Curriculum development and teacher education in New Zealand

When the National English Syllabus Committee (New Zealand) was established in 1970 to revise the existing English syllabus for the first three years of secondary school, it sought to evolve a model of curriculum development which was process oriented.

This article describes the bases of the teaching guidelines and the extensive and complex teacher‐education programme which accompanied the evolution of the project. It describes an attempt to alter teachers' ideas about what to teach in English, as mother tongue, how to teach it and within what administrative structures it could best be taught.     

Creative Potential within Policy: An Analysis of the 2013 English Literature Curriculum

This article takes as its focus Lefebvre's trialectic of conceived, perceived and lived spaces as a lens through which to scrutinise the 2013 English Literature Curriculum, and to explore the extent to which creative spaces might exist within that curriculum. The article analyses how the curriculum is envisaged by policymakers and how it might be expected to be translated into practice, utilising the wording of the policy document to facilitate an exploration of what its underlying intentions might be. The author's experience of teaching a poem from the new curriculum is used in order to provide illustrative examples of the ways in which teachers’ and learners’ experiences of the curriculum might, in practice, diverge from the direction envisaged by policymakers as teachers negotiate creative spaces within their classrooms.     

A Tale of Two Conferences: L.A.T.E., Two Key Moments in the Development of ‘London' English and the Questions that Still Need Asking

Current and recent policy around curriculum and pedagogy for English in England has seen a lack of principled thinking about what the subject should be and how it should best serve the needs of children. In postwar England, in London in particular, teachers and academics working within the London Association for the Teaching of English (L.A.T.E.) were engaged in just such principled thinking, driven by the need to formulate a ‘new' English in the context of a changing school landscape and a changing school population. Central to L.A.T.E.'s work was the focus on the child, and the need to devise a model of the subject that was, at its core, responsive to the experience, interests and language of students. Given the direction central policy around English has taken in the past 20 years, this article considers the importance of reevaluating L.A.T.E.'s work, and considers two key conferences in the history of the Association as important watershed moments in the development of these aspects of ‘London' English. In doing so, it argues that the questions for which L.A.T.E. members sought answers are precisely those that should be asked today, but that seem to be absent from policymakers' debates about English.     

Hallway Conferencing: Achieving Teacher Buy-In to the Writing Center

Technology education, not to be confused with educational technology, has an “official curriculum.” This article explores this “official curriculum” and answers the following questions; what are the goals of technology education, what should technology education look like in classrooms, and why technology education is important. This article provides a primer on technology education that would be helpful to educational professionals interested in helping students become more technological literate.     

School curriculum in South Africa in the Covid-19 context: An opportunity for education for relevance

The pandemic nature of the Covid-19 virus and the infectious potential that this virus has for the global population demands a radical response. This article focuses on school education within the context of Covid-19 and asks a fundamental curriculum question around what knowledge is most worthwhile for school education in response to this disease. Schools within South Africa have been closed for an extended period and, within the guidelines for dealing with this infectious disease, social distancing has become a key component in determining how and when schools should reopen. This uncertainty has led to speculations, suggestions, proposals and tentative plans for a school recovery plan to save the integrity of the academic year. The article reviews some of the suggestions, proposals, and plans, which illuminate a technical concern of curriculum coverage rather than a curriculum concern of what learning should be pursued post the lockdown period. It also argues that, going forward, a review of the purpose of school is needed. If learning is the bedrock for determining a school curriculum, it should of necessity be relevant and responsive to the issues and challenges of the country within a global world.

     

Service learning: preparing teachers to understand better culturally and linguistically diverse learners

Almost a decade ago, the new subject of citizenship was created in the English National Curriculum and several universities were funded to train teachers in this new subject. This presented a rare challenge, namely how to train people to teach a subject that did not exist in schools, and in which they were unlikely to have a specialist degree. In this article we have taken the opportunity afforded by the tenth birthday of the report in which Crick recommended this curriculum reform to reflect on that experience from the perspective of teacher educators. Through reflecting on the case study of citizenship education in England we highlight several themes that are of more general interest to teacher educators. The key issues that have emerged in this case study relate to the general problems of translating central policy into classroom practice; the nature and aims of subjects in the curriculum; and the identities of teachers in secondary schools. The article illustrates how teacher educators responded to the formidable challenge of creating (or at least contributing to) a new subject and a subject community.     

The Status of Literature: English teaching and the condition of literature teaching in schools

Although the curriculum subject of English is continually reviewed and revised in all English speaking countries, the status of literature is rarely questioned: i.e. that it is of high cultural value and all students should be taught about it. The concerns of any review, in any country, are typically about what counts as literature, especially in terms of national heritage, and then how much of the curriculum it should occupy. This paper reports on three inter‐related pieces of research that examine the views of in‐service and pre‐service English teachers about their experiences of teaching literature and their perceptions of its ‘status’ and significance, both at official level and in the classroom; it draws attention to how England compares with some other English‐speaking countries and to the need to learn from the negative outcomes of political policy in England. The findings suggest that the nature of engagement with literature for teachers and their students has been distorted by official rhetorics and assessment regimes and that English teachers are deeply concerned to reverse this pattern.     

Long-term Consequences of Curriculum Choices with Particular Reference to Mathematics and Science

If what is taught is important but how well it is taught has only a trivial impact, then much of the work on 'school effectiveness' may be studying short term effects which quickly disappear from the system and have no long term consequences. If such were the case, then school effectiveness researchers would need to give greater consideration to what is studied, rather than simply how well it is studied. The influence of schools on curriculum choices may be more important than their influence on relative performance or "value added". In the UK 'A' levels represent a useful point at which to look at the impact of curriculum choice since students typically have to choose to study only two or three subjects for the final 2 years of secondary school. The choices are made at the age of 16 with little evidence available regarding the long term consequences. This article presents an exploration of the consequences of taking or not taking 'A' level mathematics. Evidence was available from a 5 year follow-up study of students who took 'A' levels in 1988. There were substantial differences between institutions in the extent to which students were attracted into mathematics, that is in the "Pulling Power" of mathematics departments. Focusing on students who appeared sufficiently able to have taken mathematics at A-level it was found that those who did and who were in high "Pulling Power" institutions, reported, 5 years later, a higher quality of life and a higher expectation for salaries than similarly able students who had been in institutions with low "Pulling Power" for mathematics and who had taken English at A-level.     

More than canons: teacher knowledge and the literary domain of the secondary English curriculum

Background:?The matter of teacher knowledge in the curriculum subject of English is not simple. Certainly it is not easy to delineate what its ‘content knowledge’ should be and how this relates to other aspects of teacher knowledge. In the context of education policy in England, at a time of change when the nature of the subject and its pedagogy are under scrutiny, the issue acquires heightened relevance from an initial teacher preparation perspective.

Purpose:?This paper sets out to consider the following questions: how do teachers of English acquire their teacher knowledge? What is known about the nuanced process of teacher knowledge development in English? Curriculum content is one element of teacher knowledge, but in the literary domain of English it does not suffice to specify what and how much should be read. The questions are discussed from the perspective of the knowledge development of postgraduate English teachers during initial teacher preparation.

Sources of evidence:?Literature concerning the development of teacher knowledge and expertise both generally and in the curriculum subject of English is critically discussed. Within the literature, the notion of the mentor–novice dialogue is identified as an important way of developing teacher knowledge. Alongside the literature, three illustrative mentor accounts are presented, drawn from the experience of postgraduate students learning to teach English to secondary school pupils.

Main argument:?The mentor accounts suggest that the boundaries of English are not easily demarcated. They indicate that the knowledge developed is other than the ‘content’ knowledge that might be acquired through initial degree studies. It is argued that teacher education demands a conception of teaching that takes full account of this knowledge development. At the same time, specific dispositions that do not automatically follow from prior academic attainment appear to be relevant. It is suggested that how these are cultivated, and how they are distinctive to the subject discipline are important questions for initial teacher preparation.

Conclusions:?Whatever the new contexts for initial teacher preparation, understanding how teachers acquire and apply ‘teacherly’ knowledge deserves as much attention as the content of a subject or the prior attainment of entrants to the profession. Initial teacher preparation arrangements need to acknowledge the complexity of learning to teach English as a curriculum subject. Learning to teach is a nuanced process, requiring engagement with a dedicated pedagogical content knowledge. In literary English teaching, this comprises attention to micro and macro aspects concurrently, for example through attention to individual texts concurrent with consideration of conceptions of readers and reading.     

Universities and a Human Development Ethics: a capabilities approach to curriculum

This article takes up the challenge of curriculum change in relation to the contested purposes of universities. It argues for an expansive, public good understanding, rather than the thin market exchange norms which currently drive higher education policies. The paper suggests that a human capital approach to curriculum is then insufficient to capture the full range and potential of a university curriculum. Instead, an approach to curriculum based on human development and capabilities formation is advanced as offering a richer perspective on what it means to be human and hence on the kinds of graduates universities should educate. Some implications for teaching, learning and assessment are outlined and a framework to design and operationalise a human development approach to curriculum is proposed.     

Literary English and the Challenge of Multimodality

How to understand and argue for the nature and place of literary texts and experience in contemporary English curriculum has been and continues to be the subject of much debate. While literature as traditionally conceptualised remains an important presence in much English curriculum, the notion of what ‘literature’ is, or what the category of ‘literary’ texts and cultural forms might encompass, in a context where literacy is understood as multimodal and English and literacy curriculum addresses multimodal literacies accordingly, is less clear. This paper addresses two areas with respect to literature and literature teaching in the digital age: first, issues surrounding the ways in which national curriculum guidelines in England and Australia envisage the teaching of literature, in principle and in practice; and second, the challenges presented to print-based conceptions of literature and literature teaching within English by significantly broader conceptualisations of literature encompassing a range of aesthetic multimodal texts and forms. The kinds of insights, experience and understandings generated through the study and creation of literary and aesthetic texts in English, it is argued, are now needed more than ever. However, as literary experience becomes increasingly transmodal, how English seeks to manage media shift to encompass both print and digital forms remains a challenging issue.     

Curriculum as motivation for gifted students

Curriculum is the framework around which much of students' school experience is structured; it represents expectations for growth and learning and demonstrates what is valued within the learning environment. The degree to which curriculum is motivating for gifted students depends in part on the individual student and how his or her goals and values align with those in the environment. This article explores the interplay between the school curriculum and the motivations of gifted students to engage with it. Key concepts include achievement goal orientation, challenge and meaningfulness in the curriculum, and boredom and interest, with attention to the interplay among all of these concepts. A summary of recommendations regarding appropriate curriculum for advanced learners is provided. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

论新课改环境下英语师范生说课能力的培养

简述说课的理论与实践,分析新课改下英语说课自身的特点、内容和意义,比较说课与上课、说课稿与一般教案的异同,并举例说明英语说课稿的写法。同时,指出英语师范教育要增设有关说课的课程,构建合理的教学技能训练模式,提出英语说课应注意的问题。     

All the Nines: Creativity in English Curricula in England in 1919, 1989 and 2019 as a Reflection of Britain’s Place in Europe

ABSTRACT

Just after the First World War the English Association published The Teaching of English in Schools. It argues that developing children’s ‘creative spirit’ is fundamental to maintaining peace in Europe. Seventy years later, the first National Curriculum promotes a creative, unitary English appropriate for ‘a European context’.

In contrast, today’s national curriculum contains no reference to the role of English in international relations; simultaneously, all references to creativity have disappeared.

As Britain struggles to cope with the fallout from Brexit, this paper – written from a hermeneutic perspective – discusses the correlation between how each of the three documents positions English in an international context and how they value creativity. Without wishing to over–simplify complex issues, it questions how to what extent a curriculum might echo or shape national politics. It calls for a new curriculum that embraces a creative, internationalist view of English to inspire communities of the future.     

新型校本大学英语课程的再构建

随着大学英语课程改革的不断推进,课程的设置也会随着每所高校的实际情况而不同。构建适合于本校的校本英语课程随即成为很多教师考虑的问题。在英国,对于外国留学生而言,也有大学英语课程的学习。在倡导学生进行自主学习的今天,了解国外的大学英语课程设置对于大学英语课程教学改革有着很重要的意义。他们的课程设置总体上是突出让学生自己去学习英语,培养学生的学习能力,而并非教师告诉学生该学些什么内容。另外,自主学习体系里的语言指导也是只能在学生主动学习的情况下才有可能发生。借鉴其合理的教学设置,依据本校学生的学习特点,才能引导学生在进行英语学习方面创造出我们自己的大学英语课程设置。     

The art of self-making: identity and citizenship education in late-modernity

Taking the English National Curriculum as its main example, this article argues that an overly nationalistic, normative and ‘fact-based’ citizenship education curriculum is failing to engage the dimensions of young people’s identities which they experience as deeply meaningful. There is thus a chasm – albeit a false one – between official discourses and pedagogies of citizenship and what young people consider to be their ‘real’ selves. I argue that citizenship education must develop a more sophisticated understanding of the complexities of how identities are formed and performed, especially in light of globalisation and increasing migration. I also make a somewhat unorthodox argument for conceptualising ‘relating-to-otherness’ in the same way that we think of music consumption. This has implications for how we experience, interpret, value and create ‘others’. The article also makes some recommendations for how these ideas can begin to be implemented in educational settings.     

Politics in an Indian canyon? Some thoughts on the implications of ethnomathematics

Working with Navajo Indian informants in Arizona, USA we became aware of the capabilities of children and adults to find their way in vast and clearly “chaotic” canyons. One thing we did was describe what people actually did and said about their ways to find the way back home in such contexts. A second one was to use these data in order to build a curriculum book for a bicultural school on the Navajo reservation. We start from this example to ask what the political choices are, which we confront when working with such material: how much mathematics (or is it Mathematics) is needed in daily life? And what mathematics should we promote or develop, without becoming colonialist again? In Section 2, we discuss the meaning and the status of ethnomathematics, proposing that it would be the generic category which allows for a more systematic and comparative study of the whole domain of mathematical practices. In Section 3, we introduce the concept of multimathemacy (after multiliteracy) to discuss the political agenda of ethnomathematics. We argue that multimathemacy should be the basis of the curriculum in order to guarantee optimal survival value for every learner.     

Making Phonics Work: its Role within Literacy Acceleration

Few people would challenge the need for children to be systematically taught the phoneme-grapheme correspondences of English as part of their acquisition of literacy – that is, to be taught some phonics. The issue is not whether, but how phonics should be taught. Tony Lingard here makes an excellent case for an approach which stresses analogy and embeds phonics work within a balanced literacy programme.     

Changing the English Classroom: When Large-scale ‘Common’ Testing Meets Secondary Curriculum and Instruction in the United States

This article explores the intersection of new, large-scale standards-based testing, teacher accountability policy, and secondary curriculum and instruction in the United States. Two federally funded consortia – the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium and the Partnership for Readiness of College and Careers – prove focal to this paper, as these two organisations are creating new tests that will assess 42–49% of the K–12 student population in the United States in 2014–2015. Because greater teacher accountability for student performance will be given for these tests, there is more reason to pay attention to what these tests measure and what they do not. Our analysis suggests that these new tests will hold secondary English teachers accountable for literacy and disciplinary knowledge outside the field of English and thus raise important questions about what English teachers should, can and will do, especially when their jobs are on the line.