Value and belief systems in outcomes based education in a diverse school environment

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:The introduction of Outcomes Based Education in the South African school system brought about anew approach to education. The existing system of a multitude of subjects was replaced by acurriculum with eight learning areas. In this curriculum the focus is on attitudes, skills and valueswhich replaced a content based approach with a process-based approach. Educators thereby becamefacilitators in the educational process.With the barriers of segregation removed in the South African society the diversity of thepopulation created multi-cultural classrooms. Schools became the meeting place of many culturesand belief systems. Educators who facilitated learning in schools were not always prepared for thetask of managing a multi-cultural and multi-religious school environment. This change within theschool system required that educators make a paradigm shift regarding their role as educators.The introduction of Curriculum 2005 (1997); The Revised National Curriculum (2001) and theNational Curriculum Statement (2002) was not without problems in South Africa. Many educatorsresisted change and had negative perceptions about the implementation of Outcomes BasedEducation in schools. These perceptions stemmed from inadequate training of educators for theimplementation phase of the curriculum. The lack of skills to facilitate the content of the curriculumwas also visible in the educators' inability to identify values in the curriculum.The multi-cultural and multi-religious classroom confronted educators with values from thedifferent value and belief systems of learners. It is, therefore, important that educators should beable to identify values in order to attain the outcomes of the curriculum. Previous research indicatedthat educators did not play an active role in the teaching of values in schools. Neither were theeducators participating in this research able to either identify or promote the values identified in thecurriculum.The aim of this research was to develop an instrument to assist educators in identifying values fromdifferent belief systems in C2005 (1997); The Revised National Curriculum (2001) and the NationalCurriculum Statement (2002). Guidelines were developed for the facilitation of the identified valueswithin the OBE curriculum. An empirical research was undertaken regarding the management of values in schools in theWestern Cape during June 1999. Possible methods and approaches to values in education in generalwere identified and the suggested instrument and guidelines to assist educators with theidentification of values was developed.The relevance of this study is to assist in-service and pre-service educators In identifying andfacilitating different belief and value systems in an OBE education system.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University