Mass affair curriculum refers to the curriculum system that assembles a list of subjects and requests learners to choose their curriculum based on the listed subjects. The developers of this curriculum are under the impression that learners learn the same way, they have to reach the same destination at the same time and they must have an equal number of subjects. The developers of a mass affair curriculum system deliberately turn a blind eye to the differences learners, for whom the curriculum system is designed, possess. Right then, the negligence of learners’ unique capabilities, talents, desires, personalities, etc. renders the curriculum system a mass affair curriculum.
A typical example of a mass affair curriculum is the South African CAPS Curriculum known as National Curriculum Statement (NCS). The CAPS Curriculum has designated 20 credit subjects from which learners can choose. Not all of these listed subjects resonate and relate to what learners desire and hope for in the future. For instance, a law aspiring learner is automatically excluded under the CAPS Curriculum approved subjects as no law-relevant subject is included in the list. Subjects like Constitution, Family Law, Legal Studies, Administrative law, International law, etc. should be part of the list to accommodate those interested in the field.
Learners interested in sports studies and aspire to become Sport journalists, Sports photographers, Sport development officers, Sport coaches etc. are totally excluded due to Sport subjects deliberate omission on the CAPS Curriculum listed subjects. Some would argue that in Life Orientation there’s a physical education/sport component that covers sports activities. This is exactly what makes South African education system poor!, shadows and mirrors of reality are dominant in the CAPS curriculum – Life Orientation’s physical education component is nothing close to the real sports subjects! Sports Ethics and Professionalism, Sports Management, Sports Coaching, Sports Marketing, etc. should be done in high school as subjects, not as chapters in Life Orientation physical education textbook. This is similar to doing a chapter on Entrepreneurship in the Business Studies textbook, while Entrepreneurship is offered as a field (degree) at the university, a mere chapter doesn’t necessarily qualify and equip a learner to understand Entrepreneurship at all. These shadows and mirrors of reality have negatively impacted on the education system and that is why sport driven learners suffer curriculum isolation (the curriculum in place is isolating learners as the subjects relevant to their future desires and careers of interest are not provided for under the CAPS Curriculum subjects ). So then, what is the origin of this backward mass affair curriculum system imposed on learners?
Through Gardner (2009:1) it is learned that throughout most of history, not all households have been able to afford an education geared to the individual learner (Personalized education), which resulted in education remaining a mass affair for the majority of countries, with standard curricula, pedagogy, and assessments. South Africa, following the apartheid regime, could relate to (Gardner, 2006:1) observations as the education system was racially grouped and thus, unequal (Carrim, 2006:172), which then resulted into a Bantu Education (1953), OBE (Curriculum 2005), RNCS, CAPS Curriculum (2012) to be a mass affair incognisant of educational differences learners carry. Ultimately, the curriculum, to date, is not geared and designed in accordance with learners` educational needs – it is a “one size fits all” curriculum.
For this reason, Gardner (2009:1) argues that as long as we insist on teaching all students the same subjects in the same way, regression is inevitable. The risk of advancing the education system that compels learners in one model of schooling under which South Africa operates, is incremental results such as high rates of “progressed learners”, dropouts, unemployment, and an unskilled workforce that lack skills which in turn, negatively impacts on the economy of the country. That is why (Gatto, 2005:31) recommends that an invention of curricula is needed where each kid has a chance to develop private uniqueness and self-reliance. And this recommendation points out to personalized education model.
As directly opposed to the mass affair curriculum system, and as a strategy to combat this none productive curriculum system, the personalized education curriculum system advocates for the introduction of curriculum differentiation and school categorization. This introduction is driven by an obvious reason of acknowledgment of differences learners possess and this curriculum system seeks to accommodate those differences and allow learners to thrive in their academic journey without stripping them of their uniqueness as the current CAPS Curriculum system in is doing.
On one hand, curriculum differentiation refers to the process of modifying or adapting the curriculum according to the different ability levels of the learners in the school. It is a strategy that curriculum developers can use with a view to providing meaningful learning experiences for all learners with intentions to enhance education relevancy. On another hand, school categorization would mean that schools will be categorized in accordance with the purpose they serve. For example, categorizing schools will separate learners and group them according to their pursued curriculum – School of law, School of Engineering, School of Languages, Journalism, Drama, and Performing Arts, etc.
It is for reasons such as these that, Simnandi Solutions (Pty) Ltd, a private education group developed a Personalized Education Curriculum System (PECS). PECS seeks to reverse the current curriculum irrelevancy into curriculum relevancy. The PECS is designed to save learners from the monstrous curriculum that forces them to undertake subjects they won’t need in the future. PECS is a transformative education curriculum system that, through its nature of design, will put an end to the whole confusion around curriculum debates. PECS will further sort out the pass requirement standards once and for all. PECS seeks to bring back the value and dignity of our education system. PECS ensures that learners taste a glimpse of the workplace experience while still at school. That’s what makes our curriculum unique and highly relevant to inspire the education community of our nation, South Africa, and the whole of Africa. And that is how we believe the education system can be fixed.
Know more about PECS: https://simnandisolutions.co.za/personalized-education/ – Click on PECS Powerpoint presentation.
Please answer these 3 questions and submit them: https://simnandisolutions.co.za/pecs- questionnaires