Partnership as a strategy to overcome the difficulties associated with policy implementation: South African teachers’ views

The purpose of the study reported on here was to investigate the role of partnerships in helping in-service teachers overcome the difficulties associated with performing practical work prescribed in the Life Sciences Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS), an educational policy intended to transform the South African school curriculum in the wake of the apartheid years. CAPS is the latest of a plethora of educational policies that have been introduced in post-apartheid South Africa. However, teachers have lamented the lack of skills and resources necessary for its effective implementation. With this study we investigated how partnership between schools and 1 university in South Africa helped teachers to acquire practical skills and techniques related to CAPS implementation. A qualitative research approach with purposeful sampling was used. Data were collected through focus-group interviews, document analysis and observations that entailed observing teachers performing the experiments prior to the training. Teachers from 22 secondary schools participated in this research. Collected data were analysed using Creswell’s method of coding. Findings of this study indicate that partnership with the University helped equip teachers with the necessary skills and knowledge to perform science experiments, ultimately resulting in improved learner performance. Partnerships between schools and institutions of higher learning to enhance policy implementation are, therefore, recommended.