Jonathan Jansen and the Curriculum Debate in South Africa: An Essay Review of Jansen’s Writings Between 1999 and 2009

Abstract

South Africa's attainment of democracy in 1994 culminated in an educational reform anchored on an outcomes-based curriculum which was initially labelled Curriculum 2005 (C2005). The reform process and ensuing policy was rooted in labour movement debates and informed by the outcomes-based education (OBE) experiences in Australia and New Zealand. The policy was soon viewed by some as an anachronistic albatross, with built-in contradictions that would eventually lead to its demise. It lasted 12 years after surviving heated contestation from a wide academic and political spectrum. This essay review concentrates on Jonathan Jansen's critique and perspectives on OBE policy and its implementation in South Africa as articulated in his various writings between 1999 and 2009. His seminal "thesis" on why OBE would fail started a public debate that would attract other South African scholars into what would become one of the most important and captivating debates in the last decades of educational reform in developing countries. Jansen engages with issues of policy, knowledge, curriculum and pedagogy in a postconflict society. He proposes what we can refer to as an epistemology of empathy that takes seriously the experiences of both the victims and the perpetrators of apartheid (including their descendants) and proposes a post-conflict "pedagogy of reconciliation."My thesis is that OBE will fail . . . because this policy is being driven in the first instance by political imperatives which have little to do with the realities of classroom life.

‘How deep are your pockets?’ Autoethnographic reflections on the cost of raising a child with autism

“…Today in South Africa, few middle class parents opt for public schooling, as quality is perceived as very poor (Maodzwa-Taruvinga & Cross 2012 ; Spaull 2013 ). Instead, both fully private schools and the uniquely South African semi-privatised construct ‘former Model-C school’ serve this population.…”

Sustaining a Democratic Culture through Collaborative Engagements for Citizens with Disabilities – Part 2

“…In this subsection of the chapter, we will attempt to assert the notion that any reference to Ubuntu remains purely and mainly ideological, especially if there is no follow-up planned actions to justify why transformation is essential. Maodzwa-Taruvinga has written extensively on a decade in which Jansen's ideology of how a progressive thus inclusive curriculum should look like for a genuinely democratised schooling system, to be created across all schools, in all of the nine provinces of South Africa [29]. Recently, Jansen has played a highly influential social justice role in aiding to democratise the inclusionary classroom practices and school leadership by promoting collaborative engagements between the corporate sector, teachers and school leaders [30].…”

Implementation of Competence Based Curriculum in Tanzania: Perceptions, Challenges and Prospects. A Case of Secondary School Teachers in Arusha Region

“…Countries worldwide have been challenged by the continually changing science and technology and global market demand that leads to introduction of competence-based curriculum in education. Competence-based curriculum systems are now standard in the developed countries as well as in the developing countries (Maodzwa-Taruvinga & Cross, 2012;Paulo & Tilya, 2014). The emphasis on competence-based curriculum emerges from the increasing awareness of the need for direct competence development and not just the acquisition of knowledge as the only skills as a prerequisite for employability and a connection between learning and the labour market (Mulder, Weigel, & Collins, 2007).…”