Información sobre la retribución propuesta y sobre la que

b. Of what dangers would you want to be careful if you implemented it? 11. How would you adapt it to maximise its benefits and minimise its limitations?

These criteria were used to analyse the PAS 111 module in the BAgric programme presented in Chapter 5. It is important that when designing a curriculum, the backgrounds of students, the nature of the subject, student learning approaches as well as the needs of the industry that have an impact on the curriculum should be accounted for. It is thus important to analyse a curriculum in ways that ensure that these criteria are met. It is also important that quality teaching and learning remain a main focus area of any curriculum to improve academic performance.

2.3 CONTEXTUALISING THE 2013 ACADEMIC YEAR IN PAS 111

At EATI the total number of students registered for PAS 111 depends on the intake of first years but is never more than 120 or lower than 80 students. However, the failure rate for this subject has been significantly high for the past years. For instance, the failure percentage for the past four years was 34% in 2010, 16% in 2011, 24% in 2012, 38% in 2013, 25% in 2014 and 16% in 2015. EATI found these statistics alarming and the need arose to investigate the possible academic factors that influence the success of the first-year BAgric students.

According to the senior lecturer in the department of Basic Science, the academic year of 2013 started off on a chaotic note with confusion regarding the orientation programme of the first- year students. Classes started two weeks earlier than the scheduled academic year with a one- week break and resumed with the senior students after this. During this particular week, lecturers could not start with their normal practical and tutorial programmes as the time table that is normally followed was interrupted and students were more involved with Rag activities.

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A complete week of formal tuition, practicals and tutorials was lost and had to be repeated in a short space of time.

The failure rate for 2013 was remarkably high. This study thus focuses on this particular year. Also, students who enrolled for PAS 111 in 2013 were easily accessible as respondents as they were in their second year and still on campus. The high failure rate for PAS 111 is of much concern, because failure in this module might lead to a complete cessation of studies or an extension of years on campus because PAS 111 is a prerequisite for other subjects. Teaching techniques such as tutorials in smaller groups, summer schools and the appointment of new lecturers have been experimented with, but did not change the trend that students still fail at a high rate as indicated above.

According to the head of department at EATI, the students had a difficult time during their first semester. Lecturers, particularly ones that teach first-year groups, experienced radical decision making from a senior manager who had no understanding of the scope of work or the dynamics of the group of students in their first year. Working conditions became unbearable and four lecturers resigned during this time while others attempted to find a new job.

From this particular group of first-year intake, only a few students had physical science at school level. These results are discussed in depth in Chapter 4. This corresponds with results from the National Benchmarking test (HESA, 2006) and the lecturer had to cover knowledge that was assumed should be in place first, before she could start with her syllabus. A local and affordable textbook was prescribed to help students but they failed to obtain the book and expected the lecturer to provide all additional learning materials such as a printout of presentations and tutorial memorandums. This led to learning material that did not match with presentations and students became confused with the structure of the content. Students thus ended up confused with the learning content and did not have sufficient time to discuss their concerns and problems with lecturers.

2.4 CONCLUDING SUMMARY

This chapter provides an overview of EATI, focusing on the BAgric programme and the curriculum of the PAS 111 module offered at the institution. Numerous challenges proved to have affected the PAS 111 module – especially in the Department of Basic Science. The

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students’ failure rate in this module increased from 24% in 2012 to 38% in 2013. One of the challenges associated with this increase in failure were students with no background knowledge of chemistry because taking the subject at school level was not one of the admission requirements. Other challenges were associated with learning material that was not up to standard and tutorials that were missed. Therefore, analysing the PAS 111 module seemed an appropriate project as a start to identify related challenges and to investigate the cause of problems within this department. This is against the background of EATI which strives to produce graduates with appropriate knowledge, attitudes and skills to be successful entrants into the agriculture industry. Chapter 3 focuses on literature related to the key concepts of the study and some background factors that seem to influence student performance in chemistry.

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