Multiple Aims in the Development of a Major Reform of the National Curriculum for Science in England

In the context of a major reform of the school science curriculum for 14–16‐year‐olds in England, we examine the aims ascribed to the reform, the stakeholders involved, and the roles of differing values and authority in its development. This reform includes an emphasis on socioscientific issues and the nature of science; curriculum trends of international relevance. Our analysis identifies largely ‘instrumental’ aims, with little emphasis on ‘intrinsic’ aims and associated values. We identify five broad categories of stakeholders focusing on different aims with, for example, a social, individual, political, or economic emphasis. We suggest that curriculum development projects reflecting largely social and individual aims were appropriated by other stakeholders to serve political and economic aims. We argue that a curriculum reform body representing all stakeholder interests is needed to ensure that multiple aims are considered throughout the curriculum reform process. Within such a body, the differentiated character of the science teaching community would need to be represented.     

Curriculum coherence and national control of education: issue or non‐issue?

Recent studies show that national control of K–12 curriculum yields important payoffs in terms of greater curricular coherence and, as a result, higher test performance on international tests such as those used in the Third International Mathematics and Science Study. This paper examines the connection between national control of curriculum and curricular consistency and coherence, a variable known to have a positive impact on student test‐score performance. The results of several analyses reveal that national control of curriculum, viewed apart from the most important ‘function’ associated with such control (i.e. enhanced credibility), makes no contribution to curricular consistency or coherence.     

Tactics or strategies? Exploring everyday conditions to facilitate implementation of an Indigenous graduate attributes project

In 2017 Universities Australia (UA), the peak body representing Australian universities released its Indigenous Strategy 2017–2020. The document unites universities together in common goals for Indigenous achievement, filling a notable gap in the Australian higher education landscape. The Strategy outlines a comprehensive plan for enhanced Indigenous outcomes in critical areas of higher education including student access and success, graduate research, and community engagement. This paper focuses on the implementation of Indigenous curriculum for all Australian university graduates which is a key aspect of the Strategy. The changing Indigenous higher education landscape invites the nuanced analysis that critical examination of universities, as organisations, might elicit. Drawing on de Certeau’s notion of tactics and strategies, the paper examines the policy and cultural climate of an Australian university which supports an Indigenous Graduate Attribute curriculum project.     

Educational policy‐making in post‐communist Ukraine as an example of emerging governmentality: discourse analysis of curriculum choice and assessment policy documents (1999–2003)

Educational policy‐making in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is still building upon the ambivalences and uncertainties of post‐communist transformation. The international support, expertise and discourses – coupled with communist legacies, stalled democratic developments and national discourses – produce unique effects on education in each of these countries. This paper is an attempt to conceptualise educational policy‐making (with its disparities between ‘democratised’ discourses and ‘Sovietised’ practices) as a form of emerging governmentality or governmentality‐in‐the‐making on the level of the state, using Ukraine as a case study. Analysing policy‐making through the perspective of emerging governmentality brings into focus the genealogy of post‐independent reforms, which is (as a part of the technologies of government) threaded into a broader governmental project of restructuring the state and legitimising its rationality. The final empirical part of the paper presents a discourse analysis of selected curriculum choice and assessment policy documents (1999–2003) and embedded in them the complex interplay of internal and external discourses, which work together to construct and justify the emerging governmental rationality of post‐communist Ukraine.     

Seeing the ‘new’ in light of the ‘old’: evolving interpretations of a new national English curriculum

This 2‐year longitudinal study explores the process by which three populations of practitioners (mentors, co‐ordinators, and teachers) interpreted a national curriculum involving a change in policies for teaching English as a foreign language. The analysis revealed that the process of managing the changes brought about by the new curriculum yielded ‘dialogues of practice’ between ‘old’ and ‘new’. These dialogues engaged mentors, co‐ordinators, and teachers alike in mediating between new understandings and old ones. It addresses the ways in which they made sense of the terminology of the new curriculum in light of the old curriculum, negotiated between new pedagogical content knowledge and ingrained conceptions of subject‐matter teaching, adapted old understandings of testing to new conceptions of performance‐assessment processes, and mediated between their need to preserve a sense of professional competence while feeling destabilized as ‘novices’ as they confronted innovative curricular practices. Participants' strategic need to ‘survive’ the changes resulted in the development of networks to support professional exchange and assist teachers in managing their way through the uncertainty of curricular change.     

Early years curriculum: funds of knowledge as a conceptual framework for children’s interests

Children’s interests are frequently cited as a source of early‐years curricula. Yet, research has rarely considered the nature of these interests beyond the play‐based environment of early‐childhood education. This paper reports findings from a qualitative, interpretivist study in two early childhood settings in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Using participant observation, interviews, and documentation, the study examined children’s interests and teachers’ engagement with these in curriculum interactions. Evidence suggested children’s interests were stimulated by their ‘intent participation’ in family and community experiences and encapsulated in the notion of ‘funds of knowledge’. The concept of funds of knowledge provides a coherent analytic framework for teachers to recognize children’s interests and extend teachers’ curriculum planning focus beyond that of a child‐centred play‐based learning environment.     

Gross anatomy videos: Student satisfaction,usage, and effect on student performance in a condensed curriculum

Anatomy educators are being tasked with delivering the same quantity and quality of material in the face of fewer classroom and laboratory hours. As a result they have turned to computer‐aided instruction (CAI) to supplement and augment curriculum delivery. Research on the satisfaction and use of anatomy videos, a form of CAI, on examination performance continues to grow. The purpose of this study was to describe the usage and effect on examination scores of a series of locally produced anatomy videos after an 11% curriculum reduction. First‐year medical students (n = 40) were given access to the videos and the prior year's students (n = 40) were used as historical controls. There was no significant difference in demographics between the two groups. The survey response rate was 85% (n = 34) in the experimental group. The students found the videos to be highly satisfying (median = 5 on a five‐point Likert scale, interquartile range = 1) and used them on average 1.55 times/week (SD ± 0.77). Availability of the videos did have a statistically significant effect (4% improvement) on the final laboratory examination (p = 0.039). This suggests that the videos were a well‐received form of CAI that may be useful in bridging the gap created by a reduction in gross anatomy course contact hours. Anat Sci Educ 7: 273–279. © 2013 American Association of Anatomists.     

Policy,practice, and reconversion in Spanish educational reform: teaching and teacher education in physical education

Abstract

Since the late 1980s, reform of the Spanish education system has been justified by reformists as a response to the social and economic changes that have occurred in Spanish society since the democratic transition in the 1970s. Consolidation of democracy, development of technology and economic convergence with the advanced nations of Europe have been seen as the major challenges for educational reform. Restructuring and legitimation processes derived from the requirements of the new reform have been conceptualized as a policy of reconversion, the main purpose of which is to maintain, or achieve, a strong competitive position in the international market. In this paper, conceptualizing educational reform as a reconversion process will allow us to link aspects of the new curriculum (content, pedagogy and assessment), school organization, teaching and teacher education in physical education with wider economic, social and cultural influences and explore the tensions and conflicts between policy and practice in PE in schools. The paper will argue that there is a widening gap between the interests of progressive educationalists and the direction of market‐driven education reform.     

Representing and practising meaningful differences in a well‐structured but complex art curriculum

This paper conceptualizes the secondary art curriculum as a well‐structured but complex knowledge‐domain, with the aim of emphasizing meaningful differences in the way creative grammar operates in the following gatherings of art practices: Pre‐historic and non‐European cultures; Ancient and European cultures before c. 1800; Romantic and Modern culture from c.1800 to c.1950; and Late‐and Post‐modern culture from c.1950 onwards. The gatherings are further differentiated into pre‐modern practices of Gemeinschaft (community) and modern forms of Gesellschaft (association). Practices of Gemeinschaft use the creative grammar of accretion and the grammar of omission to emphasize meaningful differences. The earlier phase of Gesellschaft inherits the grammar of accretion and omission from Gemeinschaft in the attempt to sustain the expression of meaningful differences. The late‐ and post‐modern phase of Gesellschaft adopts a nihilistic creative grammar to level such differences. Approaches to teaching the grammar of each gathering of art, and the related practices, are explored in a well‐structured way by students using ‘know‐how’ and ‘know‐that’ grammar. By conceptualizing and teaching an art curriculum in this way, students develop the insightful knowledge to understand how their life‐world, as embedded in a technological understanding of being and its technological nihilism, compares with alternative understandings of being as articulated by different cultural grammars.     

The Control and Management of Higher Education in Great Britain,with special reference to the role of the University Grants Committee and the Committee of Vice‐Chancellors and Principals

Abstract

The claim that students should determine their own curricula is examined. If granted, primacy would be given to the autonomy and self‐ascribed interests of the students. The case for student autonomy is discussed in the context of the theory of philosophical anarchism. The anarchist dichotomy of autonomy and authority is criticised. A brief examination of Kant's account of autonomy leads to a rejection of the strong individualism that characterises that dichotomy. It is argued that the curriculum should be the outcome of the shared autonomy of students and teachers; such would serve the interests of students by maximising the autonomy of all. The curriculum would meet the interests of all students, but would not, indeed could not, represent the self‐ascribed interests of each individual.     

Environmental education and the issue of nature

Much official environmental education policy in the UK and elsewhere makes scant reference to nature as such, and the issue of our underlying attitude towards it is rarely addressed. For the most part such policy is pre‐occupied with the issue of meeting ‘sustainably’ what are taken to be present and future human needs. This paper considers several issues posed by this anthropocentric approach and explores the view that environmental education—indeed any education—worthy of the name needs to bring a range of searching questions concerning nature to the attention of learners, and to encourage them to develop their own on‐going responses to those questions. It is argued that our present environmental predicament not only provides an exciting opportunity to re‐focus education on the issue of human relationship to nature, but also requires the exploration of this issue for its long‐term resolution. Extensive implications for the curriculum and the culture of the school are raised.     

A study of Korean middle school students’ interests in biology and their implications for biology education

This study analyses middle school students’ interests in biology to provide information on instructional strategies and curriculum development in Korea. An instrument that measures interests was developed based on the middle school biology curriculum. It consists of 64 three‐point Likert‐type items (scores range from 0 to 2). The two components, ‘topic’ and ‘activity’, are composed of 64 items. The topic component and the activity component contain 11 domains and six domains respectively. Data were collected from 267 middle school students in Seoul (male: 169, female: 107). The levels of interest in topic and activity were almost the same and not high. The highest interest domains were ‘genetics’ in topics and ‘observing through a microscope’ in activities. The interest levels in the domain ‘plant morphology’ and ‘plant‐related activity’ were the lowest in each component. The interest level of the eighth graders was the highest found among students. Interest levels of females were lower than those of males in ‘environment and ecosystem’, ‘animal reproduction’ and ‘animal morphology’, but higher in ‘plant morphology’ and ‘plant related activity’ (p < 0.05). Among the topics, the ‘human biology’ domain correlated positively with the domains ‘genetics’, ‘environment and ecosystem’ and ‘respiration of animal and plant’. The correlation between the domains of ‘plant reproduction and nutrition’ and ‘plant development’ was significant in ‘activity’ (r > 0.50, p < 0.001). Consistencies in interests were suggested with respect to instructional strategy and curriculum design.     

Making a crisis out of a drama: the relationship between English and Drama within the English curriculum for ages 11–14

This paper critiques a recent initiative arising from the British Government's National Literacy Strategy for secondary schools. The initiative focuses on Drama within the English curriculum for 11–14‐year‐olds (Key Stage 3). Taking issue with the imposition on Drama of the objectives‐led curriculum model of the Key Stage 3 Framework for teaching English, I examine whether the ‘focus on Drama’ during 2003/04 has led to a higher profile for Drama within English and facilitated curriculum collaboration between English and Drama teachers, as claimed. The article draws on evidence from a small‐scale research project involving student teachers of English and Drama on teaching practice in London schools. I conclude that the KS3 Framework model of curriculum development and training does not promote collaboration in English and Drama teaching that is genuinely creative, and I identify some approaches which could offer an alternative.     

Impact and educational outcomes of a small group self‐directed teaching strategy in a clinical neuroscience curriculum

The complexity of the material being taught in clinical neuroscience within the medical school curriculum requires creative pedagogies to teach medical students effectively. Many clinical teaching strategies have been developed and are well described to address these challenges. However, only a few have been evaluated to determine their impact on the performance of students studying clinical neuroscience. Interactive, 2‐hour, self‐directed small‐group interactive clinical case‐based learning sessions were conducted weekly for 4 weeks to integrate concepts learned in the corresponding didactic lectures. Students in the small groups analyzed cases of patients suffering from neurological disease that were based on eight learning objectives that allowed them to evaluate neuroanatomical data and clinical findings before presenting their case analysis to the larger group. Students’ performances on the formative quizzes and summative tests were compared to those of first‐year medical students in the previous year for whom the self‐directed, small‐group interactive clinical sessions were not available. There was a significant improvement in the summative performance of first‐year medical students with self‐directed clinical case learning in the second year (Y2) of teaching clinical neuroscience (P < 0.05) when compared with first‐year students in the first year (Y1) for whom the self‐directed learning approach was not available. Student performance in the formative assessments between Y1 and Y2 was not significantly different (P = 0.803). A target of ≥70% student scoring above 80% in the final summative examination was met. The current study revealed evidence for the impact and educational outcomes of a self‐directed, clinical teaching strategy in a clinical neuroscience curriculum for first‐year medical students. Anat Sci Educ 11: 478–487. © 2017 American Association of Anatomists.     

Constituting the workplace curriculum

This paper advances some bases for a workplace curriculum. These are premised on conceptions of curriculum as intents directed to individuals’ progression towards full and effective workplace performance, yet whose enactment is shaped by workplace factors and is ultimately experienced by workers as learners. So whether the intentions will be realized is likely premised on the support (affordances) for their enactment by interests within the workplace. Workplace affordances, like those in educational institutions, emphasize the role that the norms and social practices that comprise workplaces play in regulating individuals’ engagement in and learning through work. The degree to which these affordances invite, structure, support, and guide participation, and are likely to engage workers in the kinds of thinking, acting, and learning required for effective workplace performance, is important for developing effective vocational practice. The conception of an ideal curriculum directed towards full participation is subject to the affordances of the interests of managers, co‐workers, and factors affecting production, as well as the intentionalities of worker‐learners themselves. These concepts may well provide ways of thinking about curriculum more broadly as participatory practices.     

Longitudinal retention of anatomical knowledge in second‐year medical students

The Radboud University Medical Center has a problem‐based, learner‐oriented, horizontally, and vertically integrated medical curriculum. Anatomists and clinicians have noticed students’ decreasing anatomical knowledge and the disability to apply knowledge in diagnostic reasoning and problem solving. In a longitudinal cohort, the retention of anatomical knowledge gained during the first year of medical school among second‐year medical students was assessed. In May 2011, 346 medical students applied for the second‐year gastro‐intestinal (GI) tract course. The students were asked to participate in a reexamination of a selection of anatomical questions of an examination from October 2009. The examination consisted of a clinical anatomy case scenario and two computed tomography (CT) images of thorax and abdomen in an extended matching format. A total of 165 students were included for analysis. In 2011, students scored significantly lower for the anatomy examination compared to 2009 with a decline in overall examination score of 14.7% (±11.7%). Decrease in knowledge was higher in the radiological questions, compared to the clinical anatomy cases 17.5% (±13.6%) vs. 7.9% (±10.0%), respectively, d = 5.17. In both years, male students scored slightly better compared to female students, and decline of knowledge seems somewhat lower in male students (13.1% (±11.1%) vs. 15.5% (±12.0%), respectively), d = ?0.21. Anatomical knowledge in the problem‐oriented horizontal and vertical integrated medical curriculum, declined by approximately 15% 1.5 year after the initial anatomy course. The loss of knowledge in the present study is relative small compared to previous studies. Anat Sci Educ 10: 242–248. © 2016 American Association of Anatomists.     

Does spatial ability help the learning of anatomy in a biomedical science course?

A three‐dimensional appreciation of the human body is the cornerstone of clinical anatomy. Spatial ability has previously been found to be associated with students' ability to learn anatomy and their examination performance. The teaching of anatomy has been the subject of major change over the last two decades with the reduction in time spent on dissection and greater use of web‐based and computer‐based resources. In this study, we examine whether the relationship between spatial ability and performance in anatomy examinations is sustained in a contemporary curriculum. A comparison of students' performance in a series of tests of spatial ability to their anatomy examination scores in biomedical sciences course exhibited only weak association (r = 0.145 and P = 0.106). This has implications for the use of spatial ability as a predictor of success in introductory subjects in the teaching of anatomy. Anat Sci Educ 7: 289–294. © 2013 American Association of Anatomists.     

SOAP in practice: learning outcomes of a cross‐institutional innovation project conducted by teachers,student teachers,and teacher educators

This paper reports on a case study investigating learning outcomes at the individual and organisational level of a cross‐institutional innovation project based on the SOAP approach. SOAP integrates Schooling of teachers, Organisational development of schools, Action‐ and development‐oriented research, and Professional development of teachers. The innovation project was aimed at combining teachers, student teachers, and teacher educators in an alliance to design and develop new competence‐based vocational educational arrangements for pupils. An inductive qualitative analysis of 37 semi‐structured interviews among the participants revealed seven main categories of individual learning outcomes: attitudes, project design and management, collaboration, action theory, teaching practice, educational principles, and developments within secondary vocational education. Three main categories of organisational learning outcomes were identified: institution‐level learning, project‐level learning, and combining institution‐level and project‐level learning. A tension was identified between the participants’ individual interests in learning and personal development, and the need for organisational learning aimed at improving organisational processes.     

The neo-liberal education policies of epimeleia heautou: caring for the self in school markets

The paper argues that neo-liberal education policy has capitalized on a historical concern to care for the self, or the Greek epimeleia heautou. We discuss epimeleia heautou in relation to education policies that emphasize greater choice in curriculum offerings, and in relation to school choice policies more generally. Thus, a premise of our argument is that school choice policies accommodate a much greater range of selves to be cared for. The analysis examines the neo-liberal subject, homo ?conomicus, in relation to education policy that produces choices of the self and choices for its care. We conclude by discussing conceptions of the self in relation to two aporias of neo-liberal educational equality produced through ethnic-specific schools.