa has seen huge changes for the better as the curriculum has been amended with aims
to make sure all schools are following the same curriculum, with equal opportunities for all.
• The vision for education that emerged was to integrate education and training into a system of lifelong learning.
South Africa is embarking on radical education reform (Valero & Skovsmose, 2002).
• Curriculum transformation, referred to as curriculum reform or renewal, includes changes made to teaching and
learning content (Esakov, 2009; Clark, 2002; Shay, 2015)
 Curriculum and curriculum changes in Social Sciences.

• As you know that Social Sciences is the study of relationships between people, and between people and the environment.
• As time goes on these relationships may vary over time and space. They are also influenced by social, political, economic and
environmental contexts, and by people’s values, attitudes and beliefs.
• The concepts, skills and processes of History and Geography form key elements.
• Environmental education and human rights education are integral to both History and Geography.
• The Social Sciences Learning Area Statement is concerned with what learners learn and how learners learn, and how learners
construct knowledge. It encourages learners to ask and find answers to questions about society and the environment in which they
live.
• This Learning Area Statement aims at contributing to the development of informed, critical and responsible citizens who are able
to participate constructively in a culturally diverse and changing society. It also equips learners to contribute to the development
of a just and democratic society.
Types of curriculum

REC0MMENDED CURRICULUM-This curriculum is proposed by any professional organization

such as Ministry of education, District education and State education.

WRITTEN CURRICULUM-In this curriculum, students are given the opportunity to gain knowledge
that is relevant and of global significance and develop of understanding in concepts which allows them
to gain connection throughout learning process.
.
TAUGHT CURRICULUM-The curriculum that is delivered by the teachers to the students in
classrooms.

SUPPORTED CURRICULIM-A curriculum that involves all the support needed to teach children.
 Contie…..
• ASSESSED/ TESTED CURRICULUM- Refers to the curriculum that is reflected by the assessment or
evaluation of the learners.
• HIDDEN CURRICULUM- Hidden curriculum refers to the unplanned curriculum but plays a vital role in
learning and it also consist of norms, values and producers .
• According to my points of view, I think each type of curriculum works better for students but it will work best
if all the curriculum work together. This is because the curriculum mentioned above are interrelated.