Paper Title
USING COLLEGIAL TEAMING TO MANAGE CURRICULUM REFORM IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS

Abstract
Abstract - This research explored a new area of managing curriculum reform in primary schools by making use of collegial teaming (CT) to develop teachers’ professional competencies. One objective of this study was to specifically determine whether CT could empower intermediate phase teachers (grades 4-6) to overcome the demands of managing the implementation of the Curriculum Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) in primary schools in Limpopo, South Africa.Participants in this study comprised six hundred teachers, heads of departments, deputy principals, and principals who were directly involved with teaching. Teachers, in this study, were qualified professionals who taught in their primary schools, regardless of their position or management status. This quantitative study made use of a structured questionnaire as the only form of data collection. The overall Cronbach’s alpha of 0.95 assured the reliability of the questionnaire items.Eighty-five percent of the participants affirmed that CT is a potent strategy that empowered them in their professional learning communities to address the challenges of curriculum reform. This was further strengthened by 87% of the participants who concurred that CT empowered them to employ appropriate instructional procedures. Therefore, the null hypothesis that CT has no significant impact in empowering teachers to overcome the challenges of managing the implementation of CAPS in the intermediate phase of primary schooling in Limpopo was rejected and the alternative hypothesis was accepted. This research contributes valuably to the prevailing body of knowledge of managing curriculum reforms in primary schools using CT. Keywords - Collegial Teaming; Curriculum Reform in Primary Schools; Teachers’ Professional Development.