Is teaching without understanding curriculum visions and goals a high risk?

Abstract

Subject/discipline curriculum/teaching vision is very important in teaching because it forms the foundation for why teachers teach their subjects. The vision is divided into personal daily experience, societal/social and professional/content visions/reasons. When teachers understand the teaching vision, they identify relevant curriculum goals. The goals are divided into aims, objectives and outcomes. Teachers have to understand the curriculum vision in order to achieve the curriculum goals. Therefore, this article presents an interpretive case study of two participants out of twenty university Bachelor of Education Honours students who specialised in Curriculum Studies. The purpose of the study was to explore the postgraduate students' understanding of curriculum visions and goals in teaching their subjects. These postgraduate students were full time teachers and part time students at a South African university. The postgraduate students' reflective journals, one-on-one semi-structured interview, lesson observation and focus group discussion were used for data generation. The study concluded that postgraduate students were not aware of the visions that underpin their teaching of the current South African curriculum. Although they were not aware of the visions, two participants were able to apply them in their teaching of the current South African curriculum. As a result of the application, they were able to interpret the curriculum. Participation in this study helped them to become aware of the importance of understanding visions, goals and critical reflections in order to apply these effectively. Purposive and convenience samplings were used to select the two most accessible participants from the twenty postgraduate students who participated in this study. This article consequently recommends the identification of visions that underpin the current curriculum, before teaching takes place, in order to identify measurable/observable goals and reflect on their teaching.