The Public Primary Schools Curriculum

Abstract

This study is entitled "The Public Primary Schools Curriculum: Its responsiveness to the needs of the Exceptionally Gifted Children. It was established through literature review that exceptionally gifted children need a rich, varied and challenging curriculum because they have broad and numerous interests, a high level of abilities, curiosity, insatiable desire to learn and are by definition mentally advanced for their years. The main objective of this study was to gain insight into the curriculum content used in public primary schools and to investigate whether or not it responds to the needs of the exceptionally gifted children. Qualitative data were obtained through personal interviews with three headteac~ers and nine class teachers. These data were analyzed and presented using qualitative analysis and presentation. The study found that the curriculum does not encourage the exceptionally gifted children to ~hi:1k, reason and generalize beyond the prescribed task while the content is not diversified and therefore does not challenge the high conceptualization level of the exceptionally gifted children. Thus the curriculum does not permit the exceptionally gifted children to search for more knowledge and facts from the encyclopedia, make up games and invent puzzles. It does not have adequate topic coverage for the bright children and does not provide for extra time and work schedules for them. On core aspects of the curriculum delivery process and responsiveness to the needs of the exceptionally gifted children, the study found that the curriculum does not permit exceptionally gifted five-year-old children to skip one or more standards if they have been judged ta be capable. It does not allow grouping of the exceptionally gifted children and does not allow them to do more advanced work. The teachers are not mandated to modify the curriculum to suit the needs of the bright children and due to the advent of