Reforming the Grade 11 Economics Curriculum: Amplifying the Perspectives of Black Township School Teachers

Abstract

Since 1994, the democratic state has attempted to develop a high school curriculum that would redress the legacies of apartheid and bring about social transformation. Despite the enactment of various education policies and implementation of several curriculum reforms, what remains a serious concern is that the content taught in the CAPS Economics curriculum has not put enough distance between itself and the content in the apartheid economics curriculum. The content is derived from neoclassical economic theory, which represents the dominant, mainstream school of thought in the economics discipline. In response to the lack of a plural approach to economic inquiry in the CAPS Economics curriculum, this study seeks to explore the content knowledge that black economics teachers would like included and excluded in the CAPS Economics curriculum to promote social transformation. This study takes the grade 11 topic ‘Economic growth and development’ as its unit of analysis and collected data, in the form of semi-structured interviews, from five black economics teachers who teach in four secondary schools in the township of Soweto. It is towards this aim that this study advances an alternative conception of social transformation outside of the dominant neoliberal discourse that stems from the late kwaito artist, Mandoza. Furthermore, this study proposes and derives a theory for selecting content for inclusion in the CAPS Economics curriculum from the late South African artist, Hip Hop Panstula (HHP). My participants believe that including content on creating wealth as well as content designed to boost local industries and manufacturing, and stimulate the development of more proudly South African products would promote social transformation. The economic theory that this content aligns with is a question for further research.