What’s in a name? That which we call a crisis? A commentary on Michael Young’s article ‘Overcoming the crisis in curriculum theory’

Michael Young’s article ‘Overcoming the crisis in curriculum theory: a knowledge-based approach’ (JCS, 45, 2) is discussed from the starting point that the claimed crisis is constructed from a decisive solution, that is the solution determines what is a crisis. But curriculum research and curriculum theory are in need of change. Curriculum research is discussed from an international and historical perspective. The focus is on how economic changes and changes in modes of production have created demands that have been met by an increasing trust in competition between schools and nations. Curriculum construction has been globalized. Curriculum research and curriculum theory ought to problematize and analyse these changes in the conditions for curriculum construction and the politics of education. It is insight into these changes that are needed as well as a serious discussion on the meaning and direction of formation (Bildung) as a framework for research on the knowledge that has to be selected and organized for teaching.     

新加坡思想政治教育有益经验及启思

新加坡造就了独具特色的思想政治教育经验。中国与新加坡存在深厚历史文化渊源,又共同面临着应对＂道德危机＂等方面的艰巨任务,因而应更好地借鉴其思想政治教育的成功经验加强和改进我国思想政治教育工作。     

我国教师教育课程中儿童学课程设置的构想

我国教师教育课程中设置儿童学课程是重塑教师专业素养、顺应国际教师教育发展趋势和应对教师现实困境的必然要求。其设置需要超越学科体系的组织线索,以问题领域为核心组织课程模块;超越心理主义的课程内容,彰显课程建构的社会文化视角;超越对儿童发展普遍规律的依循,关照儿童个体差异。儿童学课程要设置如下课程模块:儿童身心发展、儿童发展与社会、儿童研究方法、儿童研习实践。     

Memorizing a memory: Schwab’s the Practical in a German context

The paper outlines the reception of Schwab’s essay ‘The practical: A language for curriculum’ in German-speaking countries in the 1970s and 1980s. The story is a good demonstration of the ways in which different circumstances and phases of development determine transatlantic exchanges and the influence of concepts in the field of education, and especially of curriculum. The central ideas of Joseph J. Schwab’s concept of curriculum theory and curriculum-making were related to the traditions of general Didaktik in the German-speaking world. It would have been well suited for a reception. Nevertheless, the reception the essay received was at first not a story of success; on the contrary, we have to diagnose a historical neglect. Circumstances today are much better for rethinking Schwab’s analysis under the new conditions of standardizing and competence-oriented curriculum policies.     

Not just skills: what a focus on knowledge means for vocational education

This contribution to the symposium on Michael Young’s article ‘Overcoming the crisis in curriculum theory: a knowledge based approach’, supports his contention that curriculum theory has lost sight of its object—‘what is taught and learned in schools’, and argues that this has particularly deleterious consequences for vocational education and training (VET). VET is unproblematically positioned as applied, experiential and work-focused learning, and it is seen as a solution for those who are alienated from or unsuccessful in more traditional forms of academic education. This article argues that rather than being a mechanism for social inclusion, VET is instead a key way in which social inequality is mediated and reproduced because it excludes students from accessing the theoretical knowledge they need to participate in debates and controversies in society and in their occupational field of practice. It presents a social realist analysis to argue why VET students need access to theoretical knowledge, how a focus on experiential and applied learning constitutes a mechanism for social exclusion and what a ‘knowledge rich’ VET curriculum would look like.     

What remains of history? Historical epistemology and historical understanding in Scotland's Curriculum for Excellence

This paper critically examines the framing of historical knowledge in the primary and ‘broad general education’ phases (ages 4–14) of Scotland's Curriculum for Excellence. The paper focuses on curriculum documentation, particularly the curriculum's aims and ‘Experiences and Outcomes’ and evaluates these in light of recent research on children's historical understanding. It is argued that the decision to frame historical understanding as ‘People, Past Events and Societies’ within the context of a ‘social studies’ curriculum area has been motivated by a misunderstanding of history's unique disciplinary identity. It is argued that history curricula must take account of the unique ontological and epistemological challenges posed by investigating the past and that by failing to do this, ‘Curriculum for Excellence’ offers children in Scotland a problematic representation of what it means to study the past. The paper challenges the curriculum in both epistemic and pedagogical terms, before suggesting that a rigorous study of history as a discipline can make a valuable contribution to children's personal and social development.     

Politics and history curriculum reform in post-Mao China

In post-Mao China, wide-ranging reform programmes have affected almost every sphere of life. History education has been no exception, and in addition to attempts to revise teaching, learning and assessment methods, there have been preliminary forays into textbook pluralism and gradual devolution of curriculum development. History education professionals, however, are fully cognisant of their subject's ‘sensitivity’, and reforming goals and content of both the preactive and active curriculum has thus been a cautious endeavour. This chapter explores the progress of reform through the ‘officially authorised’ historical narratives and teaching goals specified in national curricula. It focuses primarily on the junior secondary curriculum, as primary school History has recently been absorbed by Social Studies, and senior secondary education is neither compulsory nor universally accessible. It is argued that while curriculum objectives and syllabus content remain largely circumscribed by ‘traditional’ views of history as moral-ideological education and by contemporary political imperatives, curriculum developers are also influenced by professional academic and pedagogical concerns, and by efforts to justify the status of History in an increasingly crowded curriculum.     

我国幼儿园教师教育研究学术史:70年回顾与展望

我国幼儿园教师专业发展观经历了理智取向、实践取向和精神取向的三次转变,由此带来了幼儿园教师职前教育课程从关注知能到关注实践再到关注精神的变革。随着幼儿园教师教育的深化发展,研究术语从“教师培训”改为“教师专业发展”,进而被“教师学习”所替代。这一转变凸显了幼儿园教师是自主的终身学习者,体现了幼儿园教师培训观从外铄论转向内发论,自主取向的幼儿园教师发展观得到了普遍认同。同时,这一转变还催生了个人和集体的教师文化之间的相互调适,营造合作共生、带有学习共同体特征的幼儿园教师文化生态成为共识。在方法论层面,哲学思辨范式、科学实证范式、人文诠释范式、社会批判范式等研究范式呈现出齐头并进、互取所长的横向格局,但在当前大数据和人工智能的时代背景下,同时也存在着过度推崇“基于证据”的实证研究的倾向。研究范式的多元化是幼儿园教师教育研究发展的内在要求,基于“复杂性思想”,从多元整合的视角开展研究应是未来幼儿园教师教育研究发展的重要趋势。     

The reformulation of national identity in the new Taiwanese citizenship curriculum through the lens of curriculum reformers

The national curriculum reformers, regarded as members of the social elites and intellectuals, projected their vision of identity onto the curriculum which they constructed and influenced the next generation’s national consciousness. In the tangled relationship between politics and education, the selection of the reformers in a sense dictates the direction of the new curriculum. This article interviewed 18 reformers, members of the latest citizenship curriculum of 2010, to investigate their individual views on identities and the monolithically-promoted Chinese configuration in the old curriculum. Although the new citizenship curriculum, renamed Curriculum Guidelines for Civics and Society, puts nothing in writing in favour of either a Chinese or Taiwanese national identity, according to the discovery in this research, the Curriculum Committee implicitly embedded a transformed inclusive and hyphenated Taiwanese national identity in the new curriculum in the hope of accentuating Taiwan’s exclusive sovereignty. The inner thinking of the reformers is uncovered to reveal their reasoning that a broadly constructed national identity can concurrently accommodate diverse personal identities and suits the society better than the previously prescribed Chinese identity. This article also records the evolution of the curriculum from the previous China-centred narratives to Taiwan-centred narratives, something that happened in line with the changes in Taiwanese society.     

经验自然主义课程范式的演进及在我国新课改中的要素分析

经验自然主义教育理论萌发于古希腊三贤时期,直至20世纪,杜威正式确立了经验自然主义课程范式.在此期间,也有像卢梭、裴斯泰洛齐这样极具代表性的教育学家阐述自己的经验自然主义教育思想.随着时代的发展,关于"经验"和"自然主义"内涵的界定逐步完善.如今我国新课程改革的理念、规划与实施,都受到经验自然主义课程范式的影响.     

When transnational curriculum policy reaches classrooms – teaching as directed exploration

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this article is to explore how education policy that is both enabled and constrained by transnational policy flows and national policy built up by social, cultural and historical traditions are enacted through curriculum at the classroom level. The focus is on how policy rationality embedded in the structure and content of curriculum is transformed into certain rationalities in classroom teaching. By understanding lessons as ‘curriculum events’, the study reveals a dominant classroom discourse of recitation and similar triadic communication patterns, which is in accordance with other classroom studies. However, in the article it is argued that the version of teaching that emerges in this study, interpreted in a broader context of an international standards movement, can be understood in terms of directed exploration based on the teacher’s role as an explorer of what the students know, think and understand in relation to the acquisition of knowledge prescribed in the curriculum’s knowledge requirements. Even though the form of recitation is well known, the reason for choosing this teaching repertoire is somewhat new and can be related to the teacher authoring a basic oral text in accordance with assessment standards.     

How closely related are the national curriculum and the global dimension? A content analysis of the global dimension in elementary school textbooks in Taiwan

Over the past few decades, researchers, educators, and policymakers have become increasingly concerned about preparing future generations for life in the rapidly changing global society; thus, interest in the global dimension of school curricula has been growing. However, as tension often exists between this global dimension and national education, infusing the former into the latter is not an easy task. Although some countries claim their national curriculum has a global dimension, and many global educators emphasize the relevance of global education in all curriculum areas, little empirical evidence supports such claims. To bridge this gap, the extent to which school textbooks reflect a global dimension must be explored. Therefore, this study conducted a content analysis of 84 elementary school textbooks in Taiwan to examine the scope of their global dimension. We found that around 10 % of the textbooks’ content was related to the global dimension, the majority of which was in the learning areas of social studies and integrative activities. The most evident global education concepts were ecological sustainability and world peace, whereas human rights and social justice were underrepresented. The ideal of linking the global dimension with all aspects of education and all curriculum areas remains a challenge. We provide suggestions for teachers, educational authorities, and textbook publishers and authors regarding revisions to current textbooks to enhance the global dimension.     

建构高职体育教育课程知识体系 提升高职学生的综合素质

体育教育在我国还是一门新兴学科,在当前我国构建和谐社会、推进全民健身的背景下,体育教育正面临着难得的发展机遇。高职体育教育是中国特色的高等职业教育的重要组成部分,不但面临发展机遇,也面临培养人才目标的挑战。通过资料研究法和规范分析法,建构高等职业院校体育教育课程知识体系,研究高职体育教育课程知识体系中的课程项目对学生综合素质的影响,进而得出结论:集体运动、户外运动和健康科普知识课程对提升高职学生的综合素质有更优的教学应用价值。     

Internationalization or commodification? A case study of internationalization practices in Taiwan’s higher education

This article examines how commodification and consumerism have sharpened the discourse of internationalization in Taiwan’s higher education. Given the strong sense of crisis in the less prestigious universities, this article argues that internationalization is only a means to survive instead of a pursuit of excellence to these universities. This empirical finding leads us to rethink the concept of internationalization and its relevance and application to Taiwan’s higher education. This article adopts a case study approach to investigate the practices of internationalization, including program and institutional mobility, overseas networking, curriculum design, teaching, and administrative support. The implications of these internationalization practices for sustainability and quality in higher education development are then discussed.     

学习范式下高校“金课”建设的价值逻辑与路径选择

推进高校"金课"建设成为振兴本科教育,落实本科教育在人才培养中的核心地位的主要着力点。从理论上来看,高校"金课"是具有多维内涵的概念,其根本目的在于促进学生产生高阶性的学习。从实践上来看,高校"金课"建设是一种课程建设的范式转换,在推进"金课"建设进程中,需要克服"金课"建设中存在的路径、责任、理论、主体和内容等方面的偏离,避免高校"金课"建设回到老路。在建设对策上,需要落实立德树人根本任务,制定"金课"建设整体规划;确立以学生为中心的理念,推进"金课"建设范式转换;重构高校教学基层组织,加强"金课"教学团队建设;关注学生个性化学习需求,构建整合性"金课"课程框架;依托教育信息化手段,创新"金课"建设新样态。     

The Generic Fallacy1

The ‘music appreciation as contemplation’ paradigm of traditional aesthetics and music education assumes that music exists to be contemplated for itself. The resulting distantiation of music and music education from life creates a legitimation crisis for music education. Failing to make a noteworthy musical difference for society, a politics of advocacy attempts to justify music education. Praxial theories of music, instead, see music as pragmatically social in origin, meaning, and value. A praxial approach to music education stresses that appreciation is seen in use; thus, it seeks to ‘make a difference’ that students and society find musically noteworthy.     

Potential for knowledge in action? An analysis of Korean green energy related K3–12 curriculum and texts

While understanding green energy development and what drives it are important, there is increasing consensus that sustainability transitions concerning usage need to be viewed in terms of the place specific contexts, including education, that critically mold them. In order to support sustainability transitions, information and knowledge building are not enough; knowledge must be turned into action. This research examines the potential efficacy of Korea’s efforts in this regard via an analysis of K3–K12 geography education curriculum and texts vis-à-vis green energy content. There is scant disconnect between the curriculum and the texts analyzed, and, aside from the small shortcomings unearthed, analyses suggest that Korea is cogent of the ability of geography education and education for sustainable development to turn knowledge into action, thereby empowering civil society to drive its green energy transitions going forward.     

从诚信、诚信危机说开去

诚信是中国传统道德的基本内容。在现代社会，诚信更是现代明的重要基础和主要标志。然而种种迹象表明，在当今社会，诚信一再遭受冲击，诚信危机离我们越来越近。造成这种状况的原因是相当复杂的，既有历史上的原因，也有现实社会制度体制、外界环境上的原因。战胜诚信危机需要从这些原因入手，需要个人、家庭、学校、社会等各方面共同努力。     

The management of ‘emotional labour’ in the corporate re-imagining of primary education in England

The last 20 years has witnessed the spread of corporatism in education on a global scale. In England, this trend is characterised by new structural and cultural approaches to education found in the ‘academies’ programme and the adoption of private sector management styles. The corporate re-imagining of schools has also led to the introduction into the curriculum of particular forms of character education aimed at managing the ‘emotional labour’ of children. This paper argues that character education rests on a fallacy that the development of desirable character traits in children can be engineered by mimicking certain behaviours from the adult world. The weaknesses in the corporate approach to managing ‘emotional labour’ are illustrated with empirical data from two primary schools. An alternative paradigm is presented which locates the ‘emotional labour’ of children within a ‘holding environment’ that places children’s well-being at its core.     

论“卓越计划”实施背景下高等工程教育课程体系设计

“卓越计划”实施的目标是改善高等工程教育质量,更好地向社会输送高质量的工程师,其中,科学合理的高等工程教育课程体系是“卓越计划”成功的关键。本文以“卓越计划”实施为背景,从课程结构、课程内容与课程实施3个方面,分析了高等工程教育课程体系及其问题。阐述了高等工程教育课程体系设计的原则与途径。