Geography teachers’ reflection on the Curriculum implementation in rural schools of South Africa

Abstract

The need for geography teachers to understand and reflect on the practices requires interrogation of their ability to provide better implementation of the curriculum in the classroom. The implementers have enforced the implementation, but reflection by geography teachers is not well addressed for better implementation. This study examines geography teachers’ reflections on curriculum implementation in rural schools. Qualitative and case study designs reflect on the curriculum implementation in rural schools. The interpretivism paradigm was employed to check teaching practices since 2012 up to date in rural schools to understand the daily practices on the implementation of the geography curriculum. A convenient sample consisted of ten geography teachers. Individual semi-structured interviews and document reviews were used as data collection methods. The realist social theory on curriculum was used as a lens for the present paper. Geography teachers do not reflect on their daily classroom teaching practices, such as lesson plans and content knowledge. The study concluded that collaborative teaching practices, mastery of geography content, and pedagogical analysis are significant in curriculum implementation in South African rural schools. Proper assessment by the School Management Team should be in place among schools to constantly review the lesson plan used by geography teachers in line with the policy framework on the curriculum implementation in South African rural schools.