THE NATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS FRAMEWORK (NQF)

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CHAPTER THREE AN OVERVIEW OF TEACHING AND LEARNING POLICIES IN SOUTH AFRICAN SCHOOLS

INTRODUCTION

In chapter two the influence of theoretical frameworks to research was discussed, namely, critical discourse analysis and constructivism. Essential aspects of critical discourse analysis such as programmes, forms, principles, issues of reliability and validity, as well as the advantages and disadvantages were highlighted and discussed and how these inform and provide a lens to understand the area of the study. Principles and types of constructivism as well as how constructivism relate to this study were also discussed. The general aim of this chapter is to discuss and critically analyse some selected literature considered to be relevant and closely related to this study. This chapter is concerned with documents on teaching and learning policies in South African schools in the democratic dispensation. This should help to portray and support the role and academic worth of the research in this field.
This chapter is divided into six sections. The first section will critically discuss the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) and the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA), while the second section deals with Language in Education Policy (LiEP). Section three will critique Outcomes-based Education (OBE) and Curriculum 2005 (C2005). Section four is an analysis of the National Curriculum Statement (NCS), while the fifth section is about Outcomes-based Assessment (OBA) and Assessment policies as well as policies on progression and promotion. Finally, this chapter will explore the important aspects of the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS). In the ensuing section the National Qualifications Framework, its objectives and its relationship with curriculum development are discussed.

THE NATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS FRAMEWORK (NQF)

According to Republic of South Africa (2009 no. 31909: 4), the NQF is a comprehensive system approved by the Minister of Education for the classification, registration, publication and articulation of quality-assured national qualifications. The NQF centralises all education in South Africa by registering all qualifications, such as school qualifications, Adult Basic Education and Training and non-formal qualifications and work experience because learning is lifelong and can take place under different circumstances. The NQF emphasises quality and standards and it aims at the establishment of uniform standards. Thus, it has an influence on all facets of education as well as the assessment processes since the evaluation methods have to comply with the requirements set by the NQF. Formative and summative assessment methods form an integral part of the learning process.
The NQF is a framework on which standards and qualifications agreed upon by education and training stakeholders throughout the country are registered. According to Bezuidenhout (2010:25), the NQF Act emphasises the need for increased collaboration, co-ordination and above all, communication in the education sector. Since the NQF and SAQA were created, the government has acknowledged the need for teachers and principals to perform adequately as quality education providers (Poutiainen 2009:26). On the other hand, Chisholm (2006:3) states that the NQF, which gave birth to outcomes-based education and C2005, was the educational expression of the social alliance.
The NQF was created as a new policy to bring together education and training so that South Africans can close the gap between the two (education and training). It is based on the principle that it will promote and ensure equity, access, flexibility and quality to education in South African schools and recognise that the learners are not the same and have different needs. According to the NQF, the fact that learners are different is recognised. The NQF also recognises prior learning and emphasises that learning should be made more flexible in the sense that people who require experience in the job training are also given the same recognition which might be equivalent to the qualifications in formal schooling. In the past, experiences gained at workplaces were not recognised by the education system. The NQF gives adult learners who are working to move between Adult Basic Education and Training and the work environment where credits and unit standards are transferable from one learning environment to the other.

Objectives of the National Qualifications Framework (NQF)

According to Republic of South Africa (2009: 4), the following are objectives of the NQF:

• To create a single integrated national framework for learning achievements;
• To facilitate access to, and mobility and progression within, education, training and career paths;
• Enhance the quality of education and training; and
• To accelerate the redress of past unfair discrimination in education, training and employment opportunities.
  The above objectives of the NQF show that the new government, especially the Department of Education, aimed at establishing an environment which will redress the past imbalances of the education system which was based on race, gender and creed.

National Qualifications Framework and Curriculum Development

As already stated in chapter 1 (see 1.7.1), qualification means a planned combination of learning outcomes which has a defined purpose or purposes, and which is intended to provide qualifying learners with applied competence and a basis for further learning. It means the formal recognition of the achievement of the required and range of credits and such other requirements at specific levels of the NQF, as may be determined by the relevant bodies registered for such purpose by the South African Qualifications Authority.
As stated in chapter 1 (see 1.7.2), curriculum is to be thought of in terms of activity and experience rather than of knowledge to be acquired and facts to be stored (Gillard 2006:7). It refers to the teaching and learning activities and experiences which are provided by the schools (NEPA 1996). Curriculum is a term which includes all aspects of teaching and learning such as the intended outcomes, learning programmes, and assessment methodology (Curriculum framework for GET and FET). Curriculum refers to all the learning which is planned and guided by the school, whether it is carried out in groups or individually, inside or outside the school (Killen 2006:7). It can be seen as the overall rationale for the educational programme of an institution (Naicker 2007:3). Curriculum is the contextualised social practice; an ongoing social process comprised of interactions of students, teachers, knowledge and milieu (Tilley & Goldstein 2006:8). It is understood to be more than syllabus documentation.
The term curriculum (ANC, 1994) as already explained in chapter 1 (see 1.7.2), refers to all the teaching and learning opportunities that take place in learning institutions. It includes the following:

• Aims and objectives of the education system as well as the specific goals of learning institutions;
• What is taught: the underlying values, selection of content, how it is arranged into subjects, programmes and syllabuses, and what skills and processes are included;
• The strategies of teaching and learning and the relationships between teachers and learners;
• The forms of assessment and evaluation which are used, and their social effects;
• How curriculum is serviced and resourced, including the organisation of learners, and of time and space and the materials and resources that are made available;
• How the curriculum reflects the needs and interests of those it serves including learners, teachers, the community, the nation, the employees and the econom.
  Curriculum also has to do with determining the purpose and values of learning, and analysing the needs and nature of the learners as well as deciding on the outcomes or learning objectives. This means that it should also deal with selecting the content or subject matter that will support achieving the learning outcomes. It also has to do with deciding on the activities, methods and media for teaching and learning as well as planning how assessment will be done. In the next section the roles of the South African Qualifications Authority, its objectives, and functions are discussed.

CHAPTER ONE AN OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY
1.1 INTRODUCTION AND CONTEXT OF THE STUDY
1.2 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
1.3 LITERATURE REVIEW AND RELEVANT THEORIES
1.4 PROBLEM STATEMENT AND QUESTIONS
1.5 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1.6 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS
1.7 CLARIFICATION OF PERTINEMT CONCEPTS
1.8 CHAPTER DIVISION
1.9 SUMMARY
CHAPTER TWO THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS THAT INFLUENCE TEACHING AND LEARNING POLICIES
2.1 INTRODUCTION
2.2 THE INFLUENCE OF THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS ON RESEARCH
2.3 THEORIES AND EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH
2.4 MAKING SENSE OF CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS AND CONSTRUCTIVISM FOR THIS STUDY
2.5 SUMMARY
CHAPTER THREE A BROAD OVERVIEW OF TEACHING AND LEARNING POLICIES IN SOUTH AFRICAN SCHOOLS
3.1 INTRODUCTION 62
3.2 THE NATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS FRAMEWORK (NQF)
3.3 THE SOUTH AFRICAN QUALIFICATIONS AUTHORITY (SAQA)
3.4 LANGUAGE IN EDUCATION POLICY
3.5 OUTCOMES-BASED EDUCATION (OBE)
3.6 CURRICULUM 2005 (C2005)
3.7 RE-EVALUATION OF CURRICULUM 2005
3.8 THE NATIONAL CURRICULUM STATEMENT (NCS
3.9 OUTCOMES-BASED ASSESSMENT (OBA)
3.10 MANAGING ASSESSMENT
3.11 STRENGTHERNING CURRICULUM IMPLEMENTATION FROM 2012 AND BEYOND
3.12 CURRICULUM AND ASSESSMENT POLICY STATEMENT (CAPS)
3.13 SUMMARY
CHAPTER FOUR RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
4.1 INTRODUCTION
4.2 QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
4.3 THE ROLE OF THE RESEARCHER IN QUALITATIVE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
4.4 SAMPLING AND POPULATION
4.5 DATA COLLECTION METHODS IN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
4.6 DATA ANALYSIS
4.7 PRESENTATION OF DATA
4.8 QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
4.9 ISSUES OF RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY IN THE PRESENT STUDY
4.10 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS
4.11 SUMMARY
CHAPTER FIVE RESEARCH FINDINGS, DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATIONS
5.1 INTRODUCTION
5.2 DATA GENERATED IN THIS STUDY
5.3 DATA ANALYSIS
5.4 SUMMARY
CHAPTER SIX SUMMARY, CONCLUDING REMARKS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
6.1 INTRODUCTION
6.2 SUMMARY OF THE STUDY
6.3 CONCLUDING REMARKS
6.4 RECOMMENDATIONS
6.5 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY AND FURTHER AREAS OF RESEARCH
6.6 SUMMARY
REFERENCES
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TEACHING AND LEARNING POLICIES IN SOUTH AFRICAN SCHOOLS IN THE NEW DEMOCRATIC DISPENSATION: A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS