The Minister of Education, Ms A Motshekga, recently announced changes to the school curriculum. These changes will be implemented in phases. The first phase was in 2010 and saw minor changes to assessment of the National Curriculum Statement (NCS). The Council of Education Ministers has now given approval for the publication of suggested changes to current curriculum and assessment policies. Once approved, these policies will be implemented in the Foundation Phase in 2011 and in the Intermediate, Senior and FET phases in 2012.

The proposed changes to curriculum policy will be published for comment on 1 September 2010. All teachers and school management teams (SMTs) are encouraged to submit comments to the Department of Basic Education on the following key issues:

1. The teaching of two languages in Grades R to 3

2. The combining of learning areas in the Intermediate Phase

3. Time allocated to subjects in the Foundation, Intermediate and Senior Phases

4. Assessment in Grades R to 9

5. The Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) documents which replace all current curriculum and assessment documents

A short document on the proposed changes is attached.

The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) will set up discussion groups in districts to discuss the policy documents and the CAPs. Once the CAPS, the curriculum and the assessment policy are approved, the WCED will post these on the WCED website and also provide them to schools in CD and hard copy form.

Workshops will be held at district level in 2010 and 2011. A workshop programme will be provided to schools at the end of September 2010. During 2010, the focus of the workshops will be on the Foundation Phase.

The following LTSM will be provided in 2010 for use in 2011:

Workbooks for Grades 1 to 6 will be provided free of charge to all schools by the national Department of Basic Education. Details about the number and content of the workbooks will be provided to Western Cape schools in October 2010.

Selected reading schemes in English for the Foundation Phase will be provided to all schools with Xhosa as the LOLT in the Foundation Phase. The WCED will provide English FAL reading schemes for Grades 1 to 3 for the Xhosa schools to assist the introduction of the FAL as a subject from Grade 1. However, schools are also encouraged to purchase their own LTSM from norms and standards in order to supplement these reading schemes. If you would like details about these reading schemes, please contact your Foundation Phase curriculum adviser.

Reading schemes for Grades 1 to 6 in the Home Language of each school will be sent to the 250 schools on Lit/Num training programmes in 2011. If you would like details of these in order to plan for 2011, or to purchase, if you are not one of the designated schools, please contact your Foundation Phase curriculum adviser.

Mathematics textbooks for all Grade 4, 5, 6 and 7 learners will be provided to all schools. The WCED has selected the titles to be provided. However, if you have already ordered this book, you must inform your Intermediate Phase curriculum adviser and you will be given an opportunity to order another textbook of the same price and this will be provided by the WCED.