Teachers' understandings of the concept of learner-centredness in the revised national curriculum statement : a case study of two Durban township high schools.

Abstract

The qualitative case study reported in this dissertation outlines the principal findings of an investigation on four teachers' understandings of the concept of learner-centredness in the Revised National Curriculum Statement (RNCS) in two Durban township high schools. The RNCS as the name suggests, is a revised National Curriculum that is both implemented and trialed in the General Education and Training band of schooling in South Africa. One of the features of the RNCS is its learner-centred pedagogy. The purpose of the research was to investigate teachers' understandings of the concept of learner-centredness in the context of outcomes-based education and the RNCS. The ways in which the meanings they assign to the concepts, as well as their perceptions of theirroles and identities in enacting learner-centred pedagogy in their classrooms as shaped by the context in which they operated was investigated A major finding of the study is that teachers' understandings of the concept of learner-centredness tend to be influenced by the context in which they work in terms of the school culture, as well as their understandings of their new roles and identities in the context of the RNCS. This means that, in part schools' cultural and social processes play a major role in shaping and reconstructing both the experiences and roles of teachers in the context of educational innovation. This has implications for the content and processes of teacher professional development and in-service education programme, as well as the organisational development of schools in preparation for curriculum change.