Poor academic performance is an old educational problem. This problem has led to numerous studies conducted with intentions to curb it. Despite so many attempts to address poor academic performance, more and more research focused on this matter continues to emerge. In attempting to define it, Ivie and Ikpotokin (2017) firstly borrows from various writers on poor academic performance, amongst those is Aremu and Sokan (2003) who posits that poor academic performance is a performance that is adjudged by the examined and some other significance that portrays as falling below an expected standard. Secondly, Asikhia (2010) described poor academic performance as any performance that falls below a desired standard. And thirdly, Okoye (1982) defines poor academic performance of the individual or candidate in a learning situation as one in which a candidate fails to attain a set standard of performance in each evaluation exercise such as a test, an examination or series of continuous assessments. The curriculum framework is frequently only a small part of the issues considered or researched when factors causing poor academic achievement are explored. This article seeks to expose the possibility that poor academic performance may be related to the curriculum structure itself.
In order to continue producing good academic outcomes, a variety of criteria that contribute to pupils’ positive academic performance must be followed. Accepting individual difference is one of the factors mentioned by Yahaya (2008) in the article titled “Factors contributing to excellent academic performance.” Yahaha adds that as a result of accepting individual differences, pupils have unique learning styles, methods, and aptitudes that are influenced by their prior knowledge. Individuals have their unique capacities, talents, and skills, which they can develop over time. Additionally, students have developed their own preferences for learning styles and rates of learning through education and socialization. These preferences are helpful in assisting learners in achieving their learning objectives. Consequently, educators must help students examine their learning preferences and expand or modify them, if necessary.
In relation to this, the organization, ENHANCING STUDENT WELLBEING (2016) on “How curriculum design affects student wellbeing “posit that student wellbeing will be supported or undermined by the curriculum depending on the extent to which it fosters students’ autonomous motivation, and creates opportunities for students to experience competence, autonomy, relationships and belonging. If curriculum is not designed to support these wellbeing essentials, it may inadvertently undermine students’ psychological resources, contributing to or exacerbating mental health difficulties. This assertion is in concurrence with the argument that the curriculum may be privy to poor academic performance. If the curriculum system is not gearing up students for the future, then that system is redundant, and it must be held accountable for the academic performance outcomes of students. In concurrence to this, Stabback, (2016) reveals that the principal objective of a quality curriculum is, in a fair and inclusive manner, to enable students to acquire and develop the knowledge, skills and values, and the associated capabilities and competencies, to lead meaningful and productive lives. Therefore, the major reform would only be possible through realizing and conceding the reality that the curriculum system is faced with costly shortcomings, however, the continued disavowal of this reality will prolong the long-suffering students have been experiencing in classrooms.
It can then be inferred from the aforementioned statement that how the curriculum is structured may have an impact on students’ academic performance in either a favourable or negative way. If individual differences are recognized as factors that encourage excellent academic performance, it follows that a mandatory curriculum that compels all students to take the same number of subjects and select them
from a mandated list will hinder not only the academic performance of the students but also their future. The CAPS curriculum has a list of subjects students are required to choose from (Department, 2021), this list excludes students who want to pursue jobs not on it and does not take their uniqueness into account. A relevantly designed curriculum would structure its subjects in a way that is pertinent to the needs of the labour market; that is, it would confer with employers to determine what they are looking for in candidates and then train pupils in line with those abilities and aptitudes. In order to ensure that the curriculum delivered to pupils is relevant, a qualitative curriculum system consults with the education society (market, companies, organizations, and institutions). The market and the industries (the employers) are yet another typical illustration that might be used to assess the quality, if any, of the NCS. The fact that many businesses, organizations, and institutions offer internship programs designed to teach graduates practical employment skills is strong evidence that the educational system is creating irrelevant graduates.
Therefore, it might be claimed that some of the academic performance challenges that South African schools encounter are not necessarily academic performance concerns per se, but rather are brought on by the curriculum’s inadequacy. According to Hayaha, the curriculum does not acknowledge that individual differences can contribute to outstanding academic performance. A system that forces four- legged animals to line up with birds to climb a tree is a good example of a curriculum that is privy to poor academic performance because that curriculum dictates a similar approach to success for different students with different capabilities and aspirations, and consequently, poor academic performance is bound to be the problem. This argument highlights the fact that the current issues that are being discussed weren’t ever issues to begin with. These are the effects of a curricular system that is not relevant, which is the core issue. The outcry about kids’ poor academic performance throughout phases is not an issue at all; rather, it is a result of the inadequately planned curriculum system.
The curriculum reform needed, where the curriculum is designed in accordance with the skills and aptitudes the market is envisaging from graduates. A curriculum that facilitates practicalized assessment where exams and tests are career based than written exams and tests is needed. In short, a quality curriculum is needed. According to UNESCO International Bureau of Education, (2016) quality curriculum is the curriculum that provides the structure for the provision of quality learning, especially where teachers might be under-qualified and inexperienced, their classrooms under-resourced, and their students lacking the prior frameworks within which to situate their learning. And it is the curriculum that articulates both the competencies necessary for lifelong learning and the competencies needed for holistic development. We thus argue that curriculum lies at the crossroads of four key aspects of; that education should be inclusive and equitable, characterized by quality learning, promoting lifelong learning, and relevant to holistic development. Curriculum, in other words, provides the bridge between education and development –and it is the competencies associated with lifelong learning and aligned with development needs, in the broadest, holistic sense of the term, that span that bridge.
It is for such reasons the Personalised Education Curriculum System (PECS) was conceived as a curriculum system strictly rooted in quality curriculum theory aspects, foundations of competency- oriented education, and focused on practically assessing students for relevant skills, aptitudes, and values to manoeuvre modern-day society successfully. PECS was developed to be at the forefront of curriculum relevance issues. Just like the birth of postmodernism, PECS is the product of dissatisfaction with the modernist curriculum system in South Africa. PECS is meant to rescue students from the monstrous curriculum that fails to implement progressivism and provide differentiated learning that suits all students. Just like progressivism in the past, PECS is a disruptive and qualitative curriculum system that aims to end the confusion around the inconsistencies of the curriculum. PECS seeks to
restore the value and dignity of our education system by making it responsive to the needs of society through the liberal education-based curriculum system. PECS aims to give students the opportunity to gain an insight into the world of work during their school years. This makes PECS unique and highly relevant in inspiring the education community of our country, South Africa, and Africa as a whole. And we believe that the education system can be improved in this way.
Know more about PECS: https://simnandisolutions.co.za/personalized-education/
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Please answer these 3 questions and submit them: https://simnandisolutions.co.za/pecs – Questionnaires
Cite this publication: XABA, S.S. (2023). Poorly structured curriculum system is privy to students` poor academic performance. https://simnandisolutions.co.za/post/.
Bibliography:
ENHANCING STUDENT WELLBEING (2016). How curriculum design affects student wellbeing.
http://unistudentwellbeing.edu.au/curriculum- design/affects/#:~:text=Curricula%20may%20also%20undermine%20Belonging,excluded%2C%20pos sibly%20rejected%20and%20offended. Dateof Access: 11 July 2023
Ivie I. & Ikpotokin ,S.(2017). Poor performance in the school. https://universalacademyekp.wordpress.com/2017/06/04/poor-performance-in-the-school/. Datae of Access: 10 July 2023
Yahaya, A. 2008.Factors contributing towards excellence academic performance. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/11782212.pdf. Date of Access: 11 July 2023
UNESCO International Bureau of Education ,(2016). What makes a quality curriculum?.https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000243975. Date of Access: 9 July 2023
Department of basic education. 2021. Subject choice and career pathing.
https://www.education.gov.za/Informationfor/Learners/SubjectChoiceandCareerPathing/tabid/980/ Default.aspx#:~:text=The%20four%20compulsory%20subjects%20are,additional%20languages%20m ay%20be%20selected. Date of Access: 12 July 2023