Considerations Need To Be Made Before Schools Adopt Three Streams Model


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South Africa has a youth unemployment crisis. According to Statistics South Africa, 61% of youth aged 15-24 years old are unemployed. While employment initiatives help combat youth unemployment, they are not far-reaching. The country's education department believes that diversifying its school curriculum could increase the employablity of learners once they leave school.


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In 2022, the Department of Basic Education (DBE) announced that it would introduce as many as 38 new occupational and vocational school subjects. The introduction of the new subjects forms part of the department's Three Streams Curriculum Model. 

The DBE believes that investing in technical education will increase learners' employability when they complete their schooling. The department added that if no jobs are available, the learners would have gained the skills necessary to become entrepreneurs and employ themselves. 

New and existing subjects will be grouped into three streams namely the academic stream, technical vocational stream and technical occupational stream. The main difference between the three education streams is the amount of practical and theoretical work students will be required to undertake.

In the academic stream, practical learning is minimal while in the vocational stream, learners would split their time gaining theoretical and practical knowledge equally. This is the approach currently being used at schools around the country and aims to help learners for further studies in the Post School Education Secor (PSET).

The vocational stream will see learners participate in practical learning 75% of the time while the remaining 25% will focus on theory. The vocational stream aims to prepare learners for professional studies and professional careers in engineering, medical professionals, artists and other professions. 

Learners who enter the occupational stream will be geared towards gaining skills for the world of work and may be required to take part in workplace learning. Learners will ultimately work in trades and become technicians and operators. 

While the three streams model and introduction of several new subjects have been trialled in schools, the department intends for the subjects and the curriculum model to be fully implemented by 2025.

The pilot programme aims to consolidate the final curriculum before the three streams model is implemented country-wide. 

One of the new subjects being piloted at schools is Marine Sciences. The first cohort of 13 Grade 12 learners wrote Marine Sciences as part of their 2021 National Senior Certificate examinations. More than 300 Grade 10 and Grade 11 learners took up the subject since. 

As a high school subject offering, South Africa should be proud that the offering of Marine Sciences is a world first; as other countries only provide Marine Biology and Oceanography to tertiary level students - DBE SA

Several other subjects have already been trialled. These subjects include Agricultural Studies, Motor Mechanics, Food Production, Digital Technology, Beauty and Nail Technology, Ancillary Health Care, Civil Technology and Electrical Technology.

The National Professional Teachers' Organisation of South Africa (NAPTOSA), one of the country’s largest teacher unions, welcomes the proposed three streams plan from the department. 

Careers Portal spoke to NAPTOSA Executive Director Basil Manuel to gain insight into the potential benefits of the three-stream curriculum model and gain a sense of the challenges and considerations that must be addressed to ensure the success of its implementation. 

Manuel says the introduction of the three streams model must be embraced as it creates the opportunity to cater to all learners enrolled in schools around South Africa. 

They explain that the current curriculum used by schools is geared towards the academic child. However, not all children are academic and the education system currently does not cater to the child who is technical or vocational. 

We must therefore embrace the introduction of this model as it's a blight on our education system that only caters to academic learners… 

Manuel further believes that the implementation of this curriculum model could also have a positive impact on the dropout rate as learners will be able to follow an education stream that suits their learning needs. 

Approximately 775,000 of the 1.18 million learners who entered formal learning in 2011 reached Grade 12 in 2022. This means that 35% of learners did not reach grade 12. Some of these learners may have dropped out or pursued education opportunities at Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Colleges. 

To implement the three streams curriculum model, the department has introduced two sets of new subjects. The first set of subjects was primarily targeted at vocational-based schools or special schools. The second set of subjects is set to be introduced at ordinary public high schools over the new couple of years. 

Several steps are taken before the introduction of new subjects. These steps include the development of the curriculum, ensuring that educators are available to teach these subjects and ensuring that schools have the requisite resources to ensure that schools can teach those subjects.

Manuel believes that it is important that each school introduces a certain measure of these new subjects as there cannot be the assumption every learner at a specific school is inclined in the same way.

The theory of saying we need this is one thing, the practical implementation is a completely different story altogether.

Many of these subjects can be easily introduced as they don't require vast resources, especially in lower grades. A subject introduced in the foundation phase may only need to learn the methodology and require minimal resources.

However, several subjects require specialist equipment or must be taught in a workshop which will require additional resources for schools. Manuel conceded that not all schools in South Africa may have the capacity to do this. 

Another challenge is the lack of a policy document regarding the three streams curriculum model. In the absence of a policy document could leave a lot of space for interpretation.

The General Education Certificate

The General Education Certificate (GEC) intends to formally recognise a learner’s achievements at the end of the compulsory phase of schooling. Its primary purpose is to facilitate subject choices beyond Grade 9 and articulation between schools and TVET colleges. 

The GEC is being trialled at several schools around the country. While it is not an exit certificate for learners, it will provide learners with better decision-making access to further learning after Grade 9

Manuel says the GEC will serve as the guide for which paths learners will follow. Some learners will follow the academic stream while others may enter the vocational stream or the occupational stream.

The GEC is not an exit certificate. The schools must be able to accommodate learners to complete their FET phase regardless of the stream they choose.

To ensure the three streams curriculum model is successful, Manuel says the introduction of new subjects must be oriented properly and ensure the subjects are streamed correctly. 

The introduction of the model will not demand huge changes in staffing, however, there will be changes in staffing which requires additional staff. Some subjects will also be workshop based and considerations must be made to ensure schools comply with legislation like the Occupational Health and Safety Act. 

If we want to serve the children of the country, to serve the parents, we’ve got to speed this process up. 

Manuel added that an exit certificate must be ready for learners who complete their education in the occupational stream.

 

Suggested Article:

learner taking notes with pencil

One of things South Africa has always been criticised for is the rising school dropout rates. Many believe that the reason behind the country’s high figures is that the education system is subjecting learners to teaching methods and subjects that have set them up for failure.






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