The ManicaPost
Shelton Mwanyisa
Emerging Issues in Education
In many cases, students complain that what was set in the exam was never taught.
Unfortunately, an outdated approach to pedagogy promotes students’ dependency on teachers, thereby contributing to lower pass rates.
Students at Ordinary and Advanced levels of education may need the approach used in Universities to promote students’ research skills.
Since teachers are required to teach from the national syllabus, the document is often confused to be a teacher-only manuscript.
Welcome to the column Emerging Issues in Education.
This week we explore the need to avail the syllabus topics and content to learners at the beginning of their courses.
What is the national syllabus?
The national syllabus is a plan that states exactly what learners should learn in school.
It is an official document which prescribes what Government would like to see being taught in all schools as spelt out in the national aspirations.
The syllabus outlines the experiences that learners should undergo in a particular course of study such Ordinary Level.
Specific learning areas, objectives, content, methods, evaluation and assessment criteria are spelt out in the national syllabus.
It also serves as a source document for the teacher and the learner.
However, some teachers have never extended this document to the learners, perhaps not in its crude form, but even going through topics and content.
Importance of the syllabus to students
1. Awareness of examiners’ expectations
Teaching students without exposing them to what they are supposed to cover is like living military intelligence until after the war.
The syllabus is made up of elements that includes aims and objectives.
The aims refer to the intended outcomes or broad statements of intent which identify general educational outcomes.
These relate to what the students should achieve at the end of the course.
The educational objectives spell out what is expected from learners at the end of their courses.
National examiners use assessment objectives stated in the syllabus to set final year examinations.
It therefore is crucial for teachers to expose students to the assessment objectives.
2. Topics to be covered in a subject
Content is the bedrock of the teacher and examiner’s activities.
It delineates the teacher’s subject matter, thereby making it unique to that subject.
It shows the depth and breadth of the subject’s coverage.
Teaching will involve the teachers presenting the syllabus content in a spiral manner.
It is this area that most of the learning experiences are identified.
It is important to note that the teachers will carry out formative assessment as teaching and summative exams test how much the student has gasped.
The syllabus is contextual in the sense that the programs should relate to the needs of the students and the communities.
Topics to be covered in a specific subject area are well stated in the national syllabus.
In order to encourage research and independent learning, it is important that learners are exposed to all the topics they are supposed to cover as soon as they start a specific level of learning.
This way, students will not face entirely new concepts in the examination.
How to study independently
With Education 5.0, the teaching process has shifted from directing learners on what to do to facilitating their learning.
Expose the learners to the methods and strategies that will enable them to interact with the content in order to attain specific outcomes.
Students can learn by themselves if they are shown the methods.
They will adopt those that suit them best since learning styles differ.
The national syllabus also prescribes methods that teachers must use in their teaching.
The rationale behind the emphasis of learner centred methods is to enhance learning.
The students need to control the process through participation, not the blanket approaches that characterises most classrooms.
Structure of exam papers
Students who sit for final examinations without being exposed to the contents of the national syllabus risk shooting from the dark.
This is one undeniable factor many have faced during examinations.
The national syllabus spells out the assessment procedures of each subject.
Students should know the papers they will sit for in the exam.
Some exams cover Paper 1 and Paper 2 only.
Some require practical assessments.
The percentages allocated to each paper are stated in the syllabus.
The student need to pass and therefore, any study in which one does not know where to put more effort in order to pass is risky.
Parental involvement
Parents are stakeholders who invest in their children’s education and they ought to know what their children are learning in order to provide the necessary support from home.
Parental involvement in their children’s education is more meaningful when they are aware of the road their children are travelling.
Quite often parents do not know how to assist their children in educational issues.
The problem is not only confined to changing educational trends but can also be attributed to the fact that teachers treat the national syllabus as a secret document.
In our next article, we will explore how to prepare for examinations.
After all, a stitch in time saves nine.
