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Is Science Education in South Africa in a Crisis? The Eastern Cape Experience

ABSTRACT A survey carried out during 1998 in rural Grade 7–12 schools in the Eastern Cape revealed that teachers did not seem to know their problems in teaching science. For example, teachers claim that they do not teach science practically because they do not have apparatus. The survey results suggested that the teachers' problems, such as the inability to teach practically were underpinned by the teacher's lack of understanding of science concepts and processes. The teachers continue to demand science equipment even though there is evidence of unused equipment. Practical approaches were also apparently undermined by the foreignness of apparatus and irrelevance of curricula in rural settings. The crisis is further exacerbated by an indication that tertiary institutions produce few science teachers, and that the number of enrolments for Science Education in institutions seems to be dropping. Non Government Organisations (NGOs) are experiencing difficulty in obtaining funding for outreach projects that could have improved science education. There is an urgent need for a national strategy to increase the number of qualified science teachers and to upgrade the conceptualisation of science particularly in rural disadvantaged communities.