A strategy for teacher involvement in curriculum development

Education change in South Africa during 1996 took into consideration the valuable contribution of classroom practitioners in the curriculum process. To this end numerous policy documents released by the Department of Education alluded to greater teacher involvement in curriculum development. The Gauteng Department of Education involved teachers in the curriculum development process with the introduction of the new curriculum namely Curriculum 2005. The extent to which teachers impacted on the curriculum development process is questionable. Hence this study focuses on an effective strategy for teacher involvement in curriculum development. The strength of the strategy is that it involves formal teacher training with semesterised courses. There is phased- in implementation of the different phases of the curriculum development process. This formal training course will be accredited on the National Qualifications Framework. The responsibility for INSET is shared between the Education department and Higher Education institutions. Findings of the research indicate that the Department of Education needs to dedicate time during each term of the school calendar to conduct massive in-service programmes if teachers are to make a genuine impact in the curriculum development process. There is a need for a formal in-service (INSET) program in order to facilitate widespread curriculum change. (South African Journal of Education: 2001 21(4): 287-291)