Teacher mediation of curriculum making: the role of reflexivity

This research explores curriculum making by teachers and offers a nuanced way of understanding these practices through the concept of reflexivity. The study draws from a collective case study of teachers in an online focus group, in order to identify and analyse diverse thinking on the curriculum making by teachers from Scotland and Wales. A WordPress® page was set up to generate both synchronous and asynchronous discussions over a period of five weeks to discuss curricular issues. Six teachers from Scotland and three teachers from Wales participated in the discussions. Data collection tools comprised iteratively designed interview questions and an Internal Conversation Indicator (ICONI), for indicating participants’ dominant mode of reflexivity. Data were analysed thematically, drawing from Margaret Archer’s theoretical constructs relating to reflexivity and internal conversation. Data analysis suggests that reflexivity provides a useful lens for understanding teachers’ particular approaches to curriculum making. The research suggests that curriculum making practices can be understood, at least partially, in relation to different modes of reflexivity. Further research is needed to substantiate these arguments and provide a richer picture of curriculum making.     

Immigrant pupils in elementary classrooms of Cyprus: how teachers view them as learners of mathematics

Research in diverse mathematics classrooms suggests that pupils’ learning is influenced by both linguistic and cultural factors. In recent years, the demographics of Cypriot (mathematics) classrooms have become very diverse. In 2003, the Ministry of Education and Culture introduced the Zones of Educational Priorities, a UNESCO strategy for positive discrimination, to support schools with high proportions of immigrant pupils. This paper examines how elementary teachers in such schools see their immigrant pupils as learners of mathematics. The findings confirm two main factors identified in the literature (language and culture), yet the Cypriot teachers in this study share some particular views on how these features impact mathematics learning. Some recommendations for policy-making and future research are discussed at the end of this paper.     

Let the context become your ally: school principalship in two cases from low performing schools in Cyprus

Context has a considerable effect on the role and responsibilities of school principals. The aim of this paper is to provide a holistic perspective of the effects of school principals’ involvement in two low performing schools with different contexts. A qualitative research approach was employed, with individual and focus groups interviews under a multi-actor perspective. Our results suggest that school leaders differ in the way they relate to the inner and outer environment of the school. We suggest that they have to acquire new skills that address entrepreneurial as well as pedagogical tasks, thus exercising edupreneurial leadership.     

The professional role and identity of teachers in the private and state education sectors

Abstract

This paper compares the professional role and identity of teachers in private and state schools. It brings together theory within the sociology of the professions and approaches influenced by Basil Bernstein. It utilises his work on recontextualisation to identify the nature of teachers’ professional role; and Beck and Young’s (2010) Bernstein-influenced analytical framework to understand changes in these teachers’ professional identity. Drawing on focussed qualitative research the study shows how, within private schools, when cloistered from the Official Recontextualising Field (ORF) an idealized account of teachers’ professional work flourishes. This idealized understanding of occupational professionalism is contingent on the ‘othering’ of the state sector: to do this private-school teachers adopt a deprofessionalization discourse which represents the state teacher as a passive receiver of the ORF. In contrast, state teachers foreground their agency to negotiate competing professional logics which they express through hybrid approaches to professional practice.     

Policy implementation within the frame of school-based curriculum: a comparison of public school and Islamic private school teachers in East Java,Indonesia

This paper describes research on how curriculum reform provides novel conditions for influencing teacher professionalism. It draws on Bernstein’s theories of the ‘classification and framing’ of curriculum and theories of teacher professionalism to investigate the impact of curriculum reform on teacher professionalism. The research was conducted in Indonesia during the implementation of a school-based curriculum that grants teachers greater autonomy to develop curricula appropriate to their context. A second concurrent reform introduced a character education policy that requires all teachers to address a specific set of values in all classes. Teachers working in public and Islamic private secondary schools were interviewed to investigate the degree of professionalism they exercised when implementing these reforms. Although theories of curriculum reform suggest that the higher degree of autonomy offered by a school-based curriculum has the potential to re-professionalise teachers, this study observed different outcomes for teachers in different workforce environments in Indonesia.     

The battle hymn of the activist teacher: Taiwanese school teachers’ resistance to curriculum changes

ABSTRACT

This article challenges the simplistic and reductive image of Taiwanese schoolteachers, and reveals their actions of resistance during the turmoil of the recent curriculum reform controversy. Despite the fact that teachers are not usually portrayed as progressive and revolutionary agents, in the face of the disputed curriculum revision in 2014, some Taiwanese teachers came forward to oppose its implementation through demonstrations, hunger strikes, and litigation. The wider public's attention to this issue and ensuing student movement can be attributed to these teachers’ pioneering activism. By means of interviewing 12 teachers, this article explores activist teachers’ political self-efficacy, the creation of their pressure groups, and their apprehension about fighting against the authorities. The recording of this teacher-initiated social movement demonstrates ‘teachers as activists’, and hopefully will inspire educators not to limit their influence solely to the classroom.     

Examining the immigrant experience: helping teachers develop as critical educators

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine ways that a multicultural perspective using critical literacy practices engaged practicing teachers to rethink and re-vision oppressive hegemonic structures and attitudes regarding immigrant students and their families and helped them to develop as critical educators. In the context of a professional development master’s program, 57 teachers experienced a curriculum strand focused on immigration issues and provided extensive feedback responding to the curriculum. The data were analyzed to assess in what ways using current and controversial issues helped teachers to develop their capacities to understand and critique the world in more complex ways and what impact these experiences had on their teaching practice. Evidence suggests that the majority of teachers were receptive to the curriculum although some teachers exhibited resistance. Resistance appeared to be minimized and teachers’ development supported using curricular experiences that “put a face to the issue,” that put learners “in others’ shoes,” that engaged teachers’ emotions, and that made clear how policies, practices, and attitudes directly and indirectly impact the lives of children and their families.     

小学教师教育模式改革的设想

当前小学教师教育面临基础课程改革和教师教育发展的挑战,高等师范教育和教育管理部门面临重组教育资源、课程设置、教材建设等方面的诸多问题。因此,要通过全面深入地改革创新小学教师培养模式,转变教育观念,优化小学教育专业课程设置,强调教学实践环节,加强教材建设,努力培养适应基础教育改革与教师教育发展需要的优质的小学教师。     

Intercultural dimensions in the (new) curriculum of Cyprus: the way forward

In 2010, the Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC) in Cyprus introduced a ‘new’ national curriculum for all public schools of the Cypriot republic. The overarching purpose of this study is to examine how the ongoing educational reform in Cyprus could set a different ideological framework, within which intercultural education may be developed and implemented. To this end, it provides a number of important insights into the intercultural dimension of the ‘new’ national curriculum by exploring the formal and the ideological levels of the curriculum. More specifically, it indicates the ways in which the ideological curriculum has been formed by the complex and often counteractive discourses of monoculturalism, multiculturalism and interculturalism due to the socio-historical context of Cyprus. The conclusions of this study assert that further research should be conducted to examine the implications pertaining to teachers’ practice and student learning with regard to intercultural education.     

中学教师追求生命幸福的重要条件

当前的中学教师群体普遍处于亚健康状态、存在着职业倦怠。教师的生存状况需要改善,这是保障基础教育质量的必要条件;而且,教师作为与学生具有同样意义的"人"的存在,其生命幸福理应受到同样的关照。教师对生命幸福的追求,需要教师主体对教育事业的热忱信念、精湛的专业素养;也需要社会、学校为教师提供必要的环境、资源,这是当代教育发展的需要,也是教育为使人、人类社会变得更加美好的理性表征。     

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.     

Curriculum change in Uganda: Teacher perspectives on the new thematic curriculum

Based on a fieldwork study, this article seeks to investigate the implementation of ‘thematic curriculum’ in Uganda from the perspectives of teachers. The article shows that although the majority of teachers are enthusiastic about the new curriculum, their implementation efforts are constrained by a multitude of challenges. The findings raise questions with regard to the appropriateness of the new curriculum initiative to the structural realities of Ugandan classrooms, and calls for increased attention to the implementation process.     

Beyond empty vessels and bridges: toward defining teachers as the agents of school change

One of the greatest challenges facing education systems is implementing the changes that make schools, and therefore, nations, internationally competitive. The resistance to change, the possibilities of change, and the roles the many and various stakeholders play in leading change have been noted by scholars on the topic of change in school. While their viewpoints may vary, one point of agreement among these authors is that change is the only constant, but stories of entrenchment and resistance remain a dominant narrative. In this article, we seek to disrupt the traditional views of school reform by redefining the roles teachers can play in school change.     

Turning heads: The impact of political reform on the professional role,identity and recruitment of head teachers in Wales

This article considers the professional work, identity and recruitment of head teachers (HTs) in Wales. Drawing on the sociology of professions, the article illustrates how intensive educational policy reform post‐2011 has restricted HTs’ professional agency and re‐orientated the head teacher role towards organisational professionalism. Drawing on semi‐structured interviews (n=30) with both head and deputy head teachers, the article argues that issues with the recruitment and retention of HTs in Wales can, in part, be explained by the promotion of managerial and technicist approaches to professional practice. This role reconfiguration is the result of myriad and, at times, overlapping accountability mechanisms. The article illustrates how these changes to HT professional roles and identity are more intense within a small education system where HTs had, traditionally, enjoyed an elite professional status. To ameliorate these issues, the article proposes policy initiatives which the Welsh Government could introduce to foster the agency of HTs within a revised professional framework for educational leadership in Wales.     

Classroom-level curriculum development: EFL teachers as curriculum-developers,curriculum-makers and curriculum-transmitters

This qualitative study aimed to explore teacher curriculum approaches and the strategies attached to each approach because they influence the taught curriculum, teacher development and student learning. The study was therefore grounded in teacher curriculum development, curriculum implementation, teacher development, student cognitive and affective change and constructivism. To address this study's qualitative and exploratory purposes, it made use of the qualitative paradigm at the levels of ontology (multiple curriculum realities), epistemology (interaction with rather than detachment from respondents) and methodology (using idiographic methodology and instruments). In line with the qualitative paradigm, it used qualitative case-study (method), general interviews, pre/post-lesson interviews, group interviews and participant observation (data collection methods) in addition to grounded theory (data analysis approach) to meet the research purposes. Working with English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers and mixed-nationality college students, the study reached a teacher curriculum approach classification comprising curriculum-transmission, curriculum-development and curriculum-making. It recommended alternatives for teacher, student and curriculum development, curriculum implementation and teacher training.     

Teachers as change agents in making teaching inclusive in some selected rural schools of Limpopo Province,South Africa: implications for teacher education

ABSTRACT

This paper reports on teachers as change agents to implement inclusive education in some rural secondary schools in South Africa. The study followed a qualitative case study research methodology. Eight teachers were recruited to form part of the study through a purposive sampling strategy. Data were collected through interviews, observations and document analysis. The study found that: (a) teachers were resilient in the face of lack of resources to implement inclusive education, (b) teachers did their best despite lack of capacity to implement inclusive education, (c) teachers showed the willingness to effect change, and (d) when they collaborated with others, they achieved more. These findings have at least four implications for teacher education: One that institutions should train teachers to survive with meagre resources. Two, professional development initiatives should be planned to capacitate teachers on inclusive education. Three, teacher education institutions should develop programmes that include models of teacher agency such as the one displayed by these teachers. Four, teacher education should develop programmes that teach teachers how to collaborate with parents and other stakeholders to make inclusive education possible.     

University science students as curriculum planners,teachers, and role models in elementary school classrooms

Project SEARCH (Science Education and Research for CHildren) is an outreach program designed to teach science and to foster positive attitudes toward science. Through the project, university science students bring activity-based learning, plus materials and content expertise, to local classrooms and after-school programs. Using observations, surveys, and interviews, we examined the experiences of these students as curriculum planners, teachers, and role models for the children. We found that teachers value the enthusiasm and the resources provided by the SEARCH students. Children were engaged in the activities and looked forward to the students' visits. They also see them as positive and diverse models for the role of scientist. But there were often problems in the areas of preparation, scheduling, and communication, and the classroom activities often replicated traditional didactic lessons. The SEARCH experience highlights both the value of providing diverse and challenging experiences for children, and the need for dialogue and reflection on those experiences. Despite several concerns, the SEARCH model is one that deserves expansion and further study as it is extended into new settings. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 34 : 69–88, 1997.     

Individual and collective agencies in China's curriculum reform: A case of physics teachers

This study explores how physics teachers in a high school negotiate the relationships between individual and collective agencies in the context of the on-going curriculum reform in China. Drawing on Bandura's social cognitive theory, the study employs ethnographical methods including observation, interviewing, and the researcher's and teachers’ reflective journaling through the researcher's involvement with various school activities. The findings indicate that collective teacher agency creates a platform for individual teachers’ professional development, a conducive culture for teacher collaboration, and provides concrete examples that individual teachers can constantly refer to, reflect upon, and learn from for reform implementation. The results offer an understanding of the influences underlying physics teachers’ agency deployment as they engage with curriculum reform processes, especially the negotiation between individual and collective agencies. The findings justify a case for preparing physics teachers on how to deploy both individual and collective agencies in the face of the complicated social structures and ultimately shed light on the desired curriculum decentralization in the Chinese school system.