Involvement of educators during the curriculum development process.

M. Tech. EducationSince 1994, the field of education in South Africa has been facing a huge number of challenges. Curriculums and matters associated with curriculums in South Africa did unfortunately not escape these challenges. The current state of affairs is that South African educators do not play any part in curriculum development and are in no way involved in it. It seems that curriculums developed somewhere by government officials, or so-called curriculum specialists, and that those curriculums are then handed over to the educators for implementation. The above situation is a cause of concern for educator, who despite being regarded as the most important stakeholders in education; ironically have no say in the curriculums they have to implement. The current top down approach in curriculum development is detrimental to education in this country, since educators cannot adjust something they were not part of. Educators, business people and parents should be afforded opportunities to become partners in the process of curriculum development by letting their voices be heard before the actual implementation of any curriculum development. It is therefore imperative that educators should be given opportunities and platforms to give their inputs and to play an active role in all curriculum matters. Educators are the principal role-players in addressing educational challenges. The process has not yet stabilised and therefore it is so important that there should be dialogue about what is expected of educators when it is suggested that they should be involved in curriculum development. The main purpose of this study was to investigate and explain the possible links between curriculum development and the involvement of educators