Jika iMfundo: a South African study of ‘turning education around’ through improved curriculum coverage

ABSTRACT

This article is empirically embedded in data collected from a professional development programme titled Jika iMfundo, aimed at changing teacher’s classroom practice. Jika iMfundo means ‘to turn education around’ in isiZulu, a South African language that is widely spoken in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. The programme was implemented in selected teaching districts and focused on increased curriculum coverage as a lever for improving learning outcomes. Conceptually, the article draws on writing about the centrality of the instructional core for sustainable education change and is supported by the view that practical classroom activities with visible effects on learning, is likely to change teachers’ classroom practices. The conclusion verifies the importance of learner activity as a measure of learning, especially in the absence of formal assessments. Additionally the study showed that teachers welcomed the level of structure of the programme and liked knowing exactly what was to be done, how and when to do it. This may be of particular significance in developing contexts with limited resources and where schools are frequently subjected to political and economic vicissitudes.

KEYWORDS:

• Professional development in developing contexts
• learner activity
• peer support
• structured professional development programmes
• curriculum coverage
• reflective practices

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The questionnaire did not include identification of quintile ranking.

2. See special issue of Professional Development in Education, 41(4).

3. All publications arising from the project will be shared with the participants in each district.

4. I was not involved in the project and was requested to analyse the data and write the article as an independent researcher.

5. These themes are analogous with the open-ended questions in the questionnaire.

6. It should be noted that the data collected did not indicate the quintile ranking of the school. However, the Pinetown district, which is mainly urban, arguably comprised a larger number of better resourced schools (quintiles 3–5) than those in the mainly rural district of uThungulu which likely include more quintile 1 and 2 schools. See DBE, The South African Rural Educator Report, 2011.

7. See Molapo and Pillay (2018).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Education Collaborative Trust, through the Programme for the Improvement of Learning Outcomes  (PILO) project