South African physical sciences teachers' perceptions of new content in a revised curriculum

Umesh Ramnarain; David Fortus

doi:10.15700/saje.v33n1a573

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South African physical sciences teachers' perceptions of new content in a revised curriculum

Journal article

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South African physical sciences teachers' perceptions of new content in a revised curriculum

Umesh Ramnarain and David Fortus

South African Journal of Education, Vol.33(1), pp.126-140

Feb/2013

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15700/saje.v33n1a573

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Abstract

This paper reports on South African teachers' perceptions of the educational value of new topics in a revised physical sciences high school curriculum, their content knowledge competency of these topics, and their pedagogical content knowledge in teaching them. In view of the historical inequalities of the South African education system, a focus of the study was comparison of these perceptions of teachers based at schools which are diverse in terms of location, student population, and availability of resources. We adopted a mixed methods approach in collecting and analysing data from a large-scale survey of teachers through a structured questionnaire, and followed this with interviews with 10 teachers in seeking more in-depth explanations of the findings. The study revealed that teachers at township and rural schools previously designated for black students, and suburban and city schools previously reserved for white students, have a positive perception of the new topics introduced into the revised curriculum. However, teachers at all these schools expressed uncertainly as to their content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge of the new topics.

Keyw ords: content knowledge

pedagogical content knowledge

pedagogical knowledge

Details

Title: South African physical sciences teachers' perceptions of new content in a revised curriculum
Creators: Umesh Ramnarain (Corresponding Author) - University of Johannesburg
David Fortus (null) - 972WIS_INST___78
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: South African Journal of Education, Vol.33(1), pp.126-140; Feb/2013
Number of pages: 15
Language: English
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15700/saje.v33n1a573
Grant note: NA
Record Identifier: 993267043403596

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