Growing push for curriculum review
THERE was a joke that made the rounds last week claiming that some men were deliberately arriving home late as they dreaded being exposed and embarrassed for failing to assist their kids with the difficult homework that is now being given to learners.
The banter apparently has some element of truth, as it speaks to the challenges parents are facing in helping learners with their continuous assessment learning activity (CALA) projects, which are considered too demanding.
CALA was first introduced in the 2021 public examinations for Grade Seven, Form Four and Upper Sixth learners.
It requires them to perform and demonstrate their knowledge, understanding and proficiency.
It contributes 30 percent of a learner’s final mark in the Zimbabwe School Examinations Council (Zimsec) exams.
However, there is growing debate among educationists, teachers, parents and learners over CALA, with Government saying the model is set to be reviewed.
The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education’s director of communications and advocacy, Mr Taungana Ndoro, recently said the Government is currently engaged in consultations on the matter.
“The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education has been reviewing the curriculum since 2022 and is continuously reviewing the curriculum to find out how we can improve it,” he said.
“Remember that the curriculum cycle ended in 2022, having started in 2015, and we are currently collecting feedback. When we have all the feedback, we are able to advise if there is a need to reduce the number of CALA subjects that learners are obliged to take.”
Educationist Professor Caiphus Nziramasanga told The Sunday Mail that reviewing CALA will help to assess if the model has been successful.
The continuous assessment learning model, he said, produces competent learners.
“The kind of learner we need now is somebody who has skills, can solve any problem and apply to any situation. That is the essence of CALA, which many teachers and parents who were complaining did not understand, and this needs to be clarified,” he said.
“CALA is not a subject, but a strategy for assessing each individual’s skill that the students are learning from time to time.”
Although there were success stories of the learning model, he said, some areas needed to be revisited.
“Some other schools, because of lack of computers, may not have been implementing CALA as accurately as others, and many schools do not have equipment and electricity to use, but nonetheless, teachers were doing what is expected of them from the curriculum,” he added.
“Admittedly, there has been too much work, but to a trained and honest teacher, they can do it. CALA is not really the devil but the practice and tradition . . .”
Zimbabwe Teachers Union acting secretary-general Mr Goodwill Taderera said the review was long overdue.
“CALA subjects are too many considering that at university level, adults are given one research area, and when you look at the CALAs, there are around 30 areas. We have always been believing in age-appropriate workloads, and for us to give them 30 CALA areas is putting more pressure on the learners,” he said.
For Zimbabwe Schools Development Associations/Committees’ secretary-general Mr Evaristo Jongwe, CALA has been producing skilled learners.
“Although the assessment learning model has its negatives, especially on parents, I think, when they are reviewing it, they should not forget the whole concept of developing a child’s skills at an early stage.
“From my own assessment, the initiative has been producing brilliant learners, so parents should be more focused on the end result,” he said.
Corruption among teachers
One worrying aspect about CALA is that it has allegedly led to corruption among some teachers, who are reportedly being paid to either award more marks to candidates or write coursework on behalf of learners.
National Association of Secondary Heads president Mr Arthur Maphosa said the solution was “to have one or two CALAs, not to overload learners”.
“CALA examines three domains — cognitive (looking at the knowledge domain), psycho-motor, as well as affective.
“It is our belief as schools that just one or two CALAs per subject are enough to examine these three domains,” he said.
“Five per subject makes work too much for the learner and teacher, and this leads to some learners losing interest in school . . . I have had cases where some O-Level and A-Level learners actually take illegal drugs to remain awake.”
To complement CALA, Mr Maphosa said, schools should incorporate skills education, which will cater for “72 percent of learners who did not get passes of five O-Levels or better in the Zimsec exams in 2022, who are viewed as failures”.
“More than CALA, let us go for more vocational aspects of our education, a return to what was called F2 education, and name it skills education, to incorporate bricklaying, brick moulding, practical education, metal design, textile education, bookkeeping, et cetera,” he added.
When CALA was adopted, it was acknowledged that not every learner can impress the examiner in the few hours of writing the exam because of factors such as panicking in the exam room. As such, the two- or three-hour tests were viewed as not serving as an accurate assessment of the academic ability of a learner.
Overall, it is hoped that the debate review of CALA would be comprehensive enough to improve the quality of education in Zimbabwe.