Curriculum Implementation: A Systematic Literature Review of Practices and Challenges of Using Pacesetters in South African Rural Primary Schools

The study explored the practices and challenges of using curriculum pacesetters in South African primary schools. The Constructivist learning theory was employed as the theoretical framework to guide the study. The study followed the Systematic Literature Review (SLR) as a method to access materials for data synthesis and analysis. The theoretical framework guided the study to implications and conclusions. The findings indicated that a pacesetter is valued for guiding, monitoring, and managing curriculum implementation. However, the practice is steering towards the use of a pacesetter as a document to check done and to be done teaching and learning activities, which leads to a teacher-centred instructional process. Additionally, this study found that challenges such as lack of resources, pressure to cover content as per the pacesetter and prescriptiveness of the pacesetter led to undifferentiated curriculum implementation. Accordingly, this study concludes that the ineffective practice of using a pacesetter can compromise learners’ meaningful and constructive learning.