教师的课程意识:课程改革值得关注的问题

课程改革是教育改革的核心，教师是课程改革的重要主体因素，而教师的课程意识则牵系课程改革成败，教师的课程意识在课程改革中应当引起热切关注。     

Fashioning curriculum reform as identity politics—Taiwan's dilemma of curriculum reform in new millennium

This paper explores indigenization and globalization, the double issue of curriculum and identity as a dialectical contradiction that characterizes the ambivalence of “Taiwanese identity.” “Taiwanese identity” is treated as a social, political, and cultural construct rather than a fixed term in an essentialist sense. Curriculum, as culture's medium of social identity construction, represents a struggle over who constructs whose identity and what is constructed. Therefore, when curriculum reform is called for, it is also a time when a society transitioning and redrawing its socio-political and cultural boundaries to resolve internal social conflicts and identity anxiety. Curriculum reform, in this paper, is analyzed not only as a question of shifting explicit ideas of educational practice but also a question of shifting configurations in power relations that signify a politics of identity.The historical context that brought about the question of identity in Taiwan is introduced first. The second section discusses how emerging curricula were politically, socially, and culturally implicated in the process of constructing a Taiwan-centric identity. The third section analyzes the political, social, cultural, and educational implications of new curricula on the formation of a Taiwan-centric identity. Finally, the paper discusses the effect of globalization on the practice of new curricula and points out an ambivalence of local–global identity construction and the conflicting roles of education, especially curriculum, in this ambivalence.     

A distributed leadership perspective on the Finnish curriculum reform 2014

Bridging curriculum research with educational leadership, we examined the 2014 Finnish curriculum reform compilation and enactment process through the lens of distributed leadership.

As a tool for the examination, we used the resource–agency duality model of distributed leadership. It explicates how organizational members create resources and enact agency to achieve organizational and individual goals. This mixed-methods study had three phases. First, we conducted document analysis to position the 2014 curriculum in a series of curriculum reforms. Second, we analyzed how distributed leadership was interpreted and incorporated in the goals and instructions of the 2014 national core curriculum document. Finally, we surveyed 21 key actors for their insights of distributed leadership in the curriculum compilation and enactment process.

The findings revealed a trend of deepening and expanding distributed leadership in curriculum work over the past decades. This trend mirrored the general societal development in Finland. The 2014 curriculum explicated goals and instructions to use distributed leadership for inclusion, multidisciplinary learning, student-centred assessment and operational culture. The key actors regarded the leadership for the 2014 curriculum work as distributive which enabled resource creation and agentic participation on both national and local levels.     

FACT — Families and children together

Following is a project sketch of a day program for adjudicated, abusive^* and high risk families with babies 8–18 months of age.In order to broaden understanding and treatment of the battered child, four major agencies coordinated efforts to design a network of services under one administration, titled the Parental Stress Center, which houses a residential treatment center for babies 0–12 months. The FACT program is a very recent addition to the Parental Stress Center. This day program may be a transitional placement for families leaving the residential program but in need of continued support and further training, or an initial placement by court mandate.The goals of the program are to insure growth and development of the child and the parent; to assist in establishing more scientific and legally acceptable criteria for court determination and disposition, and to research the effectiveness of the program plan.The FACT program is both diagnostic and therapeutic in nature. The modality simulates a home environment — living, dining, play, nursery, kitchen and bathroom — with an interdisciplinary approach to parent and child, alleviating frustration and stress. By use of materials and affective behavior, a creative learning environment is established. In the church converted apartment parents and children experience a “typical” day's routine alongside teachers who are surrogate, model mothers. Each set of parents are given one day off per week. This “normalizing” factor aids the family in developing a routine which can easily be transferred to their own homes and lives. Simultaneously judicious use of social services helps remove environmental frustrations. In addition case conferences allow other ancillary services to assist in evaluation, diagnosis, prognosis and implementation. Joint conclusions are submitted to the courts quarterly or biannually for further jurisdiction. Although the program is relatively new, emotional and behavioral changes are quite evident in the initial program participants.Pre-service and in-service staff training, based on the program plan and program evaluation, are an integral part of the program.Areas are being explored for further in-depth study. “Effective ways to care for and educate stressful toddlers” or “Methods of transferring modes of parenting from institution to the home” could be areas proposed to the Parental Research team for exploration.     

新课程推进:问题与对策

新课程改革在推进过程中存在“加速度”、“大一统”和“边缘化”等问题,解决这些问题的关键是实施区域推进策略。具体来说,就是要实现三个“突破”：东部应整体推进,实现“面”的突破;中部应积极跟进,实现“片”的突破;西部应扬长避短,实现“点”的突破。     

Assessment matters—Trial,error, triumph: A college rethinks its core curriculum

When students and faculty alike rejected the College of Mount St. Joseph's revised core curriculum, no one dug in their heels to wait out the dissatisfaction.The entire campus engaged in a second round of good, hard discussions about scrapping the new for the newer.