Challenges to primary education

Summary

The above examples are but a few ideas which may stimulate teachers and children to develop other activities that have an educational benefit and which motivate children in design and technology and physical education. They will not replace core teaching and learning in physical education and design and technology but should form an integral part of the overall school curriculum. Sound planning and curriculum development strategies should, we believe, allow the inclusion of such activities in the curriculum of the primary school.     

Male Teachers in Feminised Teaching Areas: Marching to the beat of the men's movement drums?

Calls for more male teachers are prevalent in current gender debates in education. A dominant argument in this debate is that boys are often alienated from school because of a lack of male role models in feminised areas of the school curriculum and in primary schools. Little research has investigated male teachers' accounts of their work within feminised environments. Drawing on data collected in two research studies in music education, this paper focuses on accounts given by male teachers about (a) practices adopted specifically to work with boys and (b) the role of the male music teacher. Analysis of these data suggests that some male teachers working in feminised areas of the school curriculum adopt practices which, rather than challenging dominant constructions of masculinity, sometimes reinforce gender stereotypical behaviours in boys. We argue that calls for increasing the number of male teachers in feminised areas of schooling need also to be informed by open discussion of the underlying assumptions about masculinity which teachers themselves bring to their work.     

High quality in primary humanities: insights from the UK’s school inspectorates

ABSTRACT

The school inspectorates of the four jurisdictions of the UK are sources of evidence about the quality of humanities teaching, learning and curriculum in primary schools. The term ‘humanities’ usually refers to the subjects of geography, history and Religious Education, but here they are considered holistically, not separately. Discrete subject and inter-subject humanities inspection reports are used to identify what inspectors report to be high-quality practices in this curriculum area. Six themes are presented, which reveal that: the best humanities curricula are based on subject and cross-subject ideas and connections, with subject learning clearly visible; flexible but rigorous approaches to planning enable progression in children’s learning; strong teacher–child and teacher–humanities relationships reflect teachers’ evident enthusiasm, commitment and expectations; teachers use a diverse range of approaches and resources; active and enquiry-based learning approaches engage children in developing their studies; and strong humanities leadership and explicit emphasis in school development priorities underpin high-quality primary humanities. These features reflect the skills and qualities of expert primary teachers.     

Curriculum Leadership and Management in Secondary Schools: A Hong Kong case study

Relatively little is known about how and by whom curriculum leadership and management occur inside secondary schools, especially in Asian contexts. This article aims to analyse curriculum decision-making in two academically effective secondary schools in Hong Kong. It employs qualitative methods to capture the contributions made by various school personnel, and in particular the principals, to curriculum leadership and management. Data for the two schools show that whilst neither of the principals plays a significant role in curriculum monitoring and innovation, the vice-principal (male), the senior teachers and teachers in one school were perceived to place more emphasis on curriculum monitoring and innovation than their counterparts in the other school. Whilst teachers in both schools shared high expectations for students' academic achievement, one subtle difference between them related to the pursuit of academic excellence. In one school, students did not exert much pressure on their teachers whereas in the other school, teachers felt they had to fulfil students' demands for good lesson preparation and take account of students' opinions of their teaching.     

Interdisciplinary primary school curriculum units for sustainable development

Abstract

Education for sustainable development (ESD) provides crucial opportunities for young people to be involved in complex sustainability issues. This study contributes to existing knowledge about primary school teachers’ approaches to ESD across a range of subjects. Norwegian schools can join the Sustainable Backpack programme (SBP), which supports teachers to develop projects that promote a holistic understanding of sustainable development across school subjects. The present study set out to examines teachers’ interdisciplinary approach to ESD and the SBP teachers’ perceptions of how their curriculum units promote environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainable development. The study is a multi-case study, with curriculum units designed for students aged 10-13?years from 14 Norwegian schools. Content analysis suggest that the units used several subjects to ESD, but the teachers could have challenged the students’ reflection to a greater extent in terms of argumentation and critical thinking. The units succeeded to some extent in pursuing a holistic approach.     

Complicated contradictions amid Black feminism and millennial Black women teachers creating curriculum for Black girls

ABSTRACT

Millennial Black women teachers wrestle with two simultaneous burdens: disrupting the racist and sexist status quo of schooling through curriculum, and employing tactics to survive school politics among their majority White women colleagues. This article describes how the Sisters of Promise (SOP) curriculum aligned with Black feminism and Black feminist pedagogy, and how it did not. This curriculum was created for Black girls within the margins of school by a millennial Black woman teacher and other Black women teachers. Analysis of the SOP curriculum revealed that even with the best of intentions, and even for relatively self-aware millennial Black women teachers, it is possible to present Black girl students with contradictory messages, due to a lack of exposure to Black feminism, Black feminist pedagogy, and the work of Black women educational scholars, in their curriculum studies. Included are implications and recommendations for millennial Black women teachers creating curriculum for Black girls.     

The First Half Century of the AERA

Abstract

The central hypothesis of this study was that conflicting values are related to a lack of acceptance of the school’s curriculum on the part of the faculty. The data were collected through the employment of three instruments (Differential Values Inventory by Prince, an adaptation of the Kreitlow Scale by Kreitlow and Dreier, and a Teacher Attitude Scale.) School faculties which expressed the greater differences in educational values also expressed the greatest amount of disapproval of the school’s curriculum. However, individual teachers with extreme values indicated more favorable attitudes toward the curriculum than teachers with more neutral values. Values held by principals were related to teachers approval of the curriculum.     

Book reviews

Background: To help equip students with 21^st century competencies, one popular strategy adopted by governments and schools worldwide is to move from less formal to more engaging school environments through School-Based Curriculum Development (SBCD). In Singapore, the governmental call to Teach Less and Learn More has galvanised SBCD in schools nationwide. Schools have been given more autonomy and greater flexibility to develop diverse approaches in innovating their own curriculum frameworks.

Purpose: This study aims to provide a nuanced, retrospective account of the enactment of SBCD via Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-integrated, theme-based programmes in a primary school in Singapore. The research questions that guide this study are: (1) How do the school stakeholders enact SBCD? (2) How does the enactment affect the school stakeholders?

Method: This study looked into curriculum innovation using a retrospective lens and employed a case study approach to examine the enactment of SBCD in the school. Five focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted with the major stakeholders of the school, including two school leaders, ten key personnel and ten teachers across different subjects and grade levels. Thematic analysis of the data was undertaken.

Findings: Four themes and twelve associated sub-themes were identified from the analysis of the FGDs. The four themes include experimentation, support, growth and challenges. This whole-school approach to curriculum innovation had a clear focus on mobilizing the school community to tackle the uncertainties of implementing an innovative curriculum. The stakeholders played diverse but intertwined roles throughout different stages of the enactment process, producing strong collegiality amongst the stakeholders. This prevailing collegiality, as embedded in the active participation of the stakeholders in a multiplicity of collective sharing and learning practices, seems likely to help the school achieved desired outcomes.

Conclusions: The whole-school approach to curriculum innovation in the case school is promising from the perspectives of teaching-learning and student outcomes, but cannot provide a panacea for all the challenges encountered in the enactment process.     

Adaptation in the transition to school: perspectives of parents,preschool and primary school teachers

Background: Transition to school is a highly demanding phase at an intellectual, social and emotional level and is, therefore, an opportunity for growth and development. Despite the greater emphasis given to school transition in Portugal over recent years, namely by means of new educational policies, studies on the adaptation processes involved in the transition to primary school are still scarce.

Purpose: The present qualitative study sets out to contribute to the knowledge on the adaptation process of children to school transition (around age 6) in Portugal, by comparing preschool teachers’, primary school teachers’, and parents’ perceptions about success indicators and relevant factors in the transition to school.

Design and method: In order to collect data, 14 focus group interviews with different participants were conducted, three with preschool teachers (N = 18), three with primary school teachers (N = 13), four with parents conducted before the child’s transition to primary school (N = 14) and four with parents conducted after the child’s transition to primary school (N = 20).

Results: While the preschool and primary school teachers stressed factors of a family nature, such as parental involvement and parental support of children, the parents referred more frequently to the overall running of the school and the characteristics and methodology of the teacher as being relevant to the adaptation process in the first year of primary education.

Conclusions: The findings suggest different factors associated with adaptation to school and also offer clues for designing strategies to facilitate such adaptation. New strategies are needed to facilitate the construction of a robust educational family–school partnership.     

Conceptualizing curriculum management in an effective secondary school: a Western Australian case study

ABSTRACT

This paper investigates the linkages between management processes and the curriculum using an academically effective secondary school as a case study. The aims of the study are twofold. First, in view of the acknowledged importance governments and others place on the quality of school leadership and management on the one hand and curriculum, teaching and learning reforms on the other, there is a need for empirical data as to how school leaders and managers work to secure improvements in curriculum, teaching and learning. This study purports to provide such data. The second aim acknowledges the need to develop conceptual frameworks and data collection instruments as aids to better understanding of complex relationships within school organizations.two deputy principals do play an indirect and important part in promoting academic performance by reinforcing school values in a wide variety of ways. Third, curriculum management is the responsibility of senior teachers and there is tight linkage between both senior teachers and teachers and high quality teaching and learning. Finally, the loose linkage between departments, and also between departments and senior management, provides little opportunity for a school‐wide approach to curriculum matters. It is evident that a whole‐school curriculum management perspective is absent in this school.     

Professional controversies between teachers about their summative assessment practices: a tool for building assessment capacity

Abstract

This article describes two collaborative research projects whose common goal was to explore the potential role of professional controversies in building teachers’ summative assessment capacity. In the first project, upper primary teachers were encouraged to compare their practices through a form of social moderation, without prior instructor input or theoretical preparation. In the second project, lower secondary school teachers were encouraged to compare their summative assessment practices with reference to a theoretical model of curriculum alignment, under the guidance of an instructor. The findings support the potentially constructive role of professional controversies in supporting teachers’ professional development for summative assessment. They highlight the status of references called upon in discussion of controversies, and their contribution to the construction of the subjects under discussion.     

LEARNING LESSONS ABOUT DIVERSITY: FIELD EXPERIENCES IN THE PREPARATION OF TEACHERS

Abstract

This article describes one way in which teacher educators can gain a new perspective on integrating theory and practice. By accompanying teachers and student teachers on field trips, teacher educators have the opportunity to enhance their understanding of the day‐to‐day life of a classroom teacher and become a part of the school community.

Participating in a field trip offers a chance to observe classroom management strategies; engage in informal interactions with children, teachers, and parents; develop trust among classroom practitioners; witness emergent curriculum; and participate in authentic assessment.

The author documents a visit to the zoo with kindergarten students, teachers, student teachers, and parents from an urban school and how the visit impacted on her working relationship with cooperating teachers, student teachers, and kindergartners.     

Review Essay

Abstract

Teachers and university professors hold strong, and often different, views on school subjects and academic disciplines. This paper explores the meanings of subjects and disciplines for teachers and university professors who have different subject or disciplinary affiliations as these emerge within discussions about curriculum in a professional development context. It describes a group of university professors and secondary school teachers who met to discuss new developments in research in the humanities and social sciences and their impact on school curriculum. The professors brought their expertise in their academic disciplines and their teaching experience to the conversations. Teachers brought their varied disciplinary knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge and a deep understanding of schools. They perceived their primary goal as making ‘translations’ and ‘transformations’ between university and school. There were many bridges to cross within these complex and multi‐layered conversations. The possibility of bridges was enhanced by sharing common experiences in dealing with dilemmas of teaching. However, it demonstrated the importance of exposing the key structures and arguments of the disciplines as a first step in building bridges among subject communities and between universities and schools.     

Fast Kids,Slow Kids,Lazy Kids: Framing the Mismatch Problem in Mathematics Teachers' Conversations

Abstract

This article examines the social nature of teachers' conceptions by showing how teachers frame the “mismatch” of students' perceived abilities and the intended school curriculum through conversational category systems. This study compares the conversations of 2 groups of high school mathematics teachers addressing the Mismatch Problem when implementing equity-geared reforms. Although East High teachers challenged conceptions that were not aligned with a reform, South High teachers reworked a reform mandate to align with their existing conceptions. This research found that the teachers' conversational category systems modeled problems of practice; communicated assumptions about students, subject, and teaching; and were ultimately reflected in the curriculum. Because East High teachers supported greater numbers of students' success in advanced mathematics, this study considers the relation between teachers' understandings of student learning and the success of equity-geared math reforms. In addition, this study contributes to the understanding of how teacher conceptions of students are negotiated and reified in context, specifically through interactions with colleagues and experiences with school reform.     

‘Challenge and support’: the role of the critical friend in continuing professional development

Abstract

In this paper, the writer, a senior teacher in a comprehensive school, describes his role as a critical friend to two teachers who were undertaking self‐initiated action research projects as part of a school‐based, award‐bearing curriculum development scheme offered in conjunction with the local higher education institute (HEI). He concludes that such a relationship, in providing both challenge and support for colleagues who are attempting to improve practice, is a powerful vehicle for the professional development of teachers and has a positive impact on whole‐school development.     

A Journey from STEM to STEAM: A Middle School Case Study

ABSTRACT

This article examines the initial journey of a middle school in South Carolina from a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) curriculum to a STEAM (STEM + art) curriculum. This is the first of a three-year longitudinal study that investigated the perceptions of the effectiveness, relative importance, and sustainability of a STEAM curriculum in which the arts animated learning on a daily basis for both teachers and administrators during the first year of implementation beginning in the fall 2014. The article also investigates the response that the faculty of a STEM-oriented middle school had to the induction of STEAM curriculum training.     

Principal's Management Style and Patterns of Teacher Implementation Across Multiple Innovations

ABSTRACT

Traditional studies of educational change fail to explain how principals and teachers deal with change in curriculum and instruction on an ongoing basis. This study investigated the management and implementation of multiple innovations in curriculum and instruction over a two year period in two elementary schools. The study provides empirical support for theories which hold that principal's management style tends to be stable across multiple changes. The study also reveals that the innovation adoption and implementation behaviours of teachers in an elementary school can be patterned across multiple changes. Recurrent levels of use, outcomes and patterns of interaction between innovations were found across innovations in each school. These differences were consistent with the different management styles of the two principals.     

Community,culture and identity: geography,the National Curriculum and Wales

ABSTRACT

The 1988 Education Reform Act legislated for a National Curriculum not for one nation but for two, Wales and England. This article reviews the way in which attempts to develop a distinctive curriculum in Wales for one subject, geography, were thwarted by the dominance among key policy‐makers in England of views about the study of place which were unsympathetic to the idea of the school curriculum being a vehicle for the development of a sense of community and national identity. Drawing on evidence from a survey of secondary school geography teachers in Wales, it considers the extent to which the teaching of geography is seen by teachers as a means of achieving such educational goals.     

Needed: Citizen Conservationists

Abstract

The author reports the results of a seminar with Russian secondary school teachers that explored the integration of English as a foreign language (EFL) competencies with environmental studies. Texts were selected for a comparative American and Russian environmental literature curriculum for advanced students of English, which inspired the Antaeus Project, an international collaboration between schools that offers a cross-cultural curriculum grounded in local environments.