Implementing the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement: A Case Study of the Vhembe West District, South Africa

This qualitative study was undertaken to investigate how district officials implemented Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement in the Vhembe West District in South Africa.Interview data were collected and used for themes identification.The study identified the following challenges that the district officials experienced as they performed their duties:insufficient resources,lack of finances to buy learning and teaching support materials,infrastructure failures,the district’s inadequate support to schools,shortage of district officials in certain disciplines,unclear roles,lack of collaboration,unavailability of followup visits,the shortage of computers for the district officials and teacher support materials,bribery and corruption of selling principalship posts,slow filling of district officials posts,and inappropriate skills for school management and leadership.The study concluded that qualified district officials should be appointed,ongoing support from the Department of Basic Education and provision of resources in ensuring smooth curriculum implementation is needed,and bribery and corruption should be stopped when school principal appointments are made.This study also concludes that the district officials should be continuously capacitated so that they should be able to meet curriculum challenges,and the Department of Basic Education should speed up the curriculum delivery by ensuring that the vacancies are filled up.

Implementing the National Curriculum Reform In China:A Review of the Decade

In China,the eighth round of national curriculum reform(NCR)is the most serious,systematic,and ambitious attempt to transform the basic education curriculum system since 1949.Through a review of the contexts,processes and outcomes of the implementation of the NCR from 2001-2011,this paper provides a further discussion on three pairs of apparently conflicting aspects:policy borrowing or policy learning;revolution or evolution;success or failure.It enriches our understanding of the implementation of large-scale reform in a non-western context like China in the following ways:Firstly,the NCR is China’s reaction against as well as response to the requirements of the current era of globalization;secondly,the debates and setbacks during the implementation of the NCR are not necessarily destructive,and a more integrative view should be adopted by the NCR on the balance between tradition and innovation,between localized concerns and global perspectives;thirdly,it is not wise to make a rash judgment on the reform outcomes of the NCR,especially the invisible and profound cultural changes.All those who are concerned about the evaluation of the NCR may need to rethink and clarify their views and positions on the purpose of education.

An Arduous but Hopeful Journey:Implementing Project-Based Learning in a Middle School of China

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the lived experience of teachers from one middle school in East China who implemented project-based learning(PBL)in their classes.A sample of 22 grade 6 and 7 teachers participated in this research between September 2008 and June 2010.Data were collected from multiple sources including field notes of classroom observation,transcripts of semi-structural interviews and workshop audiotapes.It reveals that teachers were struggling with the roles they should play and in particular with how to effectively facilitate students’project work.However,they also creatively reconceptualized the new curriculum from their own perspectives and brought their students unique and diverse learning experiences.These struggles and reconceptualizations are believed to be the result of teachers’evaluative,identifying and pedagogical culture-cognitions.