Elaine Browne.pdf - Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University

tasks that allow “the fruits of mind, spirit, and status to be exercised productively in the
education of students” (2004, 313).
From the above it is clear that various factors can impact negatively on a teacher’s professional
identity, specifically in South Africa. Recent research for instance highlights “little public trust in
the quality of teachers and teaching in South Africa” (Chisholm 2009, 27). In general, South
African teachers’ content knowledge is under public scrutiny (Bloch 2009, 91). Apart from
hampering the facilitation of effective teaching and learning in the classroom, in other words,
impeding proper implementation of the curriculum, it also affects how teachers see
themselves.
A key characteristic of the NCS is that teaching and learning occur across learning areas. This
element poses serious challenges to teachers in the GET phase who need to integrate and teach
across eight learning areas. The implication is that each teacher should possess distinct subject
content knowledge, as well as pedagogical content knowledge of eight different subject fields.
It also implies that the teacher will be able to ‘organise systematic learning’ across a wide
spectrum of disciplines. This comprehensive array includes languages, mathematics,
technology, social sciences, natural sciences, life orientation, economic and management
sciences, and arts and culture. This vast array raises serious questions with regard to the notion
of ‘competence’.
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