Teachers’ Analysis of the Complexity Levels of Key Skills Development in the Preprimary School Curriculum in Botswana

Abstract

Critical skills of pre-reading, pre-writing, reasoning, creative thinking, and working collaboratively need to be developed at an early age. During the pre- primary years, children should develop key skills that relate and integrate the broader outlooks for learning. If the pre-primary curriculum is not conceptualized developmentally by the teachers, it can de-motivate young children by decreasing their self-esteem. Botswana’s pre-primary curriculum has six learning areas meant to develop pre-reading, pre-writing, communication, creativity, mathematical and scientific thinking, and self-help skills. Each learning area has expected outcomes (performance targets) and performance indicators to track children’s progress. From the inception of the piloting of the reception programme, there were mixed feelings among reception class teachers on the interpretation of the pre-primary curriculum. A quantitative approach using a questionnaire survey was adopted to explore reception class teachers’ analysis of the complexity levels of skills development in the pre- primary curriculum of Botswana. Samples were selected using stratified random sampling. The findings confirmed that the content of the curriculum addresses the development of various skills such as pre-reading, pre-writing, numeracy, problem solving, communication, Self-help, and social skills at different levels of complexity. Interpretations of such levels varied from teacher to teacher might be due to Botswana’s vast cultural differences and societal demands. It is recommended that the pre-primary curriculum should be presented in a way that leads to a common understanding of the curriculum by every teacher so that developmentally appropriate planning can be enhanced.