The global,the local,and the science curriculum: A struggle for balance in Cyprus

In documenting educational reforms in the science curriculum of developing countries, a number of tensions become apparent as a result of struggles to preserve local values while incorporating global trends. This article describes and analyses these tensions and paradoxes, and discusses the intersections of cultural, economic, administrative and educational history of elementary school science curriculum development in Cyprus since its independence from the British in 1960. Using a combination of methodological tools that range from document analysis, historical research and ethnographic methods of collecting data, it is argued that the global and the local can be viewed spatially in terms of linking people, spaces and diverse knowledges. In order to ensure that local values in science curriculum development can be sustained without being absorbed by globalization curriculum developers in developing countries need to create spaces in which the local can be performed together with the global.     

Inclusive education policies and the feasibility of educational change: the case of Cyprus

Given the ecumenical pleas and legislative imperatives for more inclusive educational policy and practice, Cyprus has been steadfastly heading towards the realignment of its educational legislation towards a more inclusive discourse. This has been especially true after the implacable criticisms that the UNESCO report cast on the Cyprus educational system in 1997. After that there were, among other things, co‐ordinated efforts to accelerate the voting of the 1999 Special Educational Law that proclaimed the rights of disabled children to be educated along with their peers in mainstream classrooms. It is evident, however, that by no means can the theorisation of educational change be confined to the legislative attempts and their consequences. Rather, the attempts towards educational change should encompass the structural as well as the ideological bases upon which the education system is predicated. The official legislation constitutes a single parameter of the entangled network of interconnections and interdependencies underpinning special education policy and practice. Change is based on an array of factors permeating both agents and structures in the constitution of historical periods.     

The curriculum of climate change education: A case for Singapore

The inclusion of the climate change topic in the curriculum of school subjects in Singapore was pivotal, such that it positioned the discourse squarely in the structure of Singapore's education system. In an examination of the intersections and disjoints between state policies on climate change against the programmatic curriculum, results showed that there is no strong policy curriculum that mandates how climate change should be learned in Singapore, even though it is present in several school subjects. The topic is included in school subjects through the initiative of subject disciplinary specialists and middle managers of the education ministry. This exemplar has implications on how climate change education policy and practice can be shaped elsewhere.     

Higher education curriculum orientations and the implications for institutional curriculum change

This research is based on an empirical study exploring how academics make curriculum decisions and their perceptions of the influences that shape their decisions. Interviews were held with 20 academics from diverse disciplines, who were both research active and committed to teaching. The higher education curriculum was conceptualised as a field of decision-making shaped by academics’ beliefs about educational and contextual influences. The study identified five distinctive curriculum orientations representing coherent patterns of curriculum decisions aligned with academics’ beliefs about educational purposes. Case studies are presented to elucidate each of the curriculum orientations. Curriculum orientations were also found to shape academics’ responses to educational change. The following higher education change drivers are explored: graduate employability and the skills agenda, teaching–research relationships, changing understandings about teaching and learning, educational technologies and flexible delivery. The findings suggest implications for institutional curriculum change initiatives and academic development programmes.     

Sexuality education as a collective responsibility: a new health education curriculum in Cyprus

The development of health promotion is typically viewed as a reaction against both the excessive responsibility placed on individuals concerning their health-related choices and the absence of recognition of environmental factors associated with personal decision making. What though does sexuality education mean from the perspective of health promotion? According to one approach, it implies the existence of a curriculum that recognises the environmental factors affecting sexuality and sexual behaviour. It also suggests a curriculum that aims to empower students to engage with risky sexual behaviour, not just as a personal issue but also as a social matter. The emphasis is placed not merely on developing personal knowledge and skills associated with sexuality and sexual behaviour but on enabling active citizens to protect themselves and their co-citizens from sexual risks and to promote healthy sexuality. This paper discusses such a health promotion perspective in relation to the sexuality education curriculum as recently developed in Cyprus. It demonstrates how a health promotion perspective in relation to sex education can be translated into the establishment of learning objectives, appropriate pedagogic methods and the development of school materials.     

Ambivalence and the politics of knowledge: The struggle for change in German higher education

This article argues (a) that universities are profoundly ambivalent institutions; (b) that this ambivalence explains a great deal about their behavior that would otherwise remain inexplicable; (c) that one of the most striking manifestations of this ambivalence can be found in universities’ attitudes towards change; and (d) that this ambivalence has its roots in a fundamental tension in modern society about the university’s purposes. There is good reason to believe that this set of observations holds true for universities everywhere, albeit to different degrees and in different ways. As a case in point, this article focuses on the process of change (and non-change) in German higher education over the past ten years.     

Factors influencing the demand for higher education: The case of Cyprus

The proportion of young people opting for third level education in Cyprus is exceptionally high, currently about 60% of the relevant age group. This has caused concern among the country's policy makers who are aware of the limited capacity of the Cyprus economy to accommodate the increasing supply of higher education graduates. In the present study, an attempt is made to identify and examine the factors influencing young Cypriots to select higher education over direct employment at the end of their secondary education. A survey was conducted among 811 final form secondary school students in Cyprus in the academic year 1993/1994. Through factor analysis, seven factors with a potential effect on the students' educational and occupational intentions were identified. They were the following: Psychological/Individual, Occupational I, Occupational II, Economic, Consumption, Secondary School Subjects, and Significant Others. These factors, along with a number of student background characteristics (gender, socioeconomic status, ability, and secondary school specialisation) were used as explanatory variables in a logistic regression model with the student's educational intentions serving as the dependent variable. The psychological/individual factor, the second occupational factor, and secondary school specialisation were shown to have a significant effect on the intention to pursue third level education. The paper points to the importance of analysing and examining student characteristics and motivational patterns in the effort to understand, and, if possible, influence trends in the demand for higher education.     

Relevance education,strategies for curriculum change and pilot projects: A rejoinder

Crossley's article deliberately highlights the hazards of a pilot project strategy for implementing educational reform. However, important strengths of such a strategy need also to he addressed to provide a balanced assessment for policy-makers. Pilot projects, if realistically evaluated, can help avoid the costly system-wide adoption of impractical reforms. They also allow more attention to be paid to the actual implementation of a policy, together with research into that implementation process. In some circumstances, they provide the only pragmatic possibilities for reform. Research into the Secondary Schools Community Extension Project in Papua New Guinea usefully exemplifies both the strengths and weaknesses of a pilot project strategy.     

A process for curriculum change in engineering education

This paper identifies a process, developed in recent research, to provide curriculum leaders and policy-makers with a practical and flexible approach for designing and implementing curriculum. It is a changed way for bringing about change. Founded on sound principles of curriculum theorizing, it refines existing curriculum theory in higher education contexts and contributes to the ever-growing body of understanding on curriculum decision-making. A thorough investigation of the engineering education context, including the analysis of an engineering case study, was carried out to identify issues that impinge on curriculum decision-making, including the consideration of professional engineering needs, the social and economic pressures, institutional parameters and student factors. As no such systematic process currently existed for this context, the investigation also considered the curriculum and pedagogical theories that underpin the strategic and operational nature of bringing about curriculum change. The process represents a significant breakthrough in higher education faculties. It directs policy-makers to consider parameters in addition to those traditionally addressed. It recommends a holistic view of curriculum and suggests that there are explicit ramifications for the policies in faculties that govern how curriculum change takes place.     

Climate change education in the humanities classroom: a case study of the Lowell school curriculum pilot

Abstract

Climate change as an instructional topic in K-12 schools is most frequently taught in the science classroom. However, it is a human issue requiring social as well as technological and scientific solutions. This study analyzes and evaluates a climate change curriculum implemented via an integrated social studies and language arts framework in a middle school classroom. The curriculum reflects collaboration between a private school, a climate education non-profit, and a government agency (NOAA). Following the first year of implementation, student surveys, teacher interviews, and classroom observations comprise the primary tools of data collection and evaluation. Based off these data, students demonstrate high levels of climate literacy, improvements in reading comprehension, and overall engagement with the topic. Teachers report successes and challenges of teaching the curriculum, and administrators offer opportunities for scaling and implementing the curriculum in other schools and contexts (including public schools). Findings from this study are relevant to climate change curriculum developers, researchers, and educators seeking to incorporate an interdisciplinary, socio-scientific approach to climate change education in their work.     

Relevance education,strategies for curriculum change and pilot projects: A cautionary note

Pilot projects are increasingly adopted for the generation and promotion of educational innovations. Such small-scale initiatives can be most helpful during the early stages of educational reform, but, unless sufficient care is taken in their formulation, they can contribute to the emergence of unrealistic and over-optimistic proposals for project expansion. While not opposing the movement towards pilot projects, this paper draws attention to the hazards of such means of intervention by considering their potential for ‘relevance education’ initiatives in developing countries. The argument is supported by recent empirically-grounded research carried out on the Secondary Schools Community Extension Project in Papua New Guinea.     

Pre-vocational education in the curriculum: the case of Norwegian lower secondary education

This article investigates the composition of the Norwegian lower secondary school curriculum with a special emphasis on pre-vocational education from a contemporary perspective. The data consist of four official national curricula enacted from the 1970s until the present. Despite differences between the curricula, the main structure of school subjects has remained stable over time. Norwegian lower secondary school curricula mainly include academic subjects, even though pre-vocational education is, to varying degrees, present in all curricula, especially amongst elective subjects. This consolidated position of academic subjects results in a consistency in the composition of the curriculum. Curriculum change is most likely to happen amongst electives and is related to changes in policy making and societal changes. Pre-vocational education is mainly included in the first and current curriculum contrary to the second and third curriculum. These findings indicate that the international policy agenda and its emphasis on the relevance of education through stressing the linkage between education and the world of work only has a minor impact on Norwegian curricula. Further, the allocation of teaching hours shows that the status of pre-vocational subjects is low compared to that of academic subjects. International policies emphasizing basic skills strengthen the academic subjects even further.     

Evaluation of education in the European Union: Policy and methodology

Given the new European institutional environment for education and training, policy and methodology for evaluation have become closely interwoven and stakes have been raised. This emerging situation calls for a robust reappraisal of existing comparative evaluation data and systems in the light of the perceived needs of European countries and of the specificity of European policies. Educational evaluation in Europe is not meant to compare results in the usual sense of the word but rather to help set global policy objectives and provide data to see if those are reached within national contexts. Is it really possible to do this without developing a 'unified' European understanding and methodology of evaluation? To what extent can existing national and international data be used for the purpose, knowing that in some instances they measure aspects of education which are either not relevant for or are contrary to the educational objectives of the construction of the Union? What are the alternatives? What are the consequences for education and for assessment research in Europe?     

The ‘Usefulness’ of Learning: the struggle over governance,meaning and the European education space

The creation of a distinctive and useful European education policy space is a necessary part of the project of Europeanization in the European Union. A ‘European education area’ is fundamental to the contemporary structuring of the European Union; it announces the arrival of a major discursive space, centred on education in which the legitimation, steering and shaping of European governance is being played out. This article explores the problem of governance and education, through its first stage, the construction of a European education project, based on cultural inheritance and then cooperation networks; then it examines, in the second stage, the determination of a new policy of lifelong learning. This new policy shifts the emphasis from formal institutional influence and centres on the individual learner, stressing performance and comparison. The article discusses the difficulty of this task, and its most important aspect, connecting governance and a meaningful project.     

Curriculum making as professionalism-in-context: the cases of two elementary school teachers amidst curriculum change in Cyprus

ABSTRACT

In this paper, two case studies of elementary school teachers in the Republic of Cyprus are constructed to discuss how curriculum making relates to teacher biographies and sense of professionalism, as those are shaped at the intersection of their professional history and projections for the future, informed by and informing their constitution as professionals in local institutional and broader social contexts. Drawing on the ecological model of teacher agency, the two cases are utilised to examine how teachers’ narrated professional experiences in past and current schools were at interplay with their general sense of professional role and purpose as teachers. This complex interplay is simultaneously connected to the ways they perceived and constituted their pupils as well as to the ways they themselves were constituted by others as professionals. The examination of the two cases foregrounds the notions of teacher agency and of curriculum making as contingent, negotiated and negotiable, and opens up the space to consider the politics of both as those are permeated by micro-processes of subjection and subjectivation.