Curriculum contextualization: A comparative analysis of meanings expressed in Portuguese and English school evaluation

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of how the concept of curriculum contextualization (CC) takes place in schools’ external evaluations in Portugal and England. The relevance of this study lies upon two assumptions: (1) CC promotes the adequacy of a national curriculum to real-life situations; (2) the procedures used to evaluate schools influence curriculum development. The analysis is based on CC as defined through a literature review. We conclude that CC is being taken into account, in the guidelines used to evaluate schools in both countries, and that the main foci are the “student” and the “pedagogical practice”. “Local” is another relevant contextualization focus. Therefore we can conclude that school work is influenced by external evaluation processes in a CC perspective.