Teacher Learning in a Community of Practice: A Case Study of ...

gone on to become really wealthy. In John's view, the overemphasis ofschools on pure
academic development in the past had been a serious problem. He welcomed OBE and
Curriculum 2005 as he felt that it formally introduced the aspect ofteaching skills to
pupils compared to the previous narrow focus on academic knowledge. He was very
positive about the possibilities that the new curriculum opened up in terms of 'skills
development'.
His view ofhis own education was that it had been very limiting. He regarded himself as
not having acquired any skills besides that ofteaching and said that there was 'nothing'
for him to turn to ifhe decided to leave the teaching profession. This, according to John,
was a serious flaw in the education he had been exposed to.
MM: What are your views on the new curriculum, Curriculum 2005, OBE? How do you feel
about it? What do you think it will mean for your own classroom practice?
John: I think it's been a joy to me because I think for a long time I've been teaching life
skills because Jacaranda 2 if you go into now you'll find houses like this and like this.
This might be one of the small houses in Jacaranda, but when I went there every
house was a tin house. People lived in abject poverty there and they left school at
standard 6, grade 7 and they started looking for work. So it's, ... very few learners
went onto high school. Then Waterfall 5econdary3 opened at.the top, so far the last
20 years we had children going up and finishing matric. So it was rare cases before
the 20 years, now it's the norm the whole class goes up to high school. So in a sense,
you look at the people there who didn't finish matric but they used their life skills
and they became millionaires and they're still living in that area... And there are
fellows who we passed in school; they are waving to me from a Mercedes or a BMW
(Laughs). Ok, so what I'm saying is if we concentrate on developing the skill rather
than academics, we will go a long way.
While John declared himself to be 'quite positive' in his approach to the new curriculum,
he did concede that the complex jargon contained in the original curriculum document
was difficult to comprehend. He explained that the new Revised National Curriculum
Statement appeared to be easier to understand. Although he indicated that he was 'quite
familiar' with the outcomes, in the extract that follows, it became clear that he was
unable to make full sense ofthe economic cycle and the economic problem ofscarcity
and choice. John admitted that he 'seldom' referred to the curriculum document and
elected to teach from his own experience as well as that ofhis pupils.
2 Pseudonym for the area in which John's school was located.
3 Pseudonym for the secondary school John referred to.
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