Complexities of implementing English home language under CAPS: Diversity, inequality, and classroom realities in South African FET schools.

Abstract

This theoretical paper critically examines the im­plementation of English Home Language under the Curricu­lum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) in South Afri­can Further Education and Training (FET) schools. Although CAPS was introduced to enhance curriculum clarity, struc­ture and consistency, its enactment remains uneven across schooling contexts marked by socio-economic inequality, multilingualism and uneven institutional capacity. Framed by transformative theory and critical pedagogy, the paper in­vestigates two questions: what challenges shape the imple­mentation of CAPS English Home Language in diverse and unequal FET classrooms, and how might the curriculum be strengthened to support more inclusive teaching and learn­ing? Methodologically, the paper uses qualitative document and policy analysis of CAPS texts, together with relevant scholarship on curriculum reform, multilingualism, literacy pedagogy and educational inequality. The analysis identifies several interrelated constraints. These include curriculum standardisation, assessment pressure, limited flexibility for teacher adaptation, insufficient recognition of learner diver­sity, and unequal access to material and pedagogical re­sources. The paper argues that these challenges reflect a deeper disjuncture between curriculum as­sumptions and the realities of multilingual, under-resourced, and socially stratified classrooms. The paper concludes that more meaningful implementation requires a diversity-responsive curriculum that foregrounds multilingualism, uneven literacy trajectories, and differentiated school contexts as central conditions of teaching and learning. In doing so, the paper contributes to debates on inclusion, curriculum justice, and educational transformation by showing how CAPS English Home Language may reproduce exclusion when standardised curriculum expectations are not aligned with multilin­gualism, unequal school resources, and uneven learner preparedness.