Theory and Practice.

PREPARED BY: Irni Ismail MP111381

 Concern

the possible strategies which might employed for changing the curriculum technique to bring out curriculum change @ to accelerate and smooth the path of curriculum change

The

1950s and early 1960s- a result of a concern felt throughout the western world that it might be falling behind in the race for technological advancement Nuffield Foundation-the injection of money for R&D

1964-Schools Council for the Curriculum and Examinations establish to undertake research and development work on the curriculum,

and to advise the Secretary of State on matters of examination policy

Funded joint by the Department of Education and Science and local education authorities.

Two major kinds of general lesson to be learned from the work of the Schools Council
Those relating to its role as a politically

independent, professional body for curriculum development.

Those deriving from its failure to bring about

change on any significant scale.

 For

the many research and development projects in

curriculum models and ideologies curriculum evaluation pupil assessment the role of the teacher strategies for the dissemination and promotion of

innovation and change.

 Aspects

of criticisms from the Schools Councils work

Curriculum and examinations Its initial subject base Planning by objectives Dissemination

Relates to the duality of the role given to the Council its responsibility for both curriculum development and the public examination system which was a major factor in determining its policies and its actions. Councils inability to bring about significant changes in the examining system severely limited its effectiveness in promoting curriculum change. Its advice on examinations by the Department of Education and Science, as is demonstrated by its attempts to introduce a common system of examinations at sixteen-plus

 The

examinations system-subject based made it difficult for it to respond to changes of focus within the curriculum. of Secondary Education (CSE).

Certificate

 Projects

to adopt an objectives-based planning model.

 Provided

ammunition for those who argued that a teacher-controlled Schools Council had failed to make a significant impact on the curriculum of the schools. to achieve direct changes through its own projects was manifest from the evidence of its own Impact and Take-Up Project

Failure

 The

Assessment of Performance Unit (APU) prime task of surveying and monitoring level of achievement in school. mechanisms for monitoring of standard of attainment in school.

Create

Objective

To promote the development of methods of assessing

and monitoring the achievement of children To seek, to identify the incidence of underachievement

 Surveys

of English, Mathematics, Science and Modern Foreign Languages had been undertaken on a rolling basis. Weekness
Researcher have of a necessity to concreate on

assesment than evaluation

Major reason for the failure of the Schools Councilinfluence curriculum change more directly and more widely was to be found in the dissemination strategies that were adopted.

Models of dissemination Schons models . Havelocks models

 Identified

three models of dissemination

CentrePeriphery model the Proliferation of Centres model the Shifting Centres model.

 The

process of dissemination centrally controlled and managed

point

Centre

point

point

 The

factor of effectiveness:

the strength of the central resources the number of points on the periphery that are to

be reached the length of the spokes, the distance of these points from the centre

The work of the central development team is supported and extended by local development groups. In turn, these local groups are supported by the central team through the provision not only of advice but also sometimes of courses of training.
local Centre local

 These

developments are characterized by the absence of any clearly established centre and of any stable, centrally established message.

More

successful at explaining how unplanned diffusion occurs than at offering a strategy for planned dissemination

 Identified three models of dissemination

Research, Development and Diffusion (R, D & D) model Social Interaction (SI) Problem-Solving (PS) model

Developer who identifies the problem and a receiver who is essentially a passive recipient of the innovation developed to resolve that problem It is a target system and is regarded as the model to be adopted when large scale curriculum change is the aim.

Developer

Passive Recipient Passive Recipient

Recognizes the key to the adoption and implementation of the innovation is the social climate of the receiving body and that success or failure will hinge on the channels of communication there.

COMMUNICATION

Recipient

Developer
COMMUNICATION

Recipient

Consumer and the external support agent is one of mutual collaboration rather than that of the receiver and the sender of a message The whole process is personalized to the point where it has to be recognized that this is not a model of mass dissemination

The gap between theory and practice

example: Humanities Curriculum Projects

Lack of teachers clarity of innovation

Lack of instructional materials

Lack of knowledge and skill curriculum to conform new

Teacher professionalism: teacher become technical than teaching

Based on belief that the curriculum consist of experiences and that these should be developed from the learners need & characteristic Acknowledge that a large measure of freedom for both teacher and learner is a necessary condition for education View the school as a human social institution which must be responsive to its own environment The individual teacher staff should accept a research and development role in aspect of the curriculum, modifying, adapting and developing it to suit the needs of individual or particular environment

Made senior appointment of teachers with special responsibility for co-ordinating and guiding curriculum-curriculum co-ordinators or curriculum development officers, change agent within the school One person in school who expect to attempt to organize support from outside agencies for any group of teachers engaged in any particular innovative activity One person act as a focus for curriculum study group in the school .

 Link

between teacher, school, central agencies attention becomes too closely focused on their own institution and their possibly narrow concern, they may fail to address curriculum issue

Teachers;

 Action

research is simply a form of self-reflective enquiry undertaken by participants in social situations in order to improve the rationality and justice of their own practices, their understanding of these practices, and the situations in which the practices are carried out.(Carr and Kemmis, 1986)

Teacher action research:"concerned with the everyday practical problems experienced by teachers, rather than the 'theoretical problems' defined by pure researchers within a discipline of knowledge" (Elliott, cited in Nixon, 1987). Research: designed, conducted, and implemented by the teachers themselves to improve teaching in their own classrooms, sometimes becoming a staff development project in which teachers establish expertise in curriculum development and reflective teaching.

It is based on the following assumptions:

Teachers and principals work best on problems they have identified for themselves Teachers and principals become more effective when encouraged to examine and assess their own work and then consider ways of working differently Teachers and principals help each other by working collaboratively Working with colleagues helps teachers and principals in their professional development

Step 1

Identify the question, issue, or problem.

need time to determine the right focus for your question.

Define a solution.

Step 2

The solution will be a new instructional technique, strategy, new environment, or new material that you feel has potential to correct the problem

Apply the solution and collect data.

Step 3

define how you will apply the technique and the method you will use to collect your data. If possible, it is helpful to have at least two groups that you can use for your research, one acting as the test group and one for the control group (the group that doesn't use the strategy or technique).

Analyze your findings.

Step 4

Determine whether the solution had an impact on learning. This is where having a control group to compare your test groups can help you determine whether the technique has caused a desirable change, an undesirable change, or no change at all.

Take action.

This can be either in the form of revising your intervention and returning to Step Step 2 to test another intervention, or by changing your practice to reflect a 5 successful new technique.

Action research differs from formal research conducted by education theorists because it is typically designed and controlled directly by the teacher or in collaboration with other practitioners. Classroom action research:
begins with a question, such as "Why don't my students take

better notes? proposes a classroom-based practice (intervention) to change the identified problem, such as "Will using a graphic organizer to teach a concept improve note-taking skills? uses a systematic approach to testing and analyzing the idea or intervention (Did it improve their skills? How?) Has an end goal of improving a teaching practice or other educational process

 Explore

the issue that are raised by question about curriculum change and how it can be change.