The extent to which educators are empowered to implement Outcomes-Based education with special reference to the Motheo district

Abstract

The change to the new educational system which hinges to outcomes that are an end, the researcher noticed that there are numerous outcomes-based problems that educators experience in its implementation. Therefore, the study sought to find out the extent to which educators are empowered to implement outcomes-based education in their schools and to find out whether the educator’s level of educational training has a significant effect on the implementation of outcomes-based education and also to find out whether the experience of educators can play an important role in the implementation of outcomes-based education. Furthermore, the study examined the teaching strategies used in the teaching of outcomes-based education and the problems encountered in the process.

The research design used in this study is a quantitative survey. The use of quantitative approach had been justified.

Therefore, this study is a survey of schools in the Motheo district of the Free State Province. A researcher-designed questionnaire was used to collect data relevant to the research problem. These questionnaires were distributed in person by the researcher and were collected within seven days of their dispatch.

The sampling procedure are used in this study was a purposeful sampling. The sample for this study composed of one hundred and ninety eight (198) respondents chosen from educators of the primary school section, from all areas that form up the Motheo district, that is, educators were chosen from urban, semi-urban and rural areas. The purposive sampling from the outcomes-based educators of each of the schools was aimed at ensuring that the findings of this investigation are not dominated by educators from one school.

The data were organized in a way that would facilitate understanding of their meaning and significance. Also, the data was analyzed by generating categories, and searching for alternative explanations of the data and writing of the report. Frequency and percentage tables, as well as graphs were used starting with biographical data and extending to the data collected for each research question and open-ended questions were categorized to look for patterns.

The research findings proved that for successful implementation of outcomes-based education educators need thorough training, in-service training whether educators are less or highly qualified and/or experienced in teaching. The study also revealed that educators are not adequately qualified to implement outcomes-based education in their schools. The researcher recommends that outcomes-based education training should be followed by carefully planned and well-coordinated workshops which are conducted by well-trained facilitators and where short workshop are conducted there should be a series of these and should be arranged in a logical sequence that will promote understanding of outcomes-based education principles and concepts.

The findings of this study are based on the responses of a sample of 198 educators from 61 schools in the Motheo district. Therefore the sample is not representative of schools in the Free State Province and further research needs to be conducted in the entire province or all over South Africa.