INSTRUCTIONS

This document came about as a result of the need to provide an improved service to our educators as per the KZNEDU departmental goals and objectives namely

Goal 1: Provide high quality, relevant education to all learners, regardless of age, which will equip them with the knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

Strategic Objective: To ensure that schools are well resourced in accordance with the Provincial School Library policy
 
This directory is not a list of subject headings per se, it is a list of topics derived directly from the National Curriculum (NCS) and is thus generated for educators by educators. The classification of these topics was done, in the main, according to the 14th Abridged Edition of the Dewey System of Decimal Classification and every attempt was made to truncate or shorten the numbers for school use. The classifying was done with the needs and terminology of the educator in mind i.e. the most likely place an educator would think to look for information.

The Curriculum Directory will be used in the following areas;

1.       to assist our four Processing Centres in reaching consistency in classification

2.       to assist our school library advisors in understanding the NCS

3.       to assist in accessing relevant educational websites

4.       to assist our suppliers with topics generated in the different learning areas and phases in order that they can source relevant material more appropriately

5.       to assist the school librarian in meeting the curricular needs of the school

6.       to assist the school librarian in her classification in order that clerical time be saved

7.       to assist the educator and learner in finding information which might be separate

The Curriculum Directory can be searched using

• Topic

• Phase

• Learning Area

• Heading

The Curriculum Directory does not attempt to arrange the topics in any sort of hierarchy; this has been done by virtue of the classification. The topics are presented as they appear in the NCS and how they were extracted by a team of subject specialists. Topic lists and subsequently topic trees were created, the latter in an attempt to display topics in a hierarchy. The list is not exhaustive and the compilers welcome comment and additions.

It is anticipated the National Curriculum Statement is not a static document, it reflects the needs of a changing society and thus a changing curriculum. There are numerous instances of duplication throughout the Learning Areas and these should be seen as threads that are consistent with a philosophy of

• recognition of the curriculum driven by the South African context

• redress and equity

• respect for human rights

• responsibility for one’s actions

There are other elements within the curriculum that emphasise issues such as entrepreneurship, problem solving within a real context and also information literacy;

Information literacy: The ability to recognise the need for information; to find, organise and evaluate such information effective decision making or problem-solving, to generate new knowledge and to apply these skills for effective life-long learning (KwaZulu-Natal School Library Policy).

Information skills can be found in the Technology Learning Area in the Assessment Standard for Grade 9, Learning Outcome 1. These skills are however clearly articulated in the critical outcome that specifies
Collect, analyse, organise and critically evaluate information