Master of Education in Curriculum Studies. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2019This thesis presented Eswatini geography teachers’ approaches to teaching a section of research
skills in Form 5 for the Swaziland General Certificate of Secondary Education (SGCSE)
syllabus. The study is qualitative, and utilised the interpretivist approach, and the case study
design. Four geography teachers were purposively selected as participants. For generation of
data, three data generation methods were used: a reflective activity, classroom observations
and one-on-one semi-structured interviews. A conceptual framework was produced from
literature on approaches to teaching, which was also utilised in analysing data. Literature on
curriculum development approaches afforded three curriculum approaches which influence the
teaching approach a teacher uses in enacting the curriculum: technical, communicative, and
pragmatic approaches. The following concepts: teachers’ rationale for teaching, teaching aims,
roles when teaching , content used to teach, teaching methods, teaching resources, role of the
community, and testing types used in class were concepts employed to determine the approach
the teachers use in teaching the section of research skills. Findings for this study revealed that
teachers’ approaches revolved around these three components of curriculum development such
that the teachers showed limits to understanding learner-centred and teacher-centred
approaches. It is recommended that the curriculum be sufficiently elaborated in stating which
approach it assumes, making it easier for teachers who enact the curriculum to be guided by
the expectations of the approach. Furthermore, the study recommends that, in the event of a
curriculum change, there should be adequate training to minimise misinterpretation of the
syllabus by teachers
