A good education system is a potent tool, providing learners with skills, knowledge and attitudes needed to secure improved livelihoods and to navigate their future adult life.
With hindsight benefit, our education was ill-designed and ill-prepared to perform effectively this task - of ensuring survival in a fluid and dynamic world.
As it continues to slam doors on young graduates holding irrelevant qualifications, the knowledge-based economy has laid bare the limitations of the present outdated education and training system.
There is a greater demand and emphasis on problem solving, self-management, entrepreneurial, interpersonal and communications skills. Lo and behold, the present conservative education system is yet to accord these much sought after skills sufficient expression and attention. Clearly we cannot expect 19th century solutions to address novel and intricate challenges of the 21st century.
The need to speed up curriculum reforms, accompanied by appropriate assessment and pedagogic approaches supporting the development of industry relevant skills cannot be overemphasised. Investment on skills development should begin early enough at the foundation level - primary and secondary schools.
This should be motivated by the ‘catch them young spirit’. Leaving it to tertiary institutions will be a little too late. Conscious of the necessity for a paradigm shift, the system to its credit made bold and radical BGSE progammme aims. The BGCSE programme has adopted a competency-based character aligned to a knowledge-driven economy. The intention is not necessarily to relegate content acquisition into the background but to achieve a good blend of content and skills training.
The BGCSE curriculum blue print spells out the competencies learners are expected to have gained on completion of the two year senior secondary education. Some of the outcomes are: basic skills and understanding to allow for execution of rights and responsibilities as good citizens of Botswana and the world, information technology skills as well as an understanding and appreciation of their influence in the day-to-day activities and pre-vocational knowledge and manipulative skills that will enable them to apply content learnt. The programme aims raise hopes and expectations that work in the classroom has begun in earnest to address the skills deficit bedevilling the country. However, the stark reality is that the process of transition to an outcome-based teaching is painfully slow. It seems it would take a bit of time and preparation before the learners can fully enjoy the fruit of the curriculum reforms.
Availability of a policy document spelling out the skills learners should garner and master for their survival needs is one thing but putting the ambitious curriculum reforms into practice in the classroom is another thing. More work is yet to be done to adapt or overhaul the traditional mode of curriculum delivery to accommodate skills training.
Skills development agenda dictates a switch from passive learning, where the teachers dominate the teaching process to an active learning mode where learners play a significant role in their learning.
The discredited lecture method has stubbornly survived the test of time, remaining the most popular and convenient vehicle of transmitting content to students. The lecture method gives the teacher more air time to manoeuvre and dictate terms while students are expected to passively absorb everything from the fountain of knowledge - the teacher.
Because there is limited opportunities for participation ,students are not sufficiently challenged to carry out independent research or reading prior to the lessons. As Professor Jaap Kuiper has observed, “teaching uses limited activities, it is out-dated, has largely been reduced to mere drilling.” Giving skills development more freedom of expression requires action packed and thought provoking classroom instructional teaching practices. Classroom activities should be characterised by debates, quizzes, public speaking competitions, group work, presentations and research. Lo and behold, these activities hardly feature in the classroom due to a number of reasons.
One of the reasons, depriving learners to be actively involved in classroom proceedings, is that the teachers are in a rat race to complete the curriculum. One of the biggest accomplishments a teacher is expected to perform is completing the syllabus on time. The curriculum is long and syllabus coverage has become a big challenge. Those who are able to complete or adequately cover the syllabus are showered with accolades. And in the name of syllabus coverage, there is every justification for every teacher to limit time consuming and energy sapping actives. The desire to complete the syllabus, however justifiable, deprives of students a rich and fulfilling teaching and learning environment. Our system is pursuing the goal of finishing the syllabus at the expense of giving students opportunities to learn by involvement and practical experience.
At the end of the academic year it would be ideal for schools to give an account of what skills students have mastered. Yes, test scores can still be released. But test scores do not tell a whole story about the capabilities and individual skills students have learnt. A student performance card should be all embracing to cover vital 21st century skills of attitudes, interpersonal, problem solving, innovation and public speaking to mention but a few. Perhaps there is a need to interrogate the value that a content-based examination is adding to our students. A content-based examination is certainly pursued religiously at the expense of skills development.
Life outside school has no respect for test scores or mastery of grammar but recognises self-confidence, resilience, critical and independent thinking. The goal should be achieving some semblance of balance between content and skills development.
