Educational transformation and curriculum reform : teachers' perceptions of their roles as change agents

Since 1994, the educational landscape in South Africa has been subjected to on-going policy changes. The national Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) which has been promulgated recently, is the third version of a post-apartheid national school curriculum. Teachers, in particular, fulfil critical roles as change agents during a process of educational transformation, as they need to facilitate the change by implementing the new national school curriculum. This study aimed to ascertain teacher experiences of continuous curriculum change, by focusing in particular on the views of selected FET teachers. Focus group interviews were conducted with teachers employed at secondary schools in an urban township in the Eastern Cape. The data revealed that the teachers‟ responses could be categorised into four broad themes, namely CAPS itself, the learners in relation to CAPS, the teacher in relation to CAPS and the Department of Education in relation to CAPS. Despite several frustrations and uncertainties, it was clear that the teachers wanted to assume agency as they expressed a commitment towards change and a willingness to implement CAPS to the best of their ability. This study however concludes that the FET teachers who participated struggled to assume full agency, due to restrictive and disabling conditions which are mostly beyond their control