Testing Times for the Implementation of Curriculum Change

Judy Smeed,Tracy Corsbie,Julie Nickerson,Terri Bourke

doi:10.1177/2158244015581018

Judy Smeed, Tracy Corsbie + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244015581018

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Abstract

School curriculum change processes have traditionally been managed internally. However, in Queensland, Australia, as a response to the current high-stakes accountability regime, more and more principals are outsourcing this work to external change agents (ECAs). In 2009, one of the authors (a university lecturer and ECA) developed a curriculum change model (the Controlled Rapid Approach to Curriculum Change [CRACC]), specifically outlining the involvement of an ECA in the initiation phase of a school’s curriculum change process. The purpose of this article is to extend the CRACC model by unpacking the implementation phase, drawing on data from a pilot study of a single school. Interview responses revealed that during the implementation phase, teachers wanted to be kept informed of the wider educational context, use data to constantly track students, relate pedagogical practices to testing practices, share information between departments and professional levels, and own whole school performance. It is suggested that the findings would be transferable to other school settings and internal leadership of curriculum change. The article also strikes a chord of concern: Do the responses from teachers operating under thecurrent accountability regime live their professional lives within this corporate and globalized ideology whether they want to or not?

Highlights

Over the last decade, many nations have tied their educational systems to funding to establish a degree of accountability for invested public money (Lingard & McGregor, 2013)
A qualitative case study approach was chosen for this study to answer the following question: What essential practices are needed for the implementation phase of a curriculum change process in times of high-stakes accountability? According to Freebody (2003), “case studies focus on one particular instance of educational experience and attempt to gain theoretical and professional insights from a full documentation of that instance” (p. 81)
Five themes revealing the practices of the implementation phase emerged from the analyzed data

Summary

Introduction

Many nations have tied their educational systems to funding to establish a degree of accountability for invested public money (Lingard & McGregor, 2013). In addition to justifying government funding allocations, national high-stakes test data are used to compare schools’ and states’ educational performance. This has put pressure on schools to produce publicly acceptable test data

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