The role of the educational psychologist in supporting grade 4 natural science teachers to implement the curriculum assessment policy statement (CAPS) in a school for learners with severe learning disabilities

M.Ed. (Educational Psychology)Abstract: The aim of this inquiry was to describe the role of the educational psychologist in supporting Grade 4 Natural Science teachers in implementing the CAPS curriculum in a special needs school in the Johannesburg South Region. From an inclusive education perspective, it was vital to determine the role that educational psychologists could play in assisting teachers to implement CAPS. Three grade Four Natural Science teachers involved in the implementation of the CAPS programme were purposively selected to participate in the study. Informed by a generic descriptive qualitative research design within a constructivist/interpretivist paradigm, the study used interviews and reflective journals to collect data from the participants. Content analysis was subsequently used to analyze the data. Transcriptions from the group interview and reflective journals revealed these cross-cutting themes: (i) educational support; (ii) capacity building and (iii) implementation. The study found that while Natural Science teachers were generally committed to help implement the CAPS curriculum, their contribution to this process was severely hampered by lack of skills and resources i.e. customized textbooks, policy directives and lack of support and co-operation between SEN schools. The study also revealed that generally teachers believed that educational psychologists could play a role in supporting the implementation of CAPS curriculum in SEN schools. There was a strong feeling that the current CAPS environment lacks educational psychology support interventions, such as assessment support, individual education programmes (IEPs), teacher training, policy development and implementation, learner development, school development and counselling. In light of these findings, it was concluded that implementation of CAPS in SEN schools needs to be reviewed to ensure that educational psychologists play a more active role in supporting both teachers and learners to ensure better performance and outcomes