As stated in Chapter One, studies by Smit (2001), Stoffels (2005) and Blignaut (2008) revealed that the lack of appropriate resources and materials at schools decreased the possibilities of sound curriculum implementation. In this study, I have looked at how organisational arrangements at schools can hamper or enable interaction amongst teachers in policy and school practice. These arrangements are especially influential when it comes to the taking up of curriculum reform in schools.
When teachers were asked whether they felt that their schools were adequately structured and resourced for A&C, as stipulated by the curriculum policy document, they expressed their consternation about the lack of specific classrooms for A&C learning:
“Classrooms at my school are not suitable for all four sub-disciplines of Arts and Culture. We do not have a school hall for art performances and drama exhibitions” (T1).
“We are also lacking classroom spaces. The practical side of Arts and Culture can’t be taught in ordinary classrooms” (T6).
“No, our school is under-resourced to teach Arts and Culture, due to the fact that it is a new learning area and the school is therefore not built to accommodate it” (T3).
“No, learning takes place in normal classrooms which makes it difficult to do justice to the completion of practical work” (T5).
Similarly, teachers in the study expressed deep concerns about the lack of adequate learning materials, such as textbooks and artefacts:
“We are experiencing limited resources in the form of suitable learning support. This includes a lack of adequate textbooks and other suitable resources such as drawing equipment, music equipment, and mostly everything used in Arts and Culture” (T2).
Also in relation to organisational arrangements was the issue of time constraints for A&C teachers. Respondents were particularly critical of School Management Teams for their apparent failure to recognise the time required to do justice to A&C as indicated in the NCS. The allocation of time scheduled for A&C teaching lessons also differed markedly from school to school. Some schools had four periods for A&C, whereas others had five periods per seven-day cycle. All the respondents however, felt that the class periods were too short for doing practical or group work, especially in visual arts and drama. The following excerpts from the responses of four of the respondents summed up the teachers’ feelings in this regard:
“I feel that I do not have enough time to complete practical activities, such as drama and visual arts” (T1).
“Arts and Culture emphasises a lot on group work. If your lesson periods are too short, then it is difficult to adhere to the assessment guidelines of this learning area” (T2).
“Especially when we have to do art forms such as the visual arts, dance and drama, we are experience most of the time difficulties in completing these assessment tasks on time” (T3).
These feelings of teachers are congruent with a similar finding by Hargreaves (1994: 15), who states “shortage of time is one of the perennial complaints of teachers and teaching.” This is especially true in times of educational change, school improvement, curriculum implementation and staff development. Time constraints, could lead teachers to ignore core concerns.
Organisational arrangements are also influential in the sense-making process at other levels of the school system. Another disturbing finding relates to the lack of sufficient Arts and Culture teachers at certain schools and the disintegration of the sub-disciplines of the learning area:
“I am the only one who teaches Arts and Culture at my school for both grade eight and nine learners. This is an enormous task for me.” (T1).
“We are only two teachers teaching A&C at school” (T5).
According to T2 the danger of sometimes dividing the different sub-disciplines of the learning area and assigning it to one teacher each, as it is occurring at her school, leads to the disintegration and misinterpretation of the learning area:
“I am one of three teachers who are teaching Arts and Culture at school and each teacher concentrates on his /hers area of specialisation” (T2).
Linking to the above, a different approach concerning the integrative format of the A&C learning area might result not only in the construction of different understandings, but different teachers for each sub-discipline are sending out conflicting messages about the NCS instruction at times. As in the words of T3 who added that
“not only would assessment standards be lowered and the important learning outcomes superficially reached, but also attaining the
requirements of the A&C learning area as set out in the NCS might prove to be difficult.”
On the other hand the shortage of suitably qualified teachers in A&C, for successful implementation of the curriculum policy at certain schools as part of their organisational arrangements, can also contribute to substantial differences in the meanings that teachers construct from revised curriculum practice. The following extract sums this up:
“Some teachers are teaching Arts and Culture regardless of not being trained or qualified because of the lack of suitable teachers at our school and they are sometimes only used to fill up their timetables. This is definitely lowering the standards for this learning area” (T4).
On a more positive note, structural arrangements that are more supportive are especially influential in sense-making when it comes to curriculum reforms in schools. Typical positive responses were:
“Yes. We have four big classrooms, each for Dance, Drama, Music and one classroom specifically for Arts and Culture” (T2).
“Yes, I have a well-structured classroom that caters well to the needs of the Arts and Culture learning” (T4).
In addition, the views of these respondents were congruent with findings by McLaughlin (1998) on policy implementation. He saw local conditions (context) and the support of people as important for any implementation to take place. In addition McLaughlin (1998: 72) concluded that although teachers might be eager to embrace change efforts, their eagerness would not amount to much if their institutional setting or broader organisational environment did not support them: the school climate must be conducive to change.
These teachers’ accounts of their situational and social experiences in trying to implement the curriculum help to explain why their situated practices either do,
or do not, conform to policy prescriptions. In broad terms, the potency of policy levers in getting teachers to change their practice depends on teachers’ “enactment zones”, the spaces where the world of policy meets the world of practice. Respondents were asked to identify some of the school level factors that influenced negatively or positively on the implementation of A&C learning within the curriculum reform in South Africa.