Practical Activities in Civil Technology

Post-apartheid South Africa provided the Education Ministry with the opportunity to change the curriculum and one of the new subjects conceived for secondary schools is Grade 10-12 Further Education and Training (FET) Civil Technology. This (FET) Civil Technology Curriculum focuses on three main areas, namely: civil services, construction and woodworking (DBE, 2011:7) which speaks to mostly building science and building drawing. Most of the topics infused in these areas can be positively linked to the previous Standard 10-12 Woodworking Curriculum in schools which also covered mostly building science and building drawing. The FET Civil Technology Curriculum together with the previous Standard 10-12 Woodworking Curriculum are rooted within building science and building drawing, and also have woodwork as the practical model to be made by learners in workshop. Therefore the current Civil Technology (FET) Curriculum as is done in schools contains almost 70- 80% of the work which was previously covered in the Woodworking Curriculum.