New curriculum aims at better Primary Seven products
Mar 25, 2007
WITH the new primary school thematic curriculum already in operation, the National Curriculum Development Centre hopes to get a better breed of Primary Seven graduates after seven years. Designed for classes from Primary One to Three, the curriculum emphasises the use of a child’s first language a
By Nassar Nigel
WITH the new primary school thematic curriculum already in operation, the National Curriculum Development Centre hopes to get a better breed of Primary Seven graduates after seven years.
Designed for classes from Primary One to Three, the curriculum emphasises the use of a child’s first language as a medium of instruction before a second language is introduced.
The programme started with Primary One, after being tested on 90 pilot schools last year with nine local languages as the media of instruction plus a tenth, English.
The pilot project was done in at least 10 schools per district, all of which are now in their second year running on the thematic curriculum.
How it works
TEACHING under the thematic curriculum is based on the themes of numeracy, literacy and life skills. Other themes are news, physical education, free activity, religious education and the art of writing.
All the class interaction should go on in a local language agreed upon as the most commonly used in a given locality. Unlike subjects in the old curriculum, strands apply in the thematic system. And, depending on the theme for study, all that is taught in a strand has to refer to the theme.
For instance if the theme is “Our Homeâ€, everything that is learnt has to be about a home. For example, when teaching literacy, pupils are supposed to listen to the teacher talk to them about a home.
Then they can speak, read and write in the local language about things in a home. This way, they are developing the four skills of communication – listening, speaking, reading and writing.
Life skills as a strand teaches pupils how to go about interpersonal relationships like appreciation, love forgiveness, conflict resolution, respect and patience. Much as teachers use local languages, English is also taught, but with compliance to themes.
This system is deemed to improve the teacher-student relationship, since one teacher handles all the strands in the class.
A recent research by the Ministry of Education and the Uganda National Examinations Board indicates that pupils’ performance at Primary Seven is poor because of poor comprehension of the English language, in which examinations are set.
It goes on to say that the poor comprehension is caused by the pupils’ having received their initial educational instructions in a foreign language (English), hence making it hard for them to translate what they read into their local languages in order to comprehend it well.
Ground work
ACCORDING to Remigious Baale, the coordinator of the Primary School Curriculum Review, a child who gets an initial academic instruction in their first language finds it easier to take on a second language, since they can refer to things they already learnt in the first language.
“We have done research about the thematic curriculum and are convinced it will give us a positive outcome,†he said, adding: “By the time pupils who have taken it on finish Primary Seven, there should be a great improvement from the current performance.†Sarah Nakkazi, the deputy headteacher in charge of the infant section at Bat Valley Primary School, shares Baale’s optimism.
An expert on early childhood education, Nakkazi says a child’s brain adjusts swiftly, especially if it is accustomed to a routine like listening, speaking, reading and writing in a common language. “Adjusting to English, which will be given much emphasis in Primary Four, becomes easy for such a child,†Nakkazi says.
Bat Valley is one of the eight schools in Kampala that piloted the project. Nakkazi also says that feedback from other pilot schools is encouraging.
Betty Isingoma, a Primary One teacher at Bat Valley, taught under the thematic curriculum last year and says teaching under the system calls for a lot of dedication and interest, lest one finds it complicated.
“Can you imagine you even have to turn yourself into a musician of some sort? That way, you arouse the pupils into a learning mood and when you start teaching, they have fun all the way,†she adds.
Just a few adjustments
BAALE says a few changes have been made in the curriculum for simplicity from the previous cumbersome one, which was launched in 1999 in two volumes – Volume One offering English, maths, science and social studies.
Volume Two offered agriculture, Swahili, a local language and Religious Studies, among others. A curriculum is supposed to serve between five to seven years.
“The old one was complicated with such subjects as Integrated Production Skills, Swahili and others that didn’t pick because of lack of teachers and other bottle necks that made it difficult to have it fully implemented,†Baale said.
Controversy
BUT confusion abounds in this system, as there are a multiplicity of languages in schools. So whose becomes the one to use? Baale doesn’t agree with such a scenario, especially in the case with upcountry schools.
He says there is always a common language that pupils use regardless of other existing ones. “Just pick on about 50 pupils randomly and get them playing on a pitch. You will be surprised to find them communicating in a common language that everyone feels comfortable with,†he reasons.
However, some schools, especially in the city, have been allowed to use English as a medium of instruction.
The question that remains though is whether such schools have forgone the benefits that come with the thematic curriculum.
The other dilemma is that instructional materials in only nine subjects have been procured according to the National Curriculum Development Centre.
With 25 languages selected as the media of instruction, this means schools that will be teaching in the remaining 16 languages will lag behind the curriculum for some years before materials are put in place.
Parents hate it
TEACHERS are facing resistance from parents. Since the thematic curriculum encourages a daily assessment of the pupils’ strengths, it does not consider end-of-term examinations for pupils. And to a parent who is perennially accustomed to receiving an end-of-term report, the thematic curriculum is useless.
Nakkazi says parents at Bat Valley have not embraced the idea of receiving a report full of comments about the pupil’s progress and no scores in terms of figures.
The same case to other pilot schools like East Kololo and Naguru Kitale. “I am seeing the same problem about to crop up in the schools that have taken on the curriculum this year.
We might have to continue examining the pupils apart from the continuous assessment,†Nakkazi said.
Although teachers who have taken it on this term say the workload has increased, they maintain that the system is promising a good outcome. But a good outcome ought to take place if all schools have been catered for in terms of training manpower to implement the curriculum.
The Government last year trained 30,000 teachers, but most of them came from government-aided schools.
And although the private schools are also being compelled to take on the reviewed curriculum, very few teachers in such schools are equipped with the know-how.
WITH the new primary school thematic curriculum already in operation, the National Curriculum Development Centre hopes to get a better breed of Primary Seven graduates after seven years.
Designed for classes from Primary One to Three, the curriculum emphasises the use of a child’s first language as a medium of instruction before a second language is introduced.
The programme started with Primary One, after being tested on 90 pilot schools last year with nine local languages as the media of instruction plus a tenth, English.
The pilot project was done in at least 10 schools per district, all of which are now in their second year running on the thematic curriculum.
How it works
TEACHING under the thematic curriculum is based on the themes of numeracy, literacy and life skills. Other themes are news, physical education, free activity, religious education and the art of writing.
All the class interaction should go on in a local language agreed upon as the most commonly used in a given locality. Unlike subjects in the old curriculum, strands apply in the thematic system. And, depending on the theme for study, all that is taught in a strand has to refer to the theme.
For instance if the theme is “Our Homeâ€, everything that is learnt has to be about a home. For example, when teaching literacy, pupils are supposed to listen to the teacher talk to them about a home.
Then they can speak, read and write in the local language about things in a home. This way, they are developing the four skills of communication – listening, speaking, reading and writing.
Life skills as a strand teaches pupils how to go about interpersonal relationships like appreciation, love forgiveness, conflict resolution, respect and patience. Much as teachers use local languages, English is also taught, but with compliance to themes.
This system is deemed to improve the teacher-student relationship, since one teacher handles all the strands in the class.
A recent research by the Ministry of Education and the Uganda National Examinations Board indicates that pupils’ performance at Primary Seven is poor because of poor comprehension of the English language, in which examinations are set.
It goes on to say that the poor comprehension is caused by the pupils’ having received their initial educational instructions in a foreign language (English), hence making it hard for them to translate what they read into their local languages in order to comprehend it well.
Ground work
ACCORDING to Remigious Baale, the coordinator of the Primary School Curriculum Review, a child who gets an initial academic instruction in their first language finds it easier to take on a second language, since they can refer to things they already learnt in the first language.
“We have done research about the thematic curriculum and are convinced it will give us a positive outcome,†he said, adding: “By the time pupils who have taken it on finish Primary Seven, there should be a great improvement from the current performance.†Sarah Nakkazi, the deputy headteacher in charge of the infant section at Bat Valley Primary School, shares Baale’s optimism.
An expert on early childhood education, Nakkazi says a child’s brain adjusts swiftly, especially if it is accustomed to a routine like listening, speaking, reading and writing in a common language. “Adjusting to English, which will be given much emphasis in Primary Four, becomes easy for such a child,†Nakkazi says.
Bat Valley is one of the eight schools in Kampala that piloted the project. Nakkazi also says that feedback from other pilot schools is encouraging.
Betty Isingoma, a Primary One teacher at Bat Valley, taught under the thematic curriculum last year and says teaching under the system calls for a lot of dedication and interest, lest one finds it complicated.
“Can you imagine you even have to turn yourself into a musician of some sort? That way, you arouse the pupils into a learning mood and when you start teaching, they have fun all the way,†she adds.
Just a few adjustments
BAALE says a few changes have been made in the curriculum for simplicity from the previous cumbersome one, which was launched in 1999 in two volumes – Volume One offering English, maths, science and social studies.
Volume Two offered agriculture, Swahili, a local language and Religious Studies, among others. A curriculum is supposed to serve between five to seven years.
“The old one was complicated with such subjects as Integrated Production Skills, Swahili and others that didn’t pick because of lack of teachers and other bottle necks that made it difficult to have it fully implemented,†Baale said.
Controversy
BUT confusion abounds in this system, as there are a multiplicity of languages in schools. So whose becomes the one to use? Baale doesn’t agree with such a scenario, especially in the case with upcountry schools.
He says there is always a common language that pupils use regardless of other existing ones. “Just pick on about 50 pupils randomly and get them playing on a pitch. You will be surprised to find them communicating in a common language that everyone feels comfortable with,†he reasons.
However, some schools, especially in the city, have been allowed to use English as a medium of instruction.
The question that remains though is whether such schools have forgone the benefits that come with the thematic curriculum.
The other dilemma is that instructional materials in only nine subjects have been procured according to the National Curriculum Development Centre.
With 25 languages selected as the media of instruction, this means schools that will be teaching in the remaining 16 languages will lag behind the curriculum for some years before materials are put in place.
Parents hate it
TEACHERS are facing resistance from parents. Since the thematic curriculum encourages a daily assessment of the pupils’ strengths, it does not consider end-of-term examinations for pupils. And to a parent who is perennially accustomed to receiving an end-of-term report, the thematic curriculum is useless.
Nakkazi says parents at Bat Valley have not embraced the idea of receiving a report full of comments about the pupil’s progress and no scores in terms of figures.
The same case to other pilot schools like East Kololo and Naguru Kitale. “I am seeing the same problem about to crop up in the schools that have taken on the curriculum this year.
We might have to continue examining the pupils apart from the continuous assessment,†Nakkazi said.
Although teachers who have taken it on this term say the workload has increased, they maintain that the system is promising a good outcome. But a good outcome ought to take place if all schools have been catered for in terms of training manpower to implement the curriculum.
The Government last year trained 30,000 teachers, but most of them came from government-aided schools.
And although the private schools are also being compelled to take on the reviewed curriculum, very few teachers in such schools are equipped with the know-how.