Access negotiation and curriculum change: Lessons from Botswana

This paper shares the author's fieldwork experiences gained on access negotiation during a one-year case study of the implementation of a new science curriculum in eight lower secondary schools in Botswana. The qualitative research strategy adopted was deemed appropriate as the study focused on what actually happened in the classroom and on seeking explanations to the transactions from the context and the 26 teachers who participated in the study. This paper considers the main outcomes and results of the fieldwork to be the educative experience of the entire research process and the fostering in the author of a reconceptualization of access negotiation within a developing country context. The implications of this paper for further research can be seen broadly in terms of the ethical concerns and research approaches that are to be observed, adopted, and implemented in working within the "stressed" or underprivileged teaching environments in developing nations.