Implementation and modification of an anatomy‐based integrated curriculum

Morehouse School of Medicine elected to restructure its first‐year medical curriculum by transitioning from a discipline‐based to an integrated program. The anatomy course, with regional dissection at its core, served as the backbone for this integration by weaving the content from prior traditional courses into the curriculum around the anatomy topics. There were four primary goals for this restructuring process. Goal 1: develop new integrated courses. Course boundaries were established at locations where logical breaks in anatomy content occurred. Four new courses were created, each containing integrated subject content. Goal 2: establish a curriculum management team. The team consisted of course directors, subject specialists, and a curriculum director. This team worked together to efficiently manage the new curriculum. Goal 3: launch contemporary examination and question banking methods. An electronic system, in which images could be included, was implemented for examinations and quizzes, and for storing and refining questions. Goal 4: ensure equitable distribution of standardized examinations and course grading systems among all courses. Assessments included quizzes, in‐course examinations, and National Board of Medical Examiners^® (NBME^®) Subject Examinations. A standard plan assigned the contribution of each to the final course grade. Significant improvement was seen on subject examinations. Once the obstacles and challenges of integration were overcome, a robust and efficient education program was developed. The curriculum is expected to continue evolving and improving, while retaining full regional dissection as a core element. Anat Sci Educ 10: 262–275. © 2016 American Association of Anatomists.     

School‐based restructuring and curriculum change: teachers’ and students’ contrasting perspectives

Abstract

This article is set within the context of a school‐based change initiative, where we studied a number of teachers and students in order to understand the ways in which they understood and experienced the complexities of the change process, and to add their voices to the ongoing discussions around restructuring and school‐based change. We found that although there were some commonalties between how teachers and students experienced the changes being implemented, there were also some profound differences between the curriculum as planned by teachers and the curriculum as experienced by students. For the teachers, the themes of caring for students’ lives, recasting themselves as classroom practitioners and of working as collaborative colleagues were identified; for students, the themes were those of getting used to the place, and of re‐establishing their preferred way of working in this new setting. In our discussion and analysis of these themes we look at the implications for future school‐based change initiatives, and at some of the complexities and difficulties which present themselves as schools take on increased authority and responsibility for self‐management and for the creation of improved learning environments for students and teachers. We suggest that future change efforts should give more importance to the perspectives of teachers and students, and to the interactive and programmatic exchanges of teachers and students. We suggest also that changed school structures should originate in a focus on the improvement of teaching and learning, and on the facilitation of teachers’ and students’ collaborative efforts to create a curriculum for the classroom and a learning community which is both enabling and transformative for both.     

School‐based curriculum development: the Hong Kong experience

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this article is to analyse the nature of the School‐based Curriculum Project Scheme (SBCPS), which was introduced into the Hong Kong education system in 1988. The aims of the scheme were to promote school‐based curriculum development (SBCD) designed to meet the learning needs of pupils and to encourage teachers to solve curriculum problems. Overall, the article provides insights into the characteristics of the SBCPS which was introduced into a highly centralized context and was initiated through a highly centralized mechanism, and describes how it was implemented into Hong Kong schools. This underlines the need both to view curriculum policies critically and to recognize the impact that the prevailing culture in schools has on attempts at curriculum innovations.     

学术教育与职业教育的整合——兼谈对我国综合高中课程的思考

学术教育和职业教育的整合是指通过改变课程、重构组织、教师之间开展合作、加强与就业的联系等措施，使两类教育融为一个有序整体。格拉伯（Grubb）在1991年提出了8种整合模式，对其进行了系统的总结归纳。这些研究对我国综合高中课程的改革有重要借鉴意义。     

Disability,curriculum and integration in China

ABSTRACT

Current data indicate that there are six million young people of school age with disabilities in China. Of these, only about 50 per cent attend any form of schooling, with approximately 220,000 of them enrolled in special schools and classes. The remainder attend regular classrooms. This means that there are about three million students with disabilities who at present lack any access to education. In May 1996 it was declared that in order to improve this situation, over the next five years, China plans to provide school places for 80 per cent of its disabled youngsters. In order to achieve this goal, the Chinese central education authorities have announced a significant change in policy direction towards integration. Instead of their previous commitment to the establishment of increasing numbers of special schools, it is now planned that the current number of about 1,400 special schools will be increased to 2,000, so that all regions of the country have access to at least one. At that point, no more special schools will be built. The extra places needed to increase the school attendance rate of youngsters with disabilities will be created in regular classes in regular schools. This paper gives an overview of the curriculum arrangements in China's four types of special schools, including their historical development, subjects taught, teaching arrangements and management. A number of difficulties confronting China's special education policy‐makers are canvassed and reasons suggested for their increasing commitment to a strategy of integration. It is proposed that China enjoys three advantages in the pursuit of an integrated school system.     

Moral education: dilemmas for the teacher

ABSTRACT

The paper examines recent developments in food‐focused education following the implementation of the 1988 Education Reform Act. Drawing on data from an ESRC‐funded project on Teaching and Learning about Food and Nutrition in Schools (1993‐4), the paper explores evidence which demonstrates a marginalized and fragmented curriculum for food, and considers its implications. The paper comprises two sections. The first focuses on literature and curriculum documentation available at the start of the research and examines the formal corpus of school knowledge about food. This informs the second section which draws on data collected during case‐studies of four English secondary and primary schools and on what the data tell us about the food curriculum and its implications for transmission in the case‐study schools. Specific examples highlight issues of diversity, ambiguity and contradiction in implementation. Conclusions emphasize the need for greater curriculum coherence in policy and practice and for a reassessment of the framing and interpretation of food knowledge and skills. In the absence of systematic evaluations, schools continue to replicate rather than challenge the contradictions in understandings about food use which are documented features of the adult population in general.     

Integration of students with severe and multiple learning difficulties

Abstract

Students with severe and multiple learning difficulties have traditionally been excluded from mainstream education. Three arguments are put forward for integrating these students: social and humanitarian motives; interpretations of the ‘least restrictive environment’ as one in which interactions with non‐disabled peers are least restricted; and a changing concept of education to include a range of functional skills which provide preparation for adult life. Ways of implementing integration are discussed, including location of special classes in regular schools, integration into regular classes, and partial integration through links between regular and special schools. Although many existing integration programmes appear promising, there has been little systematic research in the area and few attempts at independent evaluations. Fears about potential loss of support services in integration appear to have some justification. Fears about adverse behaviour by non‐disabled peers have proved to be largely unfounded, but opportunities need to be deliberately structured to ensure that positive interactions occur between integrated students and their peers. Long‐term outcomes for students with severe and multiple learning difficulties integrated into regular schools have not been considered.     

关于综合课程的若干理论问题

综合课程是一个历史性与时代性相统一的概念。早在 19世纪就形成了两种基本的课程综合化的原理———“相关综合原理”与“经验综合原理”。综合课程在整个 2 0世纪的发展则指向于统一儿童与学科知识。从类型学的角度看 ,综合课程可分为“学科本位综合课程”、“社会本位综合课程”、“儿童本位综合课程”。课程走向综合化有重要的理论根据。开发综合课程需要注意若干策略问题。     

Exploring the boundary between school science and everyday knowledge in primary school pedagogic practices

This paper explores the different ways that primary school teachers in Uganda navigate the boundary between school science and everyday knowledge in the context of a centrally mandated curriculum innovation. The paper is based on a study of the pedagogic practices of 16 teachers in eight Ugandan primary schools that were selected on the basis of having a track record of either high or low academic achievement in the public primary school‐leaving examination. The official primary school curriculum in Uganda prescribes that science be taught in an integrated form, including integration between science subject knowledge and everyday knowledge. The strategies that teachers in the study adopted in relating science to everyday knowledge was a key feature that differentiated between pedagogic practices in the high‐performing and low‐performing schools. In high‐performing schools, teachers recruited everyday knowledge as a resource for learning science as a specialised discourse; whereas in the low‐performing schools, acquiring everyday knowledge was viewed as an end in itself. The paper, then, considers the implications of differences in teachers' pedagogic strategies for the kinds of knowledge to which learners are given access.     

Science,Society and Trends in Science Education‐‐some Thoughts on the Development of Integrated Science in the Educational Systems of the World

Summaries

English

Before constructing a new curriculum for any level in integrated‐science education, it is very important to establish a basic philosophy of science teaching which reflects a symbiotic relationship between education and the socio‐economic development in a particular country of the world.

The curriculum structure of integrated‐science education should broaden the basis of curricular decision and should be designated to follow the expectations of the society in providing professional intellectual training so that education can make a significant contribution to the socio‐economic growth of the country. This basic assumption which established a link between cultural and socio‐economic growth, involves a diversification of the cultural trends of science education which must become appropriate to the economic and historical context of each country in a fast changing world of work.

Therefore, by critically removing outside influences in the transmission of scientific knowledge, there should be less uniformity in the context and methods of teaching, and considerable restructuring of education for each country should occur. Thus, considering the historical and geographical differences, a new order in international division of labour would come into being.

In such a hypothesis, a research‐oriented integrated curriculum in science education can play a central role (certainly a better one than in the traditional, discipline‐oriented scheme of science teaching) in obtaining an adequate interaction between scientific education and social problems; this is required for modern cultural and economic development of the world.     

School Effectiveness and School Restructuring: Contributions to Educational Improvement 1

ABSTRACT

Over the last twenty years, school effectiveness work has dominated efforts to improve schools. Within the last five years, school restructuring has moved front and center in the school improvement literature. This paper examines these two lines of improvement efforts to ascertain the major contributions of each to schooling and education. It is argued that the effective schools movement has been influential in helping dismantle the existing foundations of schooling. In particular, it is suggested that academics and practitioners working within the effective schools framework have been influential in pushing prevailing behavioral approaches to learning off center stage. Effective schools workers have also helped re‐establish the primacy of learning and teaching in schools and helped channel improvement efforts into consistent and overlapping streams of action. It is argued that school restructuring, in turn, offers the possibility of taking us considerably further ‐ of weaving seminal contributions from effective schools into dramatically different forms of schooling. In particular, it is suggested that the school restructuring movement promises viable alternatives to behaviorally‐grounded models of learning and teaching, to hierarchical models of organizing and managing education, and to bureaucratic and professionally‐dominated models of governing schools.

     

Conservative and liberal challenges to progressivist curricula in Scandinavia

ABSTRACT

The post‐war period in the Scandinavian countries has been characterized by successive school reforms administered by social democratic governments following a moderate form of progressivism. A central idea is of equality and of an equal right to quality education. The public schools dominate and the management is top‐down. For a long period of time there have been central national curricula. In recent years the System of public schools has been questioned, as has the ideological basis of the curriculum. Proponents of a new liberal ideology demand more private schools, decentralization and efficiency. New conservative ideas at the same time argue for the restoration of basic forms of knowledge, competition and moral qualities to be mirrored in the new national curricula.     

The Scottish school history curriculum and issues of national identity

ABSTRACT

The Scottish curriculum operates through broad guidelines that allow a good deal of freedom to shape the curriculum. This article reports the findings of an investigation into the attitudes towards, and knowledge of Scottish history of 16‐year‐old pupils in Scottish schools. The pupils’ responses to questions about aspects of Scotland's past revealed a very large degree of ignorance about important people, events, circumstances and dates as well as a number of misconceptions about major historical aspects. The content of the school history curriculum has an important part to play in the development of a sense of national identity. The findings are discussed at a time when there is a resurgent sense of national identity, with the people in Scotland recently voting in a referendum for the setting up of a Scottish parliament. The minimal place history occupies in the curriculum may partly explain the lack of pupils’ knowledge. There is a lack of detailed evidence on this issue, both within Scotland and from other nations. A major debate about what matters in Scotland's past is needed, for Scotland has avoided establishing a prescribed history curriculum: a well‐informed teaching profession has to make critical decisions about what to include.     

The impact of the National Curriculum on twelve special schools in England

Abstract

The National Curriculum represents one of the most significant UK educational reforms of this century. However, it was planned and introduced with little reference to pupils with special needs, particularly those attending special schools or units. Alongside pragmatic responses to the implementation of the National Curriculum in special education, there has been a lively and continuing debate about its appropriateness, in principle, for pupils in special schools. This paper reports data derived from interviews with headteachers of twelve special schools (encompassing three distinct special needs groups). Continuities of view, notably an acceptance of the principle of a national curriculum for all pupils, are discussed. Divergent Views reflected an adherence to equality or individuality as underlying educational principles. The findings are placed in two contexts: first, the process of curriculum change, and second, the links between integration and curricular conformity as reflected in some European special education literature.     

Effects of a reform high school mathematics curriculum on student achievement: whom does it benefit?

This study compared the effects of an integrated reform-based curriculum to a subject-specific curriculum on student learning of 19,526 high school algebra students. Using hierarchical linear modelling to account for variation in student achievement, the impact of the reform-based Core-Plus Mathematics curricular materials on student test scores is compared to the subject-specific curriculum. Findings from this study indicate that students enrolled in integrated mathematics outperformed subject-specific students on an Algebra I exam (highly aligned with content), and performed equally on an Algebra II exam (poorly aligned). High minority students in high-need schools demonstrated higher performance when they were enrolled in integrated mathematics.     

中职语文课标推进三部曲:转型、困惑与求索——基于一线教学视角的实践思考

《中等职业学校语文课程标准(2020年版)》从编写理念、体例、内容、篇幅上都呈现出崭新的面貌,在学科核心素养、课程结构、学业质量方面更是亮点鲜明,构建起语文教学的新范式。然而,中职语文课标要真正落地,却面临着理想与现实的鸿沟、教师观念的桎梏、评价方式的制约等多重困难。因此,中职语文课标的推进需要采取行之有效的举措:普职融通,共同开展语文研究;开拓渠道,有力弥补教研短板;立足课堂,逐步推进有效培训;加强研究,科学设计学业考试;强化落实,全程建立督导机制。     

城乡学校一体化管理的现状、问题及对策——基于X市6对一体化管理学校的访谈文本分析

完善城乡学校一体化管理运行机制需要深入把握城乡学校一体化管理的重点内容和关键问题。通过调研X市6对城乡学校一体化管理试验学校样本,运用NVivo8软件对调研资料进行编码和统计分析,研究发现:城乡学校一体化管理的基础是要建立市、县、校三级管理体系;城乡学校一体化管理的内容是教研、教师、教学、行政、课程、文化和教育一体化七个方面,其重点是推进教研、教师和教学一体化;城乡学校一体化管理的问题涉及跨区障碍、人事、经费、输入校发展、教学教研、市级统筹和课程,其关键是破解跨区域的管理障碍。     

Exploring the role of ‘brokers’ in developing a localised curriculum

ABSTRACT

There is a move in some countries, including England, towards less curriculum control by government. This stands in contrast to a national curriculum which may be universally applied in all schools within a state/country. National curricula tend to use either content-based (subject mastery) or process (skills)-based models. More localised curricula have the potential to be more issue- and problem-centred using local resources and people as part of their building blocks. However, marketisation and globalisation typified by Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) ‘effect’ on national policies have discouraged teachers' creativity and curriculum innovation and negated teacher agency. Unfortunately, schools and community partners can find it hard to work together because of logistical, communication and cultural impediments, which gives significance to the role of curriculum brokers who can bridge these divides. This paper offers a case study of two brokers in order to describe, understand and conceptualise their role in curriculum development. The wider implications for curriculum development are outlined.     

Implementing the democratic principles and practices of student-centred curriculum integration in primary schools

Student-centred curriculum integration (CI) is a concept underpinned by democratic education. It places students at the centre of learning, involving them in classroom decisions and curriculum planning. Most research on this approach has been situated in the middle years, but this study focuses on primary schooling.

This project examined what happened when three teachers, located in three New Zealand schools, explored the democratic principles and practices inherent in student-centred curriculum integration. The project utilised participatory action research (PAR) methodology supported by multiple data sources. The findings indicated that this form of curriculum design provides relevant, engaging and equitable learning environments. The teachers found that by slowly increasing the level of student inclusion they gained the confidence and competence to collaboratively co-construct curriculum with students.