New Curriculum for South African schools

South African Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga yesterday announced changes to the South African education system.

The new curriculum Schooling 2025 would replace the highly criticised outcomes based education (OBE) system introduced in 1998. However, OBE would not be completely scrapped but would be modified to improve the performance of school pupils.

The new Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement will replace the existing method, where assessment requirements were mapped onto the achievement of outcomes and assessment standards

To read Angie Motshekga’s full StatementClick Here!

To read more go to Sipho Masombuka and Tebogo Monama’s article in the Sowetan by Clicking Here!

To read more go to the SAPA article on News24 by Clicking Here!

The Curriculum Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS) documents can be accessed on the Dept of Basic Education’s website by Clicking Here!

Minister of Education proposes replacement of 3 year university degrees with 4 year degrees

Three-year university degrees in South Africa may be a thing of the past if the Minister of Education’s proposal to make degrees four-year courses, is accepted by the Council for Higher Education. The four-year degree is a personal idea of the minister’s to close the gap between university and business, after employers indicated that graduates were lacking in language skills. (She believes all students should have at least a working knowledge of one indigenous language and an introduction to African history and civilisation). The fourth year would give students the extra time universities need to do additional training.

Another problem she identified is the high number of students who drop out. There are several factors that contribute to this. Schools fail to teach proper language skills and many first-year students struggle to cope with academic language and independent research and learning.

The fourth year will thus be a bridging year to the workplace.
To read more go to the Star Newspaper article by Clicking Here!