Secondary school teachers' perspectives of development studies as a school subject in Swaziland

Abstract

This research project explores the views of secondary school Development Studies teachers on the subject in Swaziland. Development Studies as a school subject, was designed to integrate environmental education into the secondary school curricula in Swaziland. The study followed a qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual grounded theory design. Face-to-face individual interviews were carried out where the respondents expressed their thoughts, concerns and feelings about Development Studies as a school subject. Eight Development Studies teachers and one curriculum designer were interviewed. Only one question, followed by relevant probes was presented to the respondents. The question asked was:

What do you think of Development Studies as a school subject?

This study followed Tesch's approach to data analysis. The study revealed that Development Studies teachers in Swaziland were generally not trained in environmental education. Recommendations are made.