Teachers’ experiences of the implementation of the mathematics curriculum and assessment policy statement at the further education and training (FET) phase: case study

Abstract

South Africa is amongst many countries that experience curriculum problems. The Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) represents a shift from the traditional way of teaching and learning to a more interactive approach. In this new way of teaching, teachers seem to be lost and apply teaching in the way that suits them. Teachers are required to implement curriculum changes and become re-skilled through qualification interventions, but it is questionable whether the challenges that the teachers themselves perceive as important are taken into consideration. The purpose of the study was to investigate experiences of the teachers on the implementation of the Mathematics Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) curriculum. This hermeneutic study employed an interpretive and constructivist paradigm. The researcher adopted a case study and a qualitative research approach for this study because the aim was to understand and describe teachers’ practices and experiences on the implementation of the Mathematics CAPS curriculum, which is a social phenomenon that includes ideas, thoughts, and actions. This study concerns human action from the perspective of the participants whereby the researcher describes the lived experience of participants as revealed through individual interviews. It is vitally important to recognise our task as researchers who have to continue questioning, probing, and exploring the conditions around us. In South Africa, we need to make harsh decisions in curriculum to address social injustices and inequalities. The available evidence suggests that attention should be payed to curriculum agents during the initial stage of the curriculum dissemination and the availability of the resources in the schools in order for the curriculum implementation to be effective.