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When innovation clashes with CAPS

When innovation clashes with CAPS. How should schools relate to CAPS or standards documents. Begin with the end in mind. Educators are not given the philosophical and research underpinnings of the CAPS documents

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When innovation clashes with CAPS

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  1. When innovation clashes with CAPS How should schools relate to CAPS or standards documents

  2. Begin with the end in mind • Educatorsare not given the philosophical and research underpinnings of the CAPS documents • We are living in a fast changing world that may require us to be more flexible in our approach as to which skills andcontent areessential • Any standards document should not be viewed as the benchmark of excellence but rather the minimum standard

  3. Case Study: Cursive handwriting • Weigh up time spent on teaching cursive versus the “real benefit” (take note of impact on children with learning difficulties) • Analyze the % of students using cursive in your high schools • What world of technology will the grade 3 of today enter in 2025 • Are there world trends worth looking at?

  4. But how can you stop teaching cursive? • Children will not be able to read letters written by grandparents • How will one sign letters without a cursive signature • Handwriting is linked to ones personal identity • Cursive is linked to literacy in the same way that mathematical ability should not be replaced by a calculator

  5. Research Occupational therapists RonelMcAlpine and Elana Kirshenbaum said, “One cannot simply dismiss cursive as outdated practice”. McAlpine said writing was a skill that could not just be thrown out as it helped adults become “functional writers”. “We are not advocating that every person should write beautiful cursive,” she said. “But cursive gives children the opportunity to put their thoughts down on paper, and have a more fluid train of thought.” Kirshenbaum, who works at a remedial school in Johannesburg, believed lack of writing skills could be contributing to low matric pass rates. (Sunday times, Karen van Rooyen)

  6. Real Research • Cursive handwriting: Are Its last days approaching, Journal of instructional psychology;December 2009. Dr Vi Supon, Bloomsburg University, PA • Handwriting-A forgotten language, Jane Medwell and David Wray, Institute of Education, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK • “ I start from the other side asking why we teach it, given that few people actually use it today and even that number is shrinking. Reason sometimes is the best research” Dr. Scott J Goldberg, Azrieli graduate school of Education, YU

  7. CAPS document • Will the literacy CAPS requirement for foundation phase be broad enough to allow for change or will it be too prescriptive? • Is cursive handwriting a literacy outcome or a life skills outcome?

  8. Concluding thoughts • How much research goes in to every element of CAPS and where does one access it? • Where is the debate really happening on what is essential to be included in a standardized curriculum? • WillCAPS even meet minimum standards for the 21st century?

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