Education policies: the Revised National Curriculum Statement and CAPS Essay

In spite of this, the aim of the policies are to ensure that they are adapted to be friendlier to the professionalism of teachers as well as providing opportunities for teachers to engage in policy making which was a task of the Education Labor Relations Council (ELRC) as well as provide resolutions to develop working conditions (EPU, 2005). The representation of teachers are stood by SACE and ELRC. Several policies were constructed and implemented after apartheid which has obstructed the profession of teaching as well as teachers. Taken into consideration political and socio economic contexts that are rooted within the learning process. Therefore this essay will make reference in two education policies such as the Revised National Curriculum Statement and CAPS-----
The RNCS is also known as Curriculum 2005 and was implemented by the democratic government (EPU, 2005). The revised national curriculum was formulated conferring to the outcomes based education. It required developments due to the inequalities of apartheid as well as teachers were not equipped on the same level. Back then teachers were regarded as implementations of the policy as it required development of materials and autonomy in presenting them. Allowing autonomy to teachers forced them into unfamiliar situations for example diversity which were not familiar during the time of apartheid. However the provision of autonomy was regarded as a movement away from the discrimination and rather towards professionalization. It is suggested that teachers were burdened with a higher work load such as increased paperwork. Teachers were also unable to keep up with development which resulted from diverse skills. RNCS also allowed teachers to teach learning areas that were not familiar with or trained to teach in that specific specialization. Which resulted in the teachers mental state being viewed as professionals. The ultimate aim of RNCS was in fact to enforce equality amongst black and white teachers and rectify the mistakes from the past, specifically in apartheid. It also encouraged teacher professionalization, however in the same breath, once it was implemented it became a contradictory effect. Providing some autonomy, freedom of speech, the RNCS workload required teachers to impact knowledge and more creative teachers. Teachers began to see themselves as service workers which impacted their professional identity negatively as the state did not allow independence. Teachers were not granted space to exercise autonomy as they were monitored and controlled by this policy.
Firstly CAPS also known as Curriculum Assessment policy, was aimed to solve the problems of the previous curriculum, such as the RNCS. This policy was set to stipulate crucial issues and essentially improve the quality of education. The aim of the policy was to be able to make content more concise and user friendly for all teachers to be able ease the flow of teaching, (Bjorklud, 2014). In terms of the content of this curriculum, it allowed and accommodated teachers of various teacher identities, in a way it was friendlier to teach over a broad spectrum. CAPS was set to rearrange the subject matter and decrease paperwork