A Covid test for Lesotho’s curriculum

February 23, 2021 saw the release of the South African National Senior Certificate (NSC) results amid an upsurge in the Covid 19 pandemic that has so far claimed over 50 000 lives. The NSC is commonly known as matric in South Africa. Like Lesotho, South Africa has gone through two upsurges of the Covid 19 epidemic, but they managed to sit students through their examination. Earlier in the year, the South African government had instructed mark adjustments of 5% to learners in the lower grade. They reasoned that this was to compensate for time lost due to Covid-19 pandemic lockdown. The decision was met with mixed feelings from different quarters. This decision reflects an education system that judges quality by a mark and not learner capability. The Covid-19 pandemic lockdown kept learners and teachers away from school. Schools lost time for teaching and learning. Teaching and learning required remarkable innovative endeavours from authorities and teachers. Let us rewind the clock to 2008 when the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) announced the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Framework, Education for Individual and Social Development. One aim of this policy is addressing the demands and life challenges of the modern global world. The pandemic presented an opportune moment to test the MoET policy. The school closures forced schools to launch the curriculum into the 4th industrial revolution era. Teachers could not routinely chalk and talk in face-to-face classroom teaching. Yet children have to be kept learning. Desperate times require desperate measures. Schools and teachers had to find alternative creative means to ensure that learning, albeit outside the classroom, continues. Schools must turn these desperate times into productive learning experiences. The MoET, through national television, took the initiative to present lessons to students while at home. The damage that the lessons caused will take very long to undo. The presentations were shambolic. They failed to launch the students into the 21st-century education space. The Director of Public Prosecutions must charge the presenters for attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Alternatively, they must face charges of intent to do grievous bodily harm. To top it up, one presenter must be charged with treason for promoting a foreign football team on national television. In the meantime, the 2020 Lesotho General Certificate of Secondary Education (LGCSE) and Lesotho Junior Certificate examinations began on February 3 and 22, 2021, respectfully. The Examinations Council of Lesotho (ECoL), Lesotho’s examination body, must administer relevant assessments to students. Did the 2020-cum-2021 examinations provide for the desperate teaching that schools engaged in due to the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown? ECoL modelled the LGCSE on the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE). Lesotho’s education system is an adaptation and modifications of the British-colonial education systems. Britain imposed a Cambridge Overseas Schools Certificate (COSC) on Lesotho for reasons other than meeting national aspirations. Foreign curricula come with inherent challenges. The values and philosophies that the foreign curricula were based on often clash with the host country’s culture and context. Also, changes in national aims and goals in England resulted in adjustments in curriculum and subsequent examinations in Lesotho. This adversely impacted the school examinations in Lesotho. School leaving certificates like LGCSE are critical assessments because they determine students’ futures and evaluate schools. These qualifications require students to write high stakes examinations. Analysts, pundits, and governments analyse the results nationwide, provoking anxiety in students and putting tremendous pressure on their developing minds. The succession of paragraphs that follow assesses the 2008 MoET policy curriculum post the coronavirus pandemic lockdown. I will explore the purposes of the education policy and school-leaving certificates as envisioned by the MoET and propose an appropriate assessment. The 2008 policy assumes a collaboration between the MoET and ECoL. ECoL administers public examinations. Also, ECoL administers national assessment surveys at Standards 3 and 6 at primary and Form B at secondary school levels. Herman and MoET consent that school-leaving examinations’ functions include serving as selection and certification agencies, ensuring that individuals are suited to and competent for their social and occupation roles. According to the MoET, secondary education has a dual purpose. It prepares students for post-school education, including further personality development and certification for the world of work. The MoET policy makes quality education accessible, relevant and efficient. It transforms schools’ teaching, learning and assessment by modifying Brigg’s constructive alignment. Briggs posits that the school curriculum must align teaching outcomes with students’ assessment. The curriculum must explicitly explain the intended outcomes and declare how they will assess students’ learning to all stakeholders. The MoET premises the policy on the 1978’s Views and Recommendations of the Basotho Nation Regarding the Future of Education in Lesotho and 2004’s Lesotho Vision 2020. Premising a 2008 policy on a 30-year-old report is problematic because the context and the needs of Basotho change with time. The MoET must update the stale data. As the name suggests, the policy integrates curriculum into the assessment. It is anchored on the constructivism approach emphasising participatory, active learning. Constructivists claim that students learn by constructing their own meanings. Teachers facilitate learning. Teaching for application creates unpredictability because students come with different background knowledge and experiences. It is difficult for teachers to determine learning outcomes. Teachers must understand and capitalise upon student thinking to manage a process of knowledge construction. The choice of constructivism as a theory that underpins the 2008 MoET policy needs an in-depth review. The theory is grand in the developed countries, because they researched it, and it worked for them. Lesotho has adopted and adapted a host of tried and tested’ foreign curricula in the past. The outcomes of these imported curricula were ‘disastrous’! The MoET’s 2008 Education policy derives from the Basotho philosophical statements of justice, equality, peace, prosperity, participatory democracy and mutual co-existence, underpinning their way of life. It espouses the Basotho motto: ‘Khotso Pula Nala’. The MoET asserts that Lesotho must enshrine the message carried by a Sesotho proverb that says: ‘Mphe-mphe ea lapisa, (molekane) motho o khonoa ke sa ntlo ea hae.’ Which translates: ‘Unless you have your own means, you cannot live to your heart’s content’ [sic]. This is profound, bearing in mind the findings of Molapo, doctoral studies. Molapo revealed that patriarchy is entrenched in the Basotho beliefs system, culture and customs, how they speak, Botho and view the world. The way Basotho conduct themselves, therefore, shapes how a Mosotho child forms knowledge. MoET must optimally exploit Basotho culture to the benefit of a Mosotho child and the nation. Their belief and philosophy must permeate and transcend the curriculum. The policy integrated curriculum into learning areas that reflect practical life challenges. It created opportunities for learners’ personal growth and economic development. The focus of pedagogical efforts in classrooms is the product, is a learner, the being, a Mosotho child. The purpose of the MoET’s policy is similar to UNESCO’s Education for Sustainable Development. It allows every human being to acquire the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values necessary to shape a sustainable future. This education means including key sustainable development issues, such as climate change, disaster risk reduction, biodiversity, poverty reduction, and sustainable consumption, into teaching and learning. It requires participatory teaching and learning methods that motivate and empower learners to change their behaviour and take action for sustainable development. It promotes critical thinking, imagining future scenarios and collaborative decision-making. Education for Sustainable Development requires far-reaching changes in the way education is often practised today. This is similar to the 2008 Education Policy. This type of Education is for a specific purpose. But UNESCO states their Education for Sustainable Development in full, leaving out nothing. The MoET and Herman recognise that education is for personal development in terms of knowledge and employability. The societal agency of education is ‘social development’. I suggest that a more appropriate term for Lesotho and developing countries is ‘social transformation’. Education must transform an individual and society for the better. The Language of Teaching Learning and Assessment reflects dominating power. Knowledge is usually framed by the identities of those who are in a position of power. Lesotho has two official languages, English and Sesotho. The mother tongue, Sesotho, is a medium of instruction for the first three years, Grades 1 – 3 of schooling, with English being taught as a subject. From Grade 4 onwards, the medium of instruction is English, with Sesotho continuing as a subject. Basotho must own their knowledge. Using a colonial medium as a teaching, learning, and assessment language does not reflect ownership of knowledge and curriculum. The switch of instruction medium from Sesotho to English at Grade 4 coincides with a spike of repeaters. It is not clear whether, or not, the switch of the medium from Sesotho to English is based on any scholarly research. The policy integrates assessment with teaching and learning, where assessment outcomes inform teaching. The education system that supports the new policy must engage an appropriate assessment strategy. An ideal assessment helps improve teaching, learning and skills acquisition. It is a type of assessment in which students use their knowledge to solve real-world problems. That assessment strategy is an authentic assessment. The authentic assessment asks students to perform tasks that require them to produce solutions. Students must demonstrate their knowledge in a new context. However, authentic assessments may require more time and effort on an examiner’s part to develop and maybe more difficult to grade. This assessment is pluralistic, involving multiple performance measurement forms reflecting student learning, achievement, motivation, and attitudes. Scholars Raselimo and Mahao suggest a need to explore the congruence between this policy and the LGCSE curriculum and classroom practice. This may not present a challenge because ECoL is charged with all school examinations. ECoL must be aware of the adjustments that they require to make. They work in collaboration with the MoET. ECoL modelled LGCSE on IGCSE and is accredited by Cambridge International Examinations (CIE). ECoL collaborates with regional countries: Botswana, BGSCE, Namibia, NGCSE and eSwatini, SGCSE. These are all accredited by Cambridge International Examinations (CIE). ECoL attributes this accreditation to LGSCE international recognition. This assertion suggests that international recognition is a consequence of CIE accreditation. Introducing a new curriculum and assessment policies make it necessities for teacher retraining. However, scholars show that pre-service and in-service training programmes in Sub-Saharan Africa are superficial and inadequate and have little bearing in the classroom. Moreover, researchers, Nhlapo and Maharajh found that a few curriculum designers had relevant qualifications. Many had qualifications in other educational fields, such as education management. These curriculum designers did not involve themselves in curriculum-related activities such as presenting at conferences, researching curriculum. The curriculum designers had qualifications that range from junior to master degrees. There are no doctoral degree holders. We must view information about teacher credentials in the context of national curriculum designers or developers’ quality at the MoET and teachers at schools. Apart from teaching in schools, teachers form part of the pool of expertise from which the MoET draws curriculum designers. The 2008 MoET policy enshrines Basotho cultural values and customs. It envisages radical reforms of the school education and assessment landscape. There must be a tight collaboration between curriculum design and assessment. The nation must commend the MoET for their endeavours. The policy conflates two contradictory issues. It makes the wrong assumption. On the one side, the MoET premises its philosophy on Basotho cultural values and customs. On the other, it proposes a foreign approach, constructivism, to teaching and learning. The assumption is that constructivism works with Basotho children. There is no evidence to support this assumption. The present coronavirus pandemic provided Lesotho with the opportunity to test the 2008 policy. South Africa proposed a 5% adjustment mark. Whether right or not, they made an effort to compensate for the time lost. Governments, schools were caught off guard and compelled to adapt in a hurry. The MoET policy imbues a strong agreement between teaching and assessment. This article suggests an assessment strategy that espouses the philosophies and approaches to this policy. The question is whether or not ECoL adapted examinations accordingly? If yes, did ECoL share this information with schools timeously? If ECoL did not, then it subjected students to an unfair examination. This breaches the very foundation of constructivist education and the 2008 MoET’s policy philosophy. In conclusion, a new policy introducing radical reforms implies a need for teacher retraining programmes. Research shows that teacher education, both in pre-service and in-service training in Lesotho is poor. But, the MoET has to work swiftly to ensure that Lesotho reaps the fruits of her toil. ECoL and regional examination bodies must decree a complete divorce from colonial examination systems and forge much closer polygamous marriages with African ones. Basotho will judge the quality of these localised qualifications by the quality of the product and degree of social transformation in Lesotho. The MoET and all policymakers must refrain from fancy grandstanding statements and draw evidence-based education policies. Dr Tholang Maqutu