Overview  (Page 2/4)

Curriculum requirements and objectives

The main objectives of the curriculum relate to the learners that emerge from our educational system. While educators are the most important stakeholders in the implementation of the intended curriculum, the quality of learner coming through this curriculum will be evidence of the actual attained curriculum from what was intended and then implemented.

These purposes and principles aim to produce learners that are able to:

• identify and solve problems and make decisions using critical and creative thinking;
• work effectively as individuals and with others as members of a team;
• organise and manage themselves and their activities responsibly and effectively;
• collect, analyse, organise and critically evaluate information;
• communicate effectively using visual, symbolic and/or language skills in various modes;
• use science and technology effectively and critically showing responsibility towards the environment and the health of others; and
• demonstrate an understanding of the world as a set of related systems by recognising that problem solving contexts do not exist in isolation.

The above points can be summarised as an independent learner who can think critically and analytically, while also being able to work effectively with members of a team and identify and solve problems through effective decision making. This is also the outcome of what educational research terms the “reformed” approach rather than the “traditional” approach many educators are more accustomed to. Traditional practices have their role and cannot be totally abandoned in favour of only reform practices. However, in order to produce more independent and mathematical thinkers, the reform ideology needs to be more embraced by educators within their instructional behaviour. Here is a table that can guide you to identify your dominant instructional practice and try to assist you in adjusting it (if necessary) to be more balanced and in line with the reform approach being suggested by the NCS.

The subject of mathematics, by the nature of the discipline, provides ample opportunities to meet the reformed objectives. In doing so, the definition of mathematics needs to be understood and embraced by educators involved in the teaching and the learning of the subject. In research it has been well documented that, as educators, our conceptions of what mathematics is, has an influence on our approach to the teaching and learning of the subject.