Teachers’ experiences in teaching popular culture in creative Arts in grade 9 in KwaZulu-Natal school.

Abstract

Following the introduction of a new curriculum, Creative Arts, in Khethokuhle secondary school in KwaZulu-Natal, this study focused on investigating Creative Arts teachers’ experiences in implementing the new element of the curriculum in their classrooms when teaching popular culture in Creative Arts in Grade 9 in KwaZulu- Natal. This qualitative case study was used to provide an in-depth sight into day-to-day implementation of popular culture in Creative Arts, success and failures of teachers (teachers’ experiences). It further gave me an opportunity to delve into the weaknesses and strengths of the Department of Education’s workshops’ which were offered during implementing a new curriculum. Data generation methods are influenced by interprevist paradigm and the study used individual interview with open-ended questions, non-participatory and documents reviews of the lesson plan books, scheme of works and record of work done. Purposive sampling was used in the selection of the participants which were four Grade 9 Creative Arts teachers. The items of the data were analysed into meaningful themes. A theory of curriculum change was used and ethical issues were considered. The findings of this study revealed that teachers’ were not adequately trained on how to implement the elements of popular culture in Creative Arts and not many teachers were involved in the design of the new curriculum. They were not even trained on the teaching methods because the Department of Education just assumed that they would not have problems. Grade 9 Creative Arts teachers’ also showed that performance of Creative Arts is not good because teachers hate teaching practical, as a result they concentrate more on theory.