Exploring the use of experiential learning in promoting the integration of disaster risk reduction into primary school curriculum: A case of Botswana

Jàmbá: Journal of Disaster Risk Studies

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Exploring the use of experiential learning in promoting the integration of disaster risk reduction into primary school curriculum: A case of Botswana
 
Creator Mutasa, Sebia Coetzee, Christo
 
Subject education disaster risk reduction; curriculum; integration; experiential learning; risk
Description A key imperative of Botswana’s adherence to international, regional and local policy on disaster risk reduction (DRR) relates to creating awareness and an understanding of disaster risk. One avenue of creating an understanding of risk is vested in the integration of DRR into primary school curriculums. Botswana has been slow to adhere to the above-mentioned policy imperatives. This paper argues that the slow pace of integration has been driven by a combination of a lack of clarity on the most appropriate teaching methodology through which to deliver information to young students on a topic as complex as DRR, as well as a general lack of policy and resource support from national government. These assertions are tested in a mixed-method research design that included questionnaires, document reviews and interviews. Questionnaires were administered to 30 teachers drawn from six primary schools in Gaborone, as well as in-depth interviews with two key informants drawn from the Curriculum Development Unit and National Disaster Management Office. The study finds that the experiential learning (EL) method provides an appropriate method by which DRR knowledge can be conveyed within the existing curriculum, as many teachers who have taken the innovative step of integrating DRR into their existing subjects are already implementing key components associated with the EL model. It is also established that although EL provides many potential benefits for an integrated DRR curriculum, the lack of clear policy direction and lack of various supporting resources are preventing the method benefits from being realised for Botswana primary schools.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2019-02-21
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Case study; Survey/Interviews
Format text/html application/epub+zip application/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/jamba.v11i1.416
 
Source Jàmbá: Journal of Disaster Risk Studies; Vol 11, No 1 (2019); 8 pages 1996-1421 2072-845X
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://jamba.org.za/index.php/jamba/article/view/416/1044 https://jamba.org.za/index.php/jamba/article/view/416/1043 https://jamba.org.za/index.php/jamba/article/view/416/1045 https://jamba.org.za/index.php/jamba/article/view/416/1042
 
Coverage Gaborone — age; gender
Rights Copyright (c) 2019 Sebia Mutasa, Christo Coetzee https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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