Competency-based Learning Programme
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Date
2023
Authors
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Publisher
National Education Collaboration Trust, South Africa
Abstract
To assist the basic education sector in preparing young people to thrive in a fast-changing world, the NECT Edhub began a multi-year researchproject in 2018 to explore how “21st century education” could be realised in South African public schools. The research project, referred to as the Sandbox Schools project, had a planned duration of 3 years. The Sandbox Schools Project included designing and researching a number of interventions intended to deliberately develop social, emotional, and cognitive “competencies for a changing world” alongside content knowledge in specific grades and subjects. The Competency-based Learning Programme (CLP) is one such intervention in the Sandbox Schools Project. The CLP, as well as other interventions in the Sandbox Project, was designed using an Educational Design-based Research (EDBR) approach. The EDBR approach involves designing an intervention, informed by theoretical insights and contextual knowledge, and iteratively implementing, researching, and adapting it in a learning environment, with the dual aim of strengthening the intervention itself and garnering further theoretical insights. The design of the research for the CLP was
conducted in collaboration with the University of Johannesburg (UJ) Faculty of Education. The intervention design process was conducted in collaboration with Class Act Education Services and UJ, building on an existing structured pedagogy programme being implemented by the National Education Collaboration Trust (NECT). The overarching approach to intervention design was to acknowledge the intertwined relationship between content knowledge and skills, by developing competencies with and through the teaching of existing CAPS-aligned content, through relevant pedagogies and content choices. The CLP takes this approach to the Grade 1 Home Language curriculum, building on the existing literacy development routines and methodologies in the structured pedagogy programme. The CLP was implemented in 11 ‘Sandbox Schools’ from 2020 to 2022. An iterative mixed methods approach was used to explore teachers’ experiences and perspectives regarding the CLP intervention. Through analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data, the following insights emerged, each of which is discussed further in the research findings section of this report.
Description
Prototyping the infusion of competencies for a fast-changing world in the taught curriculum.
Keywords
Pimary schools, Public schools, South Africa, Learning skills, Competencies, Sandbox Schools project, Home Language curriculum, Literacy