Amongst the five educational generic philosophies that represent various underlined values contributing to the curriculum development process is realism. Wiles (2005), states that realism supports teaching students about the world as it is; aligning with the notion that goodness is found in the laws of nature and the structure of the physical world.
This philosophy can be easily interpreted as the educational philosophy that is concerned about presenting the world to the learners as it is, the good and the bad exposed to the learners with an intention to ensure effective grasp of what is needed to be successful in the world as it is and to positively contribute in making the world a better and safe space for everyone. Part of this teaching and learning process would mean that learners are taught in accordance with the current affairs of the world and its requirements for positive survival of its inhabitants. Realism is about exactly the realistic expectations of the world from the learner. Thus, this compels the curriculum system to be aligned with the requirements of the notion of the standing of the community (the structure of the physical world) and therefore what needs to be done to tackle the situation.
Currently, in South Africa the reality of the structure of our world is, according to Business tech (2022), the shortage of skilled workers being a major risk in South Africa https://businesstech.co.za/news/business/551336/shortage-of-skilled-workers-a-major-risk-in-south-africa/. This is the reality of our physical world in South Africa – The market, companies can’t find skilled workers. The root of this reality is the education curriculum system of the country throughout all levels of education in both basic and higher education departments’ (primary, secondary and tertiary education). The curriculum system in the basic education level of our education is not teaching for skill transference purposes. Skill transference seeks to transfer a skill in order to be ready for work, the teaching and learning process is deliberately more practical than theoretical. This is not done in the basic education level in South African schools.
Another factor is the irrelevancy of the curriculum itself – learners are forced to take certain subjects and those subjects are labelled as “compulsory subjects”. These subjects are a stumbling block to learners who will not need such subjects for the career paths they are interested in. The curriculum at school further isolates, if not completely kick out learners who already know what they are passionate about. For instance, a learner who is aware of his law aspirations as a lawyer is not accommodated in the current school curriculum in South Africa. History and English as subjects are not fitting subjects to prepare a young aspiring lawyer to understand the world of law! Subjects such as Introduction to legal studies, Family law, Constitution, etc. would be more suitable subjects a learner can take to achieve relevancy and the reality of his world and aspirations of life. An already business running learner also feels excluded as the only relevant subject would be Business Studies, perhaps with Economics, and the rest of the subjects are just unnecessary subjects for the success of this particular learner. Subjects such as Business management, Policies and Contracts, Corporate Social Investment, Partnerships, Marketing and Branding etc. would be of great relevancy. A counter argument to this would be “ But all those subject are compiled as chapters in the business studies textbook” That is exactly where the problem is, chapters in a book does not necessarily enable you to understand the fundamentals of the subject matter, those chapters should be delivered as extensive independent subjects to learners. There’s no public school in SA that offers such subjects yet there are learners interested in Law and in Business. This is conclusive proof of the irrelevancy of the curriculum.
Higher education curriculum is also similar to the basic education curriculum delivery – the curriculum is largely theoretical and barely practical which proves that there’s no skill transference. Universities do not have WIL Programme (Work Integrated Learning affectionately known as “PRACTICALS”). Law students never go to any “practicals”, accounting students never go to any “practicals”, public relations students never go to any “practicals” etc. The only stand out faculty that ensure relevancy and skill transference is education faculty where they send students to schools as student teachers. Other faculties bombard students with theory until the completion of their studies:https://simnandisolutions.co.za/2020/06/26/the-overlooked-influence-of-the-market-in-education/That is why the market, companies, are crying fault that there are no skilled workers in South Africa. The education and its curriculum is not realistic. The reality is that skilled workers are needed, but the education curriculum system as the feeder to the market is not holding its end of the bargain to produce relevant skilled worked.
Another reality South Africa is facing which supports the notion of realism philosophy is being timid. Learners in South Africa are denied an opportunity of exposure to politics and its dynamics. Even with English speech presentations and essays writing in schools, political topics are forbidden and educators are encouraged, by all means, to avoid such topics. This is problematic because the more learners remain outside the world of politics is the more political illiterate they remain and the more those in politics continue to manipulate and corrupt the system with ease knowing that politics is the subject off the table for learners at school. How can you produce leaders in the political sphere if you hide political matters to learners at school? What do the learners, who are already politically active in their communities, learn at school if politics is treated as an embarrassment yet politics is the reality of the structures of their communities where they come from? The curriculum irrelevancy in South Africa is the reason of most of our socio-economic problems we are facing today.
Realism as a fundamental education philosophy in the curriculum development process is aligned with what Simnandi solutions Pty ltd is proposing through Personalized Education Curriculum System (PECS). PECS is an advocate for explicit education curriculum system that is about the reality of the world people find themselves in. 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 seeks to bring back the value and the dignity of our education system. PECS ensures that learners taste the 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/
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