Recent Curriculum Reform Research Articles

Teachers’ perceptions of the recent curriculum reforms: a case study on Kazakhstani teachers’ utilization processes for the new course plan for English

Teachers’ perceptions of the recent curriculum reforms: a case study on Kazakhstani teachers’ utilization processes for the new course plan for English

Integration of Engineering Practices into Secondary Science Education: Teacher Experiences, Emotions, and Appraisals

STEM education is present in most recent curriculum reforms around the world. One of the main novelties of this educational movement is the integration of engineering practices into science education. In the Spanish educational context, this implies an important challenge for science teachers. So, this study analyzes whether secondary science teachers are sufficiently prepared for this purpose, as well as to find out their experiences, emotions, and appraisals in this regard. To this end, a questionnaire was designed and administered to 328 secondary science teachers as a representative sample of science teachers in Spain with a confidence level of just over 93%. The reliability of the questionnaire was evidenced by the high degree of internal consistency of the data (α = 0.88). And its validity was determined by means of an exploratory factor analysis. The results reveal that secondary science teachers, in general, have low levels of pedagogical preparation and self-efficacy to integrate engineering practices into science classes, as well as a predominant emotion of insecurity about it. There is also a strong preference among teachers for this to be done in technology subjects. It is concluded that the effective integration of engineering practices into science education is currently a complex challenge that requires ad hoc teacher training plans.

LEARNING INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES IN PUBLIC PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN KENYA: OVERVIEW, PROBLEMS AND THE WAY FORWARD

<p>Indigenous languages face extinction in the near future despite the important role they play in communication, cultural preservation, and identity of indigenous people. The threat is the direct consequence of colonialism and colonial practices and is currently exacerbated by globalization. Article 13 of the United Nations Declaration on Rights of Indigenous Peoples guarantees rights to these peoples to revitalize, use, develop, and transmit to future generations their languages, oral traditions, writing systems, and literatures. Further, it provides that states shall take effective measures to protect this right, including through interpretation in political, legal, and administrative proceedings. Consequently, Kenya’s language-in-education policy dating from the colonial period has been supportive of the teaching of indigenous languages in schools. For example, in the more recent curriculum reforms of 2017, Kenya set out to offer indigenous languages both as a medium of instruction and as a subject right from pre-primary to lower secondary levels of education as spelled out in the Basic Education Curriculum Framework. However, weak enforcement of the language policy coupled with a myriad of implementation challenges have been major drawbacks to the success of indigenous language instruction in schools. Hence the discussions about the importance of the use of indigenous languages in schools are still hotly debated. Therefore, the focus of this paper is to present an overview of and problems of learning indigenous languages in public primary schools in Kenya. Finally, relevant suggestions have been put forward to overcome the problems.</p><p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/soc/0073/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

포스트휴먼 장애학 관점에서의 ‘학생 주도성’ 개념에 대한 비판적 고찰: 2022 개정 교육과정을 중심으로

The aim of this study was to critically examine the concept of student agency, an idea that has characterized recent curriculum reform policies, focusing on the 2022 revised curriculum, from the perspective of posthuman disability studies (PDS) and to propose a more inclusive framework for it. To this end, this study first explored how PDS enables us to rethink human agency, which underlies the notion of student agency. Next, the analysis of the 2022 revised curriculum and its related policy documents revealed that student agency embodied in the 2022 revised curriculum is predicated on the logics of choice-responsibility undergirding a range of curricular devices (e.g., the high school credit system). Drawing on PDS, the study argues that the 2022 revised curriculum may (inadvertently) contribute to the perpetuation of ableism by assuming that student agency can be exercised based on modern humanist values, such as autonomy, self-determination, and self-responsibility. Furthermore, it was also found that, unlike non-disabled students, disabled students are positioned in the curriculum as potentially less agentic, i.e., exceptional learners requiring educational interventions whose focus is on special kinds of learning experiences for their independence. Finally, the study discusses directions for developing a more just and inclusive version of the future curriculum that reflects PDS-based alternative ways of thinking about not only student agency but students’ differences, including disabilities.

AN ANALYSIS OF SINGLE NATIONAL CURRICULUM OF GENERAL SCIENCE AT PRIMARY LEVEL WITH THE LENS OF 21ST CENTURY SKILLS

21st century skills are regarded as the capabilities and the competencies which are considered as essential for improving the ways of thinking and learning and for success in the modern contemporary world. The study directed at investigating the integration and inclusion of 21st century skills in recent curriculum reforms i.e Single National Curriculum (SNC) at Primary Level via document analysis. The research followed method of qualitative thematic analysis for scrutiny of General Science Curriculum at Primary Level. The investigation thoroughly examined the content of the General Science Curriculum (Grade 5) via document analysis to seek its provision for insertion and inclusion of 21st century skills in the teaching-learning process. The investigation also sought narratives of curriculum developers and experts regarding incorporation of 21st century skills in the curricular reforms through interviews. The research conducted thematic analysis to scrutinize the SNC document and to further analyse the semi-structured interview data. The study found that sufficient consideration is being given for integrating 21st century skills in SNC in the subject of science but there is an acute need of raising sufficient awareness and professional capacity building of teachers regarding their enclosure in the education mainstream. Insufficient teacher training and scarcity of teaching learning resources are the major challenges in this regard.

Fostering Secondary Students' Historical Thinking: A Design Study in Flemish History Education.

A recent curriculum reform in Flanders (Belgium) has introduced historical thinking as a central goal for history education. Historical thinking aims to introduce students to the methods of historians and disciplinary ways of thinking. It is a complex act, requiring the application of substantive and second-order knowledge, and is difficult to foster among students. International (intervention) research has provided several guidelines for the design of instructional practices that are effective in promoting specific aspects of students' historical thinking. However, these studies do not approach historical thinking in a holistic manner, are often vague about how general design principles were adapted to history education, and rarely report on whether the designed curricula were considered relevant and useful by teachers. Taking into account the many difficulties that teachers encounter in designing practices aimed at historical thinking, this design research aims to gain more insight into the design of instructional practices that are both effective in fostering historical thinking in a holistic manner and that are considered socially valid by teachers. The designed artifact is a 12- to 14-h lesson series on the theme "decolonization after 1945," for students in the 12th grade. It applies the model of cognitive apprenticeship's (Collins et al., 1991) general design principles to the specific context of history and approaches historical thinking in a holistic manner. The initial lesson series was evaluated and revised in two rounds based on a pilot study, an expert review and an intervention study.

Teacher Change in Mainland China: Collaborative Action Research as a Means of Promoting Secondary School Teachers’ Engagement with the New Curriculum Reform

We examined the possibilities of employing collaborative action research (CAR) to promote Mainland Chinese secondary school teachers’ engagement with the recent curriculum reform. A brief background of the history of the examination culture and the curriculum reform is provided. We analysed key challenges leading to teachers’ resistance to curriculum change, including test-based accountability control, lack of self-efficacy, and perceived roles as mere curriculum receivers and implementers. We then drew from CAR to offer considerations to promote teacher change where teachers can be encouraged to align their teaching with their moral purposes, build up self-efficacy, and develop ownership of curriculum change.

Teachers’ understanding of programming and computational thinking in primary education – A critical need for professional development

Programming and computational thinking have (re)gained an increased focus in com­pulsory education worldwide, consequently demanding teachers of various subjects to engage in the teaching and learning of the two. A recent curriculum reform in Norway emphasised the development of students’ computational skills by integrating pro­gramming into four subject domains: mathematics, natural science, music, and arts and crafts. However, these requirements come without a necessary professional develop­ment programme and are based on the presumption that all concerned teachers under­stand the concepts of programming and computational thinking and know how to teach these skills in a sound pedagogical and didactical way. Therefore, this study investigated how teachers understand programming and computational thinking and the relationship between the two concepts. We also investigated the teachers’ approaches to teaching these concepts and their need for further professional development. To address these issues, we conducted semi-structured interviews with eight primary school teachers and thematically analysed the data. Overall, the teachers reported positive attitudes towards the new curriculum and its focus on 21st-century skills, including programming and computational thinking. However, their understanding of these concepts was narrow, focused on only one of the six pertinent subskills: algorithms. Furthermore, the teachers’ teaching approaches were limited. Finally, we observed a variety of professional development processes and practices. The teachers accentuated a critical need for pro­fessional development within these domains. Our findings showed that to fulfil the curricular expectations of developing students’ computational thinking skills, increased training of primary school teachers is needed.

“It’s a lesson with no correct answer”: design issues in preservice teachers’ use of history of science for lesson planning

ABSTRACT While many recent curriculum reforms recognise the value of history of science (HOS) in science teaching, in-depth investigations into teachers’ experiences of planning HOS-based science lessons have been rare. We present a case study of two groups of preservice science teachers (PSTs) who collaboratively planned high school science lessons using HOS. The research aims were to understand what design issues arose and how they unfolded as each group planned the lesson. A design issue arises when group members dispute over a topic related to lesson planning and there is a need for decision making. We identified several major design issues around selecting a suitable history, adapting history, teaching a topic with no correct answer, balancing science and history, and empathising with people from the past, which manifested differently across the two groups. PSTs’ reflections suggested that the collaborative planning experience helped them understand the limitations of content-focused pedagogical methods in planning HOS-based lessons and recognise various ways HOS can be used to enrich science teaching. The study sheds light on some challenges of planning an unfamiliar type of science lesson and how a collaborative planning experience can create opportunities to broaden PSTs' knowledge of science instruction.

Digital technologies in Mathematics curricula and professional practices of brazilian and Portuguese teachers

This article intends to try to understand the curriculum acts of two Mathematics teachers of Basic Education from public schools in the District of Lisbon in Portugal and two teachers from the Municipal network of the city of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil about the use of digital technologies from recent curriculum reforms in countries. The case study has a qualitative methodological bias and analyzes of the discourses of these teachers were carried out, which showed the dynamics of digital technologies in the approach to interdisciplinarity through curriculum flexibility in contexts of mathematical and non-mathematical practices. The dissonance between the teachers' curriculum acts, Mathematics Education and the current curriculum proposals in the countries emerged, as well as the need to expand studies and research in the scope of Digital Literacy and Computational Thinking, so that practices are promoted that develop students' autonomy and creative process.

Constellation of trajectories and fast policy worlds: A spatiotemporal reading of experts’ positions and social encounters in Finland’s and Norway’s recent curriculum reforms

ABSTRACT As evidence has become the predominant requirement for decision-making on policy in modern democracies, the importance of experts has increased tremendously. Education reforms are no exception. International organizations have gained power globally in national education policy and politics, particularly through the data they produce and the policy discourses they advocate. However, nationally appointed experts participate in the production of these discourses and advocate for policy ideas in their national context. This article examines the interplay of national and international through a spatiotemporal reading of eleven interviews with experts involved in Finland’s and Norway’s recent curriculum reforms. In their social encounters, experts exchange knowledge that does not show up in the written recommendations for reform but influences their content and focus. The author identifies three positions of experts as translators of policy knowledge that reflect the complexity of education policymaking processes which are rooted nationally, but increasingly influenced by international power structures and transnational social encounters. The author asserts that international organizations derive power not only from the data they produce but the meeting places they facilitate. Who is invited is partly a matter of geopolitics. However, the most exclusive places might only open for those ´at the forefront´ of education reforms.

Factors that impact on the effectiveness of professional development programs for science teachers in Saudi Arabia

The Saudi Arabian Government has made a substantial investment in reforming the science curriculum in Saudi Arabia. The need for effective professional development (PD) programs is especially crucial in the context of recent curriculum reform in Saudi Arabia. The country has adopted new science curricula following the guidelines of renowned global publishers like McGraw-Hill. However, the introduction of the new science curriculum is posing challenges for science teachers, as it requires a paradigm shift from a teacher-centred to a learner-centred pedagogy. The research for this research involved an in-depth study on the impact of mandatory PD programs on Saudi Arabian science teachers in order to identify potential challenges to achieving the expected level of benefit from the PD programs. This study used a qualitative approach to data collection techniques. through employs three main methods for data collection, observation ,open-ended questionnaire and interview. the most effective professional development programs are likely to be those that address the specific subject matter that relates to the teaching issues faced daily by teachers, rather than those that cover vague and decontextualised educational or pedagogical concepts. Other factors include teachers’ involvement in learning communities, the facilities and resources provided by the school, and individual learning styles. On the other hand, common factor responsible for the failure of professional development programs is that the content covered is not relevant to the teachers’ specific needs. PD programs in Saudi Arabia are mainly focused on quantity instead of quality

Cross-Cultural Education and College English Speculative Reading Teaching in Multi-Modal Theoretical Environment.

Due to the extensive development of globalization, the ethnic makeup of the world is becoming more and more complex, and the issue of cultural diversity has emerged as a key concern for all nations' educational systems. Cross-cultural education is an educational prescription for many western countries to deal with cultural diversity and strengthen national cohesion in order to address this issue and promote mutual respect, understanding, and communication between different groups and individuals. One of the most recent developments in global education is cross-cultural education, which has also given rise to a brand-new area of study in the field of education. The research has identified cross-cultural education as making up about 50% of all education. Numerous nations have practiced cross-cultural education, which has been promoted by UNESCO, with many issues that merit study. The traditional English teaching approach cannot meet the learning needs of today's students in light of the recent curriculum reform, and students have long engaged in passive learning. College English instructors must modify traditional teaching philosophies, adapt to contemporary developments, integrate information technology, use a variety of teaching techniques, fully pique students' interest in learning, and encourage them to take the initiative in their own education if they want to reclaim the initiative from the students in their classrooms.

Advancing citizenship through language arts education: conceptions of rhetoric in Scandinavian national curricula

ABSTRACT Scandinavian countries have a long tradition of widespread public schooling linked to civic education. In the most recent curriculum reforms, concepts from rhetoric appear in various forms in language arts subject curricula from primary to upper-secondary school. In this article, we examine how current Scandinavian curricula reflect rhetoric and rhetorical education through content analysis based on David Fleming’s update of the classical triad in rhetorical education. We examine explicit and implicit references to rhetorical art, practice, and inquiry to gain insight into how rhetoric is reflected and conceptualized in national curricula, thereby providing a nuanced outlook for future research on the rhetorical turn of education. The analysis shows that the curricula for language arts subjects in all Scandinavian countries include several key components of contemporary rhetorical education, and in Swedish and Norwegian curricula, rhetoric is also explicitly linked to the development of democratic citizenship. However, references to rhetoric in curricula documents are sometimes implicit, and the explicit references that are present might give the impression that rhetoric should be taught only as a technical skill devoid of context or as critical text analysis.

School-Based Professional Learning Communities as a Means for Curriculum Development: A Case Study from Taiwan

The purpose of this study is to explore how participating in professional learning communities influenced teachers’ curriculum design skills during the recent curriculum reform in Taiwan. A cohort of high school teachers in suburban areas participated in a semester-long professional learning community, strictly based on a well-planned agenda as professional experimentation. The researchers adopted a qualitative method by devising an initial and a final interview protocol as a data collection instrument. The results identified four components during the PLC process leading to teacher change in the curriculum design process—active participation, consistent focus, supportive collaboration and collective learning and shared practice. The notions of hard and soft PLCs along with the implications are proposed.

Optimization of a Sports Activity Development Model Using Artificial Intelligence under New Curriculum Reform.

The recent curriculum reform in China puts forward higher requirements for the development of physical education. In order to further improve students’ physical quality and motor skills, the traditional model was improved to address the lack of accuracy in motion recognition and detection of physical condition so as to assist teachers to improve students’ physical quality. First, the physical education teaching activities required by the new curriculum reform were studied with regard to the actual needs of China’s current social, political, and economic development; next, the application of artificial intelligence technology to physical education teaching activities was proposed; and finally, deep learning technology was studied and a human movement recognition model based on a long short-term memory (LSTM) neural network was established to identify the movement state of students in physical education teaching activities. The designed model includes three components: data acquisition, data calculation, and data visualization. The functions of each layer were introduced; then, the intelligent wearable system was adopted to detect the status of students and a feedback system was established to assist teaching; and finally, the dataset was constructed to train and test the designed model. The experimental results demonstrate that the recognition accuracy and loss value of the training model meet the practical requirements; in the algorithm test, the motion recognition accuracy of the designed model for different subjects was greater than 97.5%. Compared with the traditional human motion recognition algorithm, the designed model had a better recognition effect. Hence, the designed model can meet the actual needs of physical education. This exploration provides a new perspective for promoting the intelligent development of physical education.

The impact of mandatory economic education on adolescents’ attitudes

ABSTRACT Various studies have examined how the study of economics affects students’ views on economic phenomena, yet there is little evidence regarding its impact on teenagers. We study the effect of a recent curriculum reform introducing mandatory economic education on teenagers’ attitudes towards economics in Southwest Germany. Our findings reveal that students affected by the reform show, on average, more interest in economics, see money as more important and expect more social responsibility from companies. Conversely, we don't observe differences in attitudes towards competition. Regarding socio-economic characteristics, our data reveal strong gender differences already before adulthood.

CULTURAL HISTORICAL ANALYSIS OF IRANIAN SCHOOL MATHEMATICS CURRICULUM: THE ROLE OF COMPUTATIONAL THINKING

In this paper, six mathematics curriculum changes in Iran will be reviewed, spanning from 1900 until the present time. At first, change forces, barriers, and the main features of each curriculum reform will be represented. The first five curriculum changes are described briefly and the sixth and most recent curriculum reform will be elaborated. In this paper, we call the last reform as contemporary school mathematics curriculum change. This recent (contemporary) curriculum reform will be explained in more detail, followed by a discussion of the effect of globalization and research finding in the field of mathematics and mathematics education (in the Iranian mathematics curriculum). In total, three key ideas are distinguished as an effect of globalization which is “New Math”, “International Comparative Studies”, and “Computational Thinking”. Finally, the paper comments on the necessity of paying more attention to information and communication technology as part of globalization; in particular, recall policy-makers to consider “Computational Thinking” as an important component of future curriculum design.

Behavioral intentions of technology teachers to implement an engineering-focused curriculum

BackgroundTeaching engineering at a high school level has been a subject of substantial concern during recent curriculum reforms. Many countries are increasingly including engineering-focused subjects in their technology curriculum guidelines. However, technology teachers face challenges regarding the optimal implementation of an engineering-focused curriculum. It is essential to understand technology teachers’ perceptions of and behavior in classroom practices when teaching an engineering-focused curriculum. To explore the factors influencing the effective implementation of the curriculum, this study aimed to explore the association between technology teachers’ perceptions regarding curriculum guidelines (i.e., perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and beliefs) and their behavioral intentions. In addition, this study explored how these perceptions change for teachers who participated in a professional development program (PDP) for teaching an engineering-focused curriculum compared with those who did not participate in the program (NoPDP).ResultsIn this study, structural equation modeling was used to investigate factors potentially influencing teachers’ behavioral intentions, including subjective norms and perceived behavioral control. The results showed that technology teachers’ behavioral intentions were influenced by their perceptions of the curriculum's usefulness. Subjective norms and perceived behavioral control were also significant determinants of behavioral intentions. Moreover, the results differed between the two groups. Perceived usefulness had direct and indirect effects on the behavioral intentions of the PDP and NoPDP groups, respectively.ConclusionsWe constructed a model of technology teachers’ behavioral intentions to implement an engineering-focused curriculum and identified factors influencing technology teachers’ behavioral intentions to implement an engineering-focused curriculum. Our conclusions are as follows: (1) the model was adequate for determining the factors influencing technology teachers’ behavioral intentions; (2) in the PDP group, perceived usefulness, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control were significantly associated with behavioral intentions; and (3) in the NoPDP group, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use were associated with behavioral intentions and self-reported behavior only via the mediating factor of beliefs. The above influencing factors should be taken into account when planning professional development programs for pre- and in-service teachers, as these programs will have implications regarding the successful implementation of an engineering-focused curriculum.

Family Matters: Education and the (Conditional) Effect of State Indoctrination in China

Abstract When and how does state indoctrination work? Building upon research on motivated reasoning and family socialization, I argue that only those individuals whose parents have connections to political patronage are subject to state indoctrination because their pro-regime biases transmitted from parents induce higher receptivity prior to government messages. Focusing on political education in China, I conduct a quasi-experimental analysis exploiting the sharp variation in textbook content generated by China’s most recent curriculum reform. Results based on a national survey show that the new politics textbooks successfully affected only those individuals whose parents had worked for the government. The finding survives extensive robustness checks and falsification tests. I also consider several alternative explanations of the effects: preference falsification, selective attention, parental indoctrination, and educational quality. This paper not only highlights the role of intergenerational transmission in moderating the effectiveness of state indoctrination but also casts doubt on the actual degree to which regimes can change minds by changing educational content.