Tempering age grading with social justice leadership : a learner paced promotion programme for Kgetleng Area Office Schools

Abstract

The democratic era in South Africa has led to the introduction of a wide-ranging series of curricular activities aimed at social justice and school reform. The main aim of this qualitative research was to explain age grading as a social justice concern which should be addressed by leaders and to come up with a learner paced progression programme for Kgetleng Area office schools. The study followed a case study approach. Three methods of data collection were applied, namely a literature review, interviews and document analysis. The aim of the literature review was to gain a better understanding of social justice, age grading, social justice leadership, Revised National Curriculum Statement (RNCS) and Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS). The literature review further shed light on the current policies that govern the current curriculum (CAPS). Interviews were conducted with participants from two schools in Swartruggens who are principals in their schools where there is a high drop-out rate of learners due to failing grades. The purposive sampling method was used in order to determine which participants to interview. Document analysis was done. The emergent themes from the interviews were coded and analysed in order to discover the sub-themes. It became apparent that Kgetleng schools have been using age to determine the movement of learners from grade to grade and this had a detrimental effect on learners. Based on this knowledge and the themes that emerged from the document analysis, a learner paced promotion programme was developed. This new learner paced promotion programme has, at its core, learner diversity and self-directed and motivated promotion which are key to each learner's success.