Curriculum changes and implementation in Eswatini : the pedagogy of Geography teaching in secondary schools

Abstract

The Southern Africa region is currently undergoing curriculum reforms like the rest of the world and the major shift is from the traditional methods of teaching to competency-based education to meet the changing needs and demands of society. In Eswatini, the secondary curriculum was changed in 2006 from GCE to IGCSE and in 2009, to a localised SGCSE now called EGCSE. However, limited studies have been undertaken to determine if the new curriculum is relevant and implemented properly. The main objective of this study was to analyse the Geography curriculum changes in Eswatini and establish the nature of the changes and assess its implementation. Geography is a practical subject hence constructivist methods are useful for Geography learners to acquire skills for lifelong learning. Qualitative methods were employed to collect data from three teachers from three schools through in-depth individual interviews, classroom observations and document analysis. The data was analysed using the grounded theory. Memos were written where the findings were categorised into themes, analysed and compared in order to determine emerging patterns, and to triangulate the data. The results of the study indicated that the EGCSE geography curriculum has changed in terms of its subject matter, teaching objectives and approaches. However, when it comes to the acquisition of the stipulated learner outcomes, problems were identified which indicated that the learners had not mastered the skills and were thus unable to use and apply them. Scores of learners were affected negatively as it resulted into poorer results in examinations. Factors found to limit successful implementation of the curriculum were lack of ownership and understanding of the curriculum by the teacher, teachers’ attitudes, some threats of change, lack of appropriate resources to some schools, teachers’ training, misconceptions about the curriculum and little time to adopt. Other factors included inadequate material resources and pressure to perform in tests and examinations. The study recommends the need for teacher training especially in practical aspects of geography and provision of adequate resources especially to the rural schools.