Curriculum systems of the world are underpinned by various philosophical curriculum ideologies. These ideologies dictate the operations of the curriculum and its objectives and values. The curriculum ideology from which the curriculum is underpinned is the cornerstone of the curriculum system itself. If adhered to appropriately, the ideology will automatically dictate even the subjects to be rolled out. This paper seeks to establish and explore the significance of the philosophical curriculum ideology that should be underpinning South Africa’s curriculum system – The social efficient-reconstruction ideological curriculum system.

The social efficient-reconstruction ideological curriculum system combines two distinct yet related curriculum ideologies: social efficiency ideology and social reconstruction ideology. On the one hand, Schiro (2013:5-6) explains that social efficiency is thought to advocate for schooling as a vehicle for youth education training to meet society’s needs using the skills acquired during the training and to ensure youth as the future’s active contributing members in the society’s operations. The purpose of this concept is to teach youth the skills and processes they will need in their professions and at home to live productive lives and perpetuate the functioning of society. Social reconstruction philosophy, on the other hand, is based on a consciousness and acceptance of societal issues, such as injustices that exist within society and injustices that stem from racial, gender, social, and economic inequality. The goal of education for reconstructionist is to facilitate the reconstruction of a better society, one ruled by justice and ensuring the equality of its members without prejudice.

Learning from the preceding, it is clear that the world’s curriculum systems should be ubiquitously dictated by the envisaged society – what kind of society is desired ? Based on the exposition of the two curriculum ideologies, it is apparent that even subjects that are offered at school should advocate for the benefit of society. Curriculum design should be sensitive to societal expectations and adhere to social economic, political, technical, public welfare, and policing demands. Those who embark on the path of schooling should be offered subjects that will connect them with the workplaces’ requirements of the career paths they have chosen for themselves, as discussed in the social efficiency ideology. This is because education is clearly a tool used to reconstruct envisioned communities that help build a healthy society for everyone.

That is why then it is concerning that the current curriculum system in South Africa is embroiled with curriculum ideological issues that are social in nature; It is questionable that explicit Political Studies is still not a subject in schools, and History subject is still not as explicit as the historic event itself unfolded, astute entrepreneurial academies aren’t formed yet and entrepreneurship, as a subject, remains mere chapters in Business Management textbooks in high schools, the labour market continues to lament lack of skill from graduates and end up establishing the so-called “Internship programmes” to bridge the skill gap, education is still largely theoretical, the importance of practical education remains undermined with even higher education sluggish in implementation of Work Integrated Learning (WIL) for all university programmes, the continued imposition of the same number of subjects for all students irrespective of the subject – career path relatability, and many other curriculum conundrums. These perplexing curriculum challenges highlight the truth that the CAPS curriculum system is still struggling to meet the needs of South African society.

A social efficient -reconstruction ideological curriculum system, by nature of its design, would easily address these issues and strike the necessary relevancy and interrelationships between education and society. The reason for this claim is because Schiro, (2013:6) in the Curriculum theory: Conflicting Visions and Enduring Concerns reveals that education in its nature is a social process through which society’s proper functioning is reconstructed. In other words, education needs to serve as a tool and a driving force to produce a healthy, well-functioning society in all domains. In concurrence to this, Schiro, (2013:5) uses social efficiency ideology to strike relations contending that youth achieve an education by learning to perform the functions necessary for social productivity. Again, this reveals why the education system should solely be based on serving the needs of society rather than anything else. It is for this very reason that the mentioned curriculum conundrums are an example of a curriculum system that is failing to reconstruct society.

This argument demonstrates that South Africa should reconsider its curriculum structure and consider the feasibility of comprehensive reform. Interested parties would argue that the DBE declared in 2022 that new subjects would be introduced in the following years (Business Tech, 2022), implying that something is being done to modify the curriculum system. Yes, attempts are made; nevertheless, simply introducing new subjects does not address the socioeconomic challenges that society faces. Introducing new subjects that will still be combined with unrelated/irrelevant subjects does not address the issues of distorted curriculum distribution and curriculum irrelevancy. The introduction of new subjects that still doesn’t address the urgent need to balance theoretical learning with practical learning is redundant and remains a deviation from what society requires. Curriculum overhaul or major transformation of the curriculum system is required; introducing a slew of new subjects will not assist the South African education system in responding to the society’s dire needs such as unemployment, explicit entrepreneurial education, bridging the skill gap between the labour market and the education institutions, and so on.

When tracing the origins of education from all ancient archives of education philosophy, it is revealed that education is developed as a tool for societal sustainability as Mosweunyane, 2013 in The African educational revolution: from traditional training to formal education also contends that before formal education arrived in Africa, in order to meet the exigencies of the society, community members had to be trained with intentions to ensure useful individualistic and collective roles in the society. Thus, based on this fact, it would be reasonable to hark and respond to the educational lamentations by society and shape the education system in accordance with what is needed to efficiently reconstruct society to be a healthy environment for everyone. An environment where youth education is meaningful and in turn serves society with the skills acquired.

It is for these reasons that the Personalized Education Curriculum System (PECS) is underpinned by social efficient-reconstruction ideology with an aim to transform present curriculum irrelevancy into curriculum relevancy for the sake of responding to society`s call. The PECS is intended to save students from the monstrous curriculum that drives them to study subjects they will not need in the future. PECS is a disruptive education curriculum system that, by design, will end the confusion surrounding curricular disagreements. PECS is clear on the 50% pass requirement standards. PECS aspires to restore the worth and dignity of our educational system through proper adherence to the demands of society. PECS allows students to taste a glimpse of workplace experience while in school. That’s what makes PECS 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.

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Bibliography:

Business Tech, 2022. Government rolling out new subjects at schools in South Africa. https://businesstech.co.za/news/government/615717/government-rolling-out-new-subjects-at-schools-in-south-africa/. Date of access: 03 Apr 2023.

Mosweunyane, D. 2013. African educational revolution: from traditional training to formal education. The Journal of Higher Education Studies, Vol. 3, No. 4, pp. 50-52.https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1079287.pdf.