Humanisation of the Teacher Education Curriculum and Pedagogy in South Africa: A Literature Review
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.57125/FED.2024.12.25.10Keywords:
Curriculum, Humanisation, Pedagogy, Teacher education, South AfricaAbstract
A humanising curriculum cum pedagogy is an evolving terminology in the South African education space. Post-apartheid South Africa continues to struggle with her reasonably new democracy, which is still characterised by social injustice, inequity, racism, xenophobia, crime, and unemployment. A panacea for these is through a fully humanised education system. Underpinned by the Freirean humanising pedagogy theory, this review explored the state of a humanising curriculum and pedagogy in South Africa.Five search terms, "humanising curriculum", "humanising pedagogy", "humanising teacher education", "humanising andragogy", and “South Africa”, were used for the review. Journal articles, scholarly books, doctoral theses, and conference proceedings published in English and indexed in SCOPUS, EBSCO, PsyINFO, and Google Scholar formed the inclusion criteria. 29 published articles were initially identified, with only 7 articles meeting the set criteria. The review's findings and strategies for promoting a humanising teacher education curriculum and pedagogy are discussed. I surmise that a humanising curriculum and pedagogy is not fully operational in South African schools. I suggest that practical deliberative actions and efforts at enhancing its operations and manifestations be intensified to avoid making it rhetorical. It is anticipated that this paper will lead to a better understanding of and promote a humanising philosophy in teacher education that is geared towards changing the current situation in schools and equip curriculum designers and scholars, teacher educators, as well as pre-service and in-service teachers, to commit to a humanising curriculum and pedagogy in these current times. Thus, promoting a more humane philosophy and approach in the South African teacher education curriculum and pedagogy could be the first step in this transformation.
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