ENHANCING WOODWORKING LESSONS: AN INQUIRY INTO PLANNING OF PRACTICAL LESSONS FOR EFFECTIVE TEACHING IN UMGUNGUNDLOVU DISTRICT, KWAZULU NATAL, SOUTH AFRICA

Woodworking or “Crafts” class, often overlooked in today's digital age, plays a pivotal role in nurturing a well-rounded education that extends beyond the confines of textbooks and classrooms. Therefore, engaging in woodworking in schools is significant because it fosters intellectual growth by challenging learners’ critical and creative thinking skills. It is fundamental to know that woodworking teachers need to have adequate lesson planning skills to ensure that workshops are well organized and lesson objectives are met without a hitch. Thus, in Technology and Vocational Education (TVE), lesson planning remains a crucial step to be practiced in order to accumulate effective teaching in a workshop. This study aims to enquire into planning of woodworking practical lessons for effective teaching in uMgungundlovu District, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa. Purposive sampling was used to identify a total of eight woodworking teachers to participate in this study. Qualitative research method was used where document analysis and semi-structured interviews were used as a complementary data collection tools. A thematic analysis was used to analyze the collected data in this research. The findings reveal that woodworking teachers rely on the Civil Technology Practical Assessment Task (PAT) document that provides them with a template for PAT management plan for their practical lessons. Also, this study found that woodworking teachers oversight the need of preparing a lesson plan. However, this study recommended that KwaZulu Natal Department of Education should also emphasize on instructional planning skills when providing teacher development programs in order to promote effective teaching in schools.