#1 This paper questions the Namibian curriculum in light of Eisner’s statement. From Eisner's perspective the null curriculum is simply that which is not taught in schools.
Somehow, somewhere, some people are empowered to make conscious decisions as to what is to be included and what is to be excluded from the overt (written) curriculum. Since it is physically impossible to teach everything in schools, many topics and subject areas must be intentionally excluded from the written curriculum.But Eisner's position on the "null curriculum" is that when certain subjects or topics are left out of the overt curriculum, school personnel are sending messages to students that certain content and processes are not important enough to study. Eisner as cited by David J. Flinders, Nel Noddings, Stephen J. Thornton define the it as “the options students are not afforded, the perspectives they may never know about, much less be able to use, the concepts and skills that are not part of their intellectual repertoire” (1985, p.
07). When reviewing the literature regarding the past, present and future of educational curriculum This literature holds that the school curriculum is not simply a technical document outlining intended learning outcomes or specifying content to be covered or teaching strategies and assessment procedures to be used Jonathan D. Jansen(1995,p. 5) several main points seem apparent, namely that curriculum is cyclical, and according to Eisner’s statement a paradox exists.
If we ought to be concerned of consequences involved about a curriculum that does not exist, we are advised to be concerned about what schools do not teach One of the major policies of the post independent Namibia's government is to make Namibia a knowledge based society. That is a society where knowledge plays a big role in everyday life. It is therefore goal of the basic education curriculum to give direction through education to achieve this goal. The goals mention strong cultural and individual identity, positive values, and lifelong long learning as the core traits to achieve it.Still after 23 years of independence, Namibia`s vision 2030 is not working. These are the intended outcomes of what the National curriculum for Basic Education should be teaching our learners.
Elliot Eisner (1985) describes five different curriculum orientations. Personal values, experiences, and beliefs about what is important in the world contribute greatly to the type of orientation held. Curriculum orientations are beliefs about what a school curriculum should achieve and how teaching, learning and assessment should occur.These orientations can be used by learners and teachers to supplement to what learners are not being taught.
Eisner offers some major points as he concludes his discussion of the null curriculum-- "The major point I have been trying to make thus far is that schools have consequences not only by virtue of what they do not teach, but also by virtue of what they neglect to teach. What students cannot consider, what they don't processes they are unable to use, have consequences for the kinds of lives they lead. P. 103" What schools sometimes leave out are important life lessons which children could have learnt i.
e. loyalty, honesty, cleanliness, respect, patience etc. “The school curriculum should be designed in such a way that it entails elements of sincerity and moral values, to instil a sense of responsibility in our children to respect the property of the state. ”Gerson Sindando mentioned this in recent article published in the New Era newspaper about corruption in Namibia.
Subject time-tabling is also a common cause of some important aspects of the curriculum being left out. Because learners are in school for a limited time, teachers prioritize what learners learn. Creative writing, poetry and literature are neglected aspects of language teaching thus “Creative writing is a neglected skill in many Namibian schools as educators, we fail to give our students a purpose for writing, and we have a tendency of neglecting the personal involvement of the students in their writings. ” Ithindi, E.
2004, p. 2) Religious and moral education is a subject that was considered as a key subject according to my elders. Nowadays, the RME is a non-promotional subject that is not considered that important and is only offered once or twice on the time table. Important key skills are developed through religious education. It provides opportunities for pupils to develop skills in learning, for religion is concerned with developing pupils’ reflection on, and response to, their own experiences and learning about religion.
It develops pupils’ skills of application, interpretation and evaluation of what they learn about religion, particularly questions of identity and belonging, meaning, purpose, truth, values and commitments, and communicating their responses and using creative and expressive arts, talking and writing with understanding and insight about religious and other beliefs and values, reflecting critically on ultimate questions of life, using reasoned arguments. (Brotherton, D’Cruz, Edwards, Funnell, Hall, Keating, St Cyr-Caesar, 2006, p. 7). Furthermore in chapter six, under teaching, it emphasizes about the implications that a stimulating environment provides for teaching and learning. However, with a lot of shortcomings what’s stated in the curriculum is not happening.
Text books are the main sources of knowledge and guidance (national curriculum for basic Education), but they are not available to all schools and if available it’s always not on time. Learners are also not taught about the different ways to use the text book, because there aren’t enough textbooks.In this technology advanced world, a lot of teachers cannot make use of internet resources because of lack of training in ITC. In inclusive education, learners with special educational needs are often included in the mainstream education (national curriculum for basic Education). Even though all learners are included, most teachers are not well trained and teacher learner ratio are sometimes 1:40—therefore also making it difficult to identify these leaners.
The curriculum clearly does not cater for inclusive education.#2 The intended curriculum, also known as the planned curriculum refers to what is intended by the curriculum developers and policy makers to be taught in the schools (usually) through the syllabi and other relevant educational documents . (Kelly,2004). In Namibian school, the syllabus as well as the scheme of work, form parts of the intended curriculum. The syllabus remains the most important document for curriculum implementation because assessments i.
e. examinations and tests are set according to the syllabus. According to Marsh (1992, p. 80), the term implantation refers to the actual use of a curriculum/syllabus, or what it consists of, in practice. He further explains that the implementation of the curriculum becomes a reality when teachers execute it with real students in a real classroom (p. 180).
Although Fullan (1991, p. 378) mentioned that “the concept implementation has proven difficult to define,” he attempts to define the term implementation as “…putting into practice something which is new to the person who is attempting to bring about a change.Therefore putting a curriculum in action obviously requires the teacher. Stenhouse (1979:4) identifies the teacher as the agent in the curriculum implementation process.
Every teacher at my school is aware that implementing the curriculum is autonomous. The general goals to be accomplished, the specific objectives to be mastered, and the sequence in which those objectives should be studied and assessment. The ministry of education intends us that we should teach learners, and that the learners will learn what these guidelines set forth.When these guidelines for the intended curriculum have been prepared, curriculum writers prepare textbooks, teachers manuals, scheme of work, policy guide (i. e. the written curriculum) with the expectation that teachers will use the guides to teach the intended curriculums and thus achieve goals/aims.
To implement the curriculum, all new teachers are given all relevant documentation, and these are neatly filed. We begin with the philosophy of and given school, that is the National Policy Guide.The policy is intended to help teachers to organise and sustain the teaching on a high level within the school environment, by helping design appropriate learning opportunities for the classes, and help them to create a constructive learning environment in support of learner centred education and provide continuously for learning activities in the classroom (National Policy Guide LP pase:2004). Before we begin teaching (especially novice teachers) a training session is conducted to help teachers find a starting point.The training manual helps teachers gain in depth knowledge of the curriculum, syllabus and to be able to construct teaching and learning in an integrated way, and approaching the teaching process through cross curricular themes, how to plan lessons, LCE and assessment. After a knowledgeable training session.
The teachers can start to teach. The syllabus in relation with the thematic scheme of work, describes the intended learning and assessment. We should note that learner centred education and continuous assessment are entwined in the syllabus and curriculum.Teachers then use the syllabus to plan and write out lesson plans weekly and daily, subject by subject. Each given subject to be taught has its own learning objectives, what learners will do. Approaches, suggested activities that could lead to achieving the competencies.
Basic competencies, what learners must be able to do after the lessons. These are the three tools we use when writing lesson plans. On the other hand, the scheme of work tells us what skills or areas of learning we should be teaching in a specific theme/topic. LCE) Learner centred education as mentioned before is an approach to teaching.
In all our classes, LCE as I have mentioned before is an approach to teaching. In all our classes LCE is the root towards learning. Learners desk are shifted to form groups with aim of working together. The final part of implementing the intended curriculum assessing learners learning outcomes.
Ramsden (1992) puts it, the assessment is the curriculum, as far as the students are concerned. Assessments influences the curriculum implementation tremendously.We have three phases at our school, but I will only concentrate of the lower primary phase, because I teach in the LP phase. The LP phase has six assessment dates. Two per term.
Children are assessed continuously through less structured and more structured activities example, tests, quizzes, matching, fill in the missing …, complete sentences etc. We basically assess learners on what was covered in class that is intended for them to master. The teachers tendency to concentrate on subjects to promote academic excellence, effects the achievement of the broad goals of the curriculum.
