Current National Curriculum Research Articles

Assessing Listening Comprehension at the Secondary Level in Bangladesh: Challenges and Possible Measures

The current National Curriculum 2012 of Bangladesh recommends all four skills of English language education to be assessed in school and public exams. In the curriculum, there is a suggestion to evaluate the listening abilities of students through a formative assessment throughout the year at schools. The marks of the listening assessment need to be counted with the other three skills while grading students’ English language papers for the secondary level in the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examination. However, the existing exam evaluates only reading and writing tasks. Although various attempts are underway to reform the current language assessment procedure by including listening and speaking skills, nothing has come out in concreate so far. With this article, I provide expert insights into the challenges of listening assessment with the goal of helping policymakers and the secondary school teachers. In-depth interviews with policymakers and secondary school teachers and (n=16) are qualitatively analysed to gain reflection into the existing challenges to assess listening and how to make the assessment procedures. The findings and discussion of the article propose a conceptual framework that can be helpful for the teachers and policymakers to deal with the challenges.

Teachers’ perspective on implementation of menstrual hygiene management and puberty education in a pilot study in Bangladeshi schools

ABSTRACT Objective To assess the perspectives of Bangladeshi teachers on the feasibility of delivery and potential for long-term sustainability of puberty and menstruation education in urban and rural schools. Method We developed a multi-module puberty and menstrual hygiene management education curriculum that teachers piloted for six months in four urban and rural government and private schools in Bangladesh. We conducted monthly assessments during piloting, discussion for manual revision and four group discussions with 20 participating teachers to understand perceived benefits, barriers, and sustainability of puberty and menstruation education among school children. Results Teachers acknowledged the importance of school-based puberty and menstruation education to improve students’ perception and preparedness. They found that the training and instructors’ manual they received were useful tools for effectively communicating with students. Teachers noted school and community pressure to de-emphasize educational content not included on nationally standardized examinations, and insufficient time and pre-service training for teaching sensitive topics served as barriers to implementing the pilot curriculum. Conclusion Pressure from school authorities and community may hinder the successful long-term delivery of school-based puberty and menstruation education programs that are external to the national curriculum. Our findings indicate that feasibly and sustainably improving education on these topics in Bangladeshi classrooms should be achieved through 1) revision of the current national curriculum to incorporate more comprehensive puberty and menstruation information including its physiology, management, and social context, 2) adequate training and support for teachers to deliver the content, and 3) incorporation of puberty and menstruation content into students’ national examinations which may better ensure teachers are given the tools and opportunity to prioritize teaching this content.

Possibilities of Applying the Thematic Contents of Environmental Education in Ethical Education in Slovakia

The text deals with the possibilities of the utilisation of cross-curricular themed Environmental education in the school subject, “Ethical education in Slovakia”, especially in lower secondary education. The text partly stems from work on the project APVV-14-0176 “Didactic Means Facilitating the Implementation of Selected Cross-Curricular Topics in the Teaching of Ethical Education at the Second Level of Primary School”, and offers a brief overview on how the topics of ethical education may overlap with environmental education. To achieve this goal, the first part of the text briefly characterises ethical education in Slovakia, and introduces its key figures and principles, as well as the elements of environmental education in ethical education, and a brief summary of the content of the cross-curricular topic, “Environmental Education in the Current National Curriculum” follow. The suggestions for implementation of environmental education in ethical education in Slovakia, form the last part of the paper, where the author also describes some problem areas of the subjects. The author concludes that it is also possible to apply environmental themes in current ethical education; however, it requires some creativity, critical thinking, suitable teaching materials, and competent, dedicated teachers.

Dialogue, Worldview Inclusivity, and Intra-Religious Diversity: Addressing Diversity through Religious Education in the Finnish Basic Education Curriculum

The purpose of this article is to discuss how religious and non-religious diversity are addressed in the current national core curriculum for religious education (RE) in basic education in Finland. We first discuss the educational developments behind the Finnish curricular reform, and then focus on issues related to RE and RE research in Finland. We then describe the key contextual contributors to the current RE curriculum in basic education before proceeding to examine how diversity is addressed in the curriculum. Based on our examination, we identify four themes in the curriculum: inter-religious diversity, religious and non-religious worldviews, cultural diversity, and dialogue skills. In RE, diversity is largely addressed within a framework of religion and multiculturality. The article ends with a call for renewal of research foci in RE.

‘What is this curriculum doing to my subject?’ Using geographical questions to interpret the CAPS curriculum

An important aspect of preparing pre-service teachers is to develop their understanding of what constitutes meaningful learning in the study of Geography. This understanding is necessary for prospective and practising Social Science and Geography teachers to interpret existing and changing curricula as thinking professionals. This paper argues that there are several organising concepts that make classroom learning geographical in nature. These are place, spatial distribution, spatial processes, and human-environment interactions. The paper draws on the nature of geographical enquiry to consider what questions could steer classroom learning. This set of questions is then used as a lens to reflect on the way in which the current national curriculum (namely, CAPS) supports (and sometimes constrains) learners’ development of geographical thinking. To teach Geography effectively, Social Science teachers need to identify the central concepts they foreground in their lessons, as well as how to develop geographical thinking around those concepts. I suggest that teachers need to regard themselves first as subject experts, and then as interpreters of curricula, in order to be able to interpret the geographical nature of the content to be taught.

Gendered power alive and kicking? An analysis of four English secondary school PE departments

ABSTRACT Scraton’s [1992. Shaping up to womanhood: Gender and girls’ physical education. Open University Press] ground breaking research highlighted how Physical Education (PE) contributed to the reproduction of gender power relations; more specifically, how three messages around motherhood, sexuality and physicality, reflected through PE’s structures, activities and delivery, contributed to young women’s sense of self. Twenty five years on, this paper explores how contemporary PE reproduces and challenges gender power relations in four English secondary schools. Data were generated from eighty hours of observations of PE lessons, and eight semi-structured interviews with PE teachers. Guided by Hill Collins’ [2000. Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment. Routledge] four domains (structural, disciplinary, hegemonic, interpersonal) underpinning the matrix of domination the findings demonstrate that gender remains a visible organising feature in the structural arrangements of PE. Moreover, teachers’ gendered beliefs and assumptions circulating within the hegemonic domain, and actions in the disciplinary domain, ensure that students embody their gender in appropriate ways. Furthermore, a consistency of practice was evident in teachers’ pedagogy despite differences in the schools’ cohorts. Similar blocks of teaching activities and a performance-based pedagogy failed to include difference. We suggest this is unsurprising and unlikely to change with the current National Curriculum promoting a performative, PE as sport discourse, and teacher training not conducive to developing teachers who can engage with difference and challenge inequalities. As such, PE continues to reinforce gender power relations and gender differences. By drawing upon the matrix, the need for change to occur at different levels and contexts is identified. To this end, teacher training must do better in developing the next generation of teachers who are willing and able to critique the status quo and work with girls to advocate for change. Relatedly, we draw attention to what can be achieved when power is shared through a democratic pedagogy that values girls’ voices and recognises them as co-collaborators in curriculum design.

Bringing deep learning to the surface

Deep learning is a key term in current educational discourses worldwide and used by researchers, policymakers, stakeholders, politicians, organisations and the media with different definitions and, consequently, much confusion about its meaning and usage. This systematic mapping review attempts to reduce this ambiguity by investigating the definitions of deep learning in 71 research publications on primary and secondary education from 1970 to 2018. The results show two conceptualisations of the term deep learning—1) meaningful learning and 2) transfer of learning—both based on cognitive learning perspectives. The term deep learning is used by researchers worldwide and is mainly investigated in the school subjects of science, languages and mathematics with samples of students between 13 and 16 years of age. Deep learning is also a prevalent term in current international education policy and national curriculum reform, thus deeply affecting the practice of teaching and learning in general education. Our review identifies a lack of studies investigating deep learning through perspectives other than cognitive learning theories and suggests that future research should emphasise applying embodied, affective, and social perspectives on learning in the wide array of school subjects, in lower primary education and in a variety of sociocultural contexts, to support the adaptation of deep learning to a general educational practice.

Probabilidade e estatística nos anos iniciais do Ensino Fundamental a partir da BNCC

A demanda social por compreender e interpretar as mais variadas informações que fazem parte do nosso dia a dia tornou imprescindível a inclusão da Probabilidade e Estatística na Educação Básica. O presente artigo tem por objetivo analisar propostas pedagógicas desenvolvidas para o ensino de Probabilidade e Estatística nos anos iniciais do Ensino Fundamental a luz da Base Nacional Comum Curricular - BNCC. O estudo é de natureza qualitativa e de método bibliográfico, no qual foram selecionadas e analisadas três dissertações de mestrado de pesquisadores do Grupo de Trabalho em Educação Estatística - GT12 - da Sociedade Brasileira de Educação Matemática. Os resultados mostram que essas propostas fomentam o espírito investigativo e exercitam a criatividade, a análise crítica e o raciocínio lógico dos alunos. Além disso, proporcionam o desenvolvimento progressivo das habilidades e possibilitam o trabalho articulado com as competências gerais da BNCC.

Álitamál tengd innleiðingu hæfnimiðaðs námsmats í skyldunámi

Rannsóknastofa um námskrár, námsmat og námsskipulag stóð fyrir tveimur málþingum um námskrár og námsmat á vordögum 2019. Gestur fyrra málþingsins var hollenski námskrárfræðingurinn Jan van den Akker og á seinna málþinginu fluttu fimm hérlendir sérfræðingar erindi um innleiðingu nýs námsmatskerfis í skyldunámi. Undanfarin misseri hefur átt sér stað umræða um þetta kerfi eins og það var kynnt í núgildandi aðalnámskrá fyrir skyldunám. Skotið hafa upp kollinum áhugaverð álitamál og spurningar þessu tengdar. Þar má í fyrsta lagi nefna spurninguna um miðlæga samræmingu hæfniviðmiða og mats. Í öðru lagi beinast augu manna að faglegri ábyrgð kennara og um leið vaxandi vinnuálagi þeirra við námsmat sem er samofið námi og kennslu. Í þriðja lagi þarf að gefa nýjum hugtökum gaum og beitingu þeirra eða öllu heldur nýjum orðum yfir kunnugleg hugtök. Í fjórða lagi koma við sögu gamalkunnar hugmyndastefnur í námskrárfræðum og áhrif þeirra á setningu markmiða og hæfniviðmiða. Loks hafa vaknað spurningar um samband leiðsagnarmats og lokamats og aðferðir þar að lútandi. Markmið greinarinnar er að rýna nánar í þessi álitamál með vísan í rannsóknir og kenningar annars vegar og hins vegar erindi þeirra sem töluðu á málþingunum. Meginniðurstaða höfundar er að víðtækt mat á hæfni hljóti að stuðla að auknu réttmæti og þar með sanngjarnara mati öllum til meiri hagsbóta en áður tíðkaðist. Að sama skapi krefst framkvæmd slíks mats aukinnar matsfræðiþekkingar og faglegrar ábyrgðar kennara og stjórnenda. Um leið má þó ljóst vera að viðmið um hæfni og mat í hinu nýja kerfi eru á margan hátt óljós og því auknar líkur á ósamræmi í mati frá einum skóla til annars.

Parents and caregivers knowledge of school readiness for children admitted to Grade R and Grade 1

INTRODUCTION: Children with scholastic difficulties, including failure to adapt to or thrive in formal schooling, are frequently referred to occupational therapists. Assessment of these children indicates that many of them have not attained the essential school-readiness skills. Concerns have been raised that parents/caregivers often only consider school-readiness with respect to age rather than other developmental milestones. Research has found that the parents' or caregivers' understanding and ability to determine their children's development in relation to school-readiness is important if the child is to succeed academically. The purpose of this study was to explore parents' or caregivers' knowledge of school-readiness as per the expectations for formal schooling as defined by the current National Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) and the Independent Schools Association of Southern Africa, (ISASA METHOD: This study used a quantitative, descriptive, cross sectional survey research design. Stratified sampling was used to select a sample of parents or caregivers of children admitted to Grade R and Grade 1 level at schools in the Gauteng Province. A self-report questionnaire, specifically designed from the literature was circulated to parents/caregivers by participating schools RESULTS: There was a 41.2% return rate, but only 180 returned questionnaires could be analysed. The results found that that 57.9% of the participants had the correct expectation of school-readiness in ten learning areas within the questionnaire. Participants viewed school-readiness most correctly in the learning areas of Thinking and reasoning (78.9%) and Motor ability (76.8%), while the learning areas of Activities of daily living (ADL) (48.9%), Reading and viewing (48.2%) and Language structure and use (33.7%) were rated with less accuracy, with both under-estimations and over-estimations reported. The mother's level of education was the single demographic factor found to have significance with respect to knowledge of variables related to school-readiness CONCLUSION: The parents/caregivers in this study had a fair understanding of some of the variables included in school-readiness, but their ability to determine others, including ADL, was limited. Occupational therapists should be cognisant of the curriculum criteria for school-readiness and should play a role in raising awareness of school-readiness criteria among parents and caregivers wherever possible, to prevent scholastic under-achievement due to lack of school-readiness Key words: Awareness of school-readiness, activities of daily living, reading and viewing skills, language structure and use, mother's level of education

Children’s Play The Ecological Story in Function of Ecological Education of Preschool Children

Abstract Today, the importance of ecological education is often highlighted, although the current National Curriculum for Early and Preschool Education doesn’t even mention it. Although ecological education is not mentioned in this baseline document, various activities in this direction are often carried out in our kindergartens. An example of this is the play The Ecological Story by the author Sanja Seferović-Bosak from her collection of plays Maštarije: Igrokazi za djecu od 3 do 13 godina (eng. Pipe Dreams: Plays for Children of 3-13 years). This paper describes the preparation and performance of this play in 2017 in the kindergarten Radost (eng. Joy) in Novska. The theoretical part of the paper considers the basic settings of ecological education in early and preschool age, with special reference to current practice in Croatian kindergartens. The empirical part of the paper describes the stages of preparation and performance of the play The Ecological Story, with special reference to the compliance of this project with the requirements of the National Curriculum in terms of developing key competences for lifelong learning. The paper also contains an analysis of methodological procedures with particular reference to the preparation of musical numbers in the play.

The role of English in the conversation of humankind: humanism and creativity in Newbolt (1921) and the national curriculum (2014)

ABSTRACTThe centenary of the publication of The Teaching of English in England provides an opportunity to consider the current National Curriculum for English in England from a historical perspective. This paper reports on a hermeneutic study that explores the humanist values underpinning Newbolt’s Report and how they shape the creative practice the Report advocates, in relation to the current curriculum. It briefly considers the reasons behind the current creativity- and risk-averse orders and the possible impact on creative classroom practice, concluding that an awareness of the tradition of creativity in English teaching (in particular, through Newbolt) is important to shape future practice. In so doing, it promotes hermeneutics as an approach to educational research.

Game-based learning to teach Higher Order thinking in Rural Schools - Case studies in Sarawak Borneo

his action research utilised game-based learning principles in rural schools in Sarawak. Game design thinking was proposed as a pedagogical approach to guide teachers to address Higher Order thinking skills in subjects they teach, a requirement in the current national curriculum. Due to the lack of resources, facilities and training commonly faced by rural schools, the initiative was necessary to measure the feasibility of the approach for learning. The study also observed the similarities and differences in local cultural protocols as they differ by location, and adjustments were made to the presentation of Game Design thinking to accommodate community expectations and support. The study proposes a CreativeCulture model, an instructional approach which accommodates inclusive needs of indigenous communities in Sarawak, both within and beyond their local schools.

Verso un curricolo Maker 5-8 K. Principi e applicazioni per lo sviluppo della competenza geometrica tramite 3D printing1

This paper considers educational research and pedagogical conceptualizations of maker education in the context of the current curriculum in Italian schools. In particular, it draws on the research that INDIRE promotes on teaching using 3D printers and preliminary findings from an ongoing pilot study, which aims to increase understanding of the potential associations between maker pedagogy and spatial geometric and visual skills. The pilot reported follows a model of co-design involving the teachers of the school, which has facilitated the use of more reflective measures of competence to be assessed. The pilot discussed provides valuable support for the current research on 3D printers and will be extended to other schools wishing to pursue skills and learning objectives little considered by the current national curriculum at nursery and early primary level.

A Study on the Instructional Methods in Art Education for the Next National Curriculum

The components of national curriculum documents consist of characteristics, goals, contents, instructional methods and assessment. In the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the diversity of education contents and methods for human resource development required in future society is needed, and these efforts lead to national curriculum research. However, most of the studies on instructional methods in art education relied on the research conducted by Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation(KICE) in 2002. The purpose of this study was to suggest instructional methods as a basic research for the development of the next national art curriculum. For this purpose, researches on existing and brand-new instructional methods were reviewed. In addition, every subjects’s instructional methods of the current national curriculum and national art curriculums from the 1st through 2015 were investigated. As a result, it was suggested that the instructional methods related to the core competencies in art education for the next national curriculum, and explained the most important one. It is expected that this study would serve as a meaningful basic study for the upcoming curriculum.

Developing Practicum Module of Particle Dynamics Based on Scientific Methods to Improve Students' Science Process Skills

The existence of basic competence skills in the current national curriculum requires learners to have skilled expertise in the field of physics, which one of them is students’ science process skills. Students' science process skills become students’ guide in understanding physics concepts. The availability of resources and guidance in conducting practicum is very small, so teachers have difficulties when they want to conduct practicum in learning activities because of the lack of resources available. Therefore, we need a scientifically based practicum module to increase students’ science process skills. This development research using 4-D method (Define, Design, Develop, and Disseminate). In the development of this module, the researchers only come to the third stage of the four stages. Validation results from experts get an average score of 81% interpretation which means that the module is included in the criteria worthy of use in learning even with the notes of experts to revise some of the components present in this module so that this module complies with existing standards. The results of the analysis of student responses to the practicum module obtained a total average of 80% with the category is strong. This shows almost all the students gave a positive response to the scientific-based practicum module. The development of scientific-based practicum modules can improve science process skills of the students, with the average score of students’ science process skills before using a scientific-based practicum module of 2.54 and the average score of students’ science process skills after using a scientific-based practicum module of 3.20.

Remaking textbook policy: analysis of national curriculum alignment in Korean school textbooks

ABSTRACTThe article aims to reform Korean textbook policy through analysing national curriculum alignment in authorized school textbooks and assessing their quality management. The research was conducted with 14 different types of approved middle school physical education textbooks that were examined for the creativity embedded in Korea’s current national curriculum. The research outcomes indicate great disparities in the creativity of the examined physical education texts. Also, the textbooks focused only partially on the aim and method of the mandated curriculum. The findings suggest a lack of creativity, which is a guiding principle of nationally authorized textbooks. Thus, Korean textbook policy needs to be changed in two important ways. First, the classification of creativity must be made part of the compilation criteria, and second, creativity must be reinstated as part of the authorized textbook screening process.

Boudicca, broken bones and behaviour management: a case study of teaching causation at Key Stage 3

I have always thought that teachers should not teach what to think but how to think, and I wanted to embody this attitude within my own practice of teaching Classics. It was also interesting to me to link this to the ongoing debates in history teaching surrounding the relationship between the acquisition of substantive knowledge (i.e. the facts of history: dates, battles, names, etc.) and the acquisition of second-order concepts (i.e. the framework within which such knowledge is understood: e.g. historical interpretations, ascribing significance to events, understanding causation). According to Ford, ‘the challenge of restoring the link between substantive knowledge and conceptual understanding is one which the whole profession needs to address’ (Ford, 2014, p.33). Having previously taught philosophy, causation seemed to me to be a topic I would be well-suited to tackle, and I was intrigued to discover that there were opportunities to teach causation as early as Key Stage 3 (KS3). In fact, enshrined in the current National Curriculum (NC) for KS3 history is the key aim ‘to understand historical concepts such as … cause and consequence’ (DfE, 2013, p.1). Given that Stanford professor Sam Wineburg (2001) refers to historical thinking, albeit archly, as an ‘unnatural act’, I wondered whether it was possible for 12 and 13-year old students to ‘understand’ the complex concept of causation. But I was also eager to test out some of the pedagogical theories floated at the beginning of the PGCE course, in particular, Bruner's hypothesis that ‘any subject can be taught effectively in some intellectually honest form to any child at any stage of development’ (Bruner, 1960, p.33).

‘We’re Not Building Worker Bees.’ What Has Happened to Creative Practice in England Since the Dartmouth Conference of 1966?

ABSTRACTIt is now five years since the introduction of the current National Curriculum for English in England; it is just over 50 years since the Dartmouth Conference drew together American and English educationalists. This paper reports on a hermeneutic study that presents voices from the field of English teaching in England. It asks questions of today’s statutory instruments in the light of approaches highlighted at Dartmouth, with a focus on writing. It illustrates the challenges faced by English teachers from an examination-focused system, but suggests that ultimately the tradition exemplified by Dartmouth, which promotes creative pedagogies and the potential of writing to develop students’ personal and social growth, survives. It concludes that it is important to promote creative approaches in English classrooms of today and education policy of tomorrow.

Android based e-learning tutorial for mathematics teachers

A large number of teachers and the scattered location due to geography condition is one of the causes the slow process of teacher training in Indonesia. The current national curriculum (Kurikulum-13) had been launched in 2013 but the implementation of the curriculum has the problem in socialization as well as teacher training in using this curriculum. This development research produces android- based E-tutorial material of the K-13 Curriculum Implementation for Mathematics Subjects that can be used by Mathematics teachers. The product contains of the curriculum K-13, the Competency analysis, design Lesson Plan and design Evaluation for the knowledge and skills aspect as well as video using a scientific approach in Problem Based Learning and of Discovery Learning Model. This e-tutorial is developed by using Waterfall method and used android based. The product has been used by mathematics teachers for testing product practicality. The product is assessed based on the aspect of cosmetics and program. The product then revised based on input from the teacher. The average score on program aspect is 3.8 and 3.5 on aspect of cosmetics. Therefore, the results of this study will be one of the solutions for preparing teachers to implement the curriculum.