Showing papers in "Journal of Curriculum Studies in 2018"
TL;DR: This paper identified 92 peer-reviewed publications relating to FoK in the ERIC database, dating from between 2011 and 2015, and identified potential key trends, tensions, extensions and issues concerning current applications of the FoK approach.
Abstract: Although the first educational applications of the funds of knowledge (FoK) concept were carried out in the late 1980s, there have been numerous developments and proposals since then, many of which have been made within the last few years. It continues to be, therefore, a valid, cutting-edge educational approach; one which seeks to overcome the lingering deficit perspective in education, by improving relationships between families and schools, and by designing culturally sensitive and contextualized curricular activities. In this review, we have identified 92 peer-reviewed publications relating to FoK in the ERIC database, dating from between 2011 and 2015. In this review, we aim to provide a summary of this literature and identify potential key trends, tensions, extensions and issues concerning current applications of the FoK approach. A number of contributions for teacher candidates and teacher professional development derived from the literature review are also suggested.
83 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors connect theory and practice through analyzing a curriculum development project that sought to produce a framework for "engaged global citizens" and the resultant pedagogical framework attempted to undercut the homogenizing tendencies within global citizenship education (GCE).
Abstract: Despite a groundswell of evidence for transformative education, manifestos for ‘transformative pedagogy for global citizenship’ remain under-theorized and pay limited attention to implications for practice. This paper connects theory and practice through analyzing a curriculum development project that sought to produce a framework for ‘engaged global citizens’. It considers the political and philosophical framings of the self and other, citizen and world, that underlie this empirical work, especially with reference to re exivity, hermeneutics, democratic engagement and co-production. The resultant pedagogical framework, based upon concepts of transformative learning, attempted to undercut the homogenizing tendencies within global citizenship education (GCE). This discussion highlights the tensions and reifying e ects of educational frameworks such as the Teaching Excellence Framework in the UK and the proposed framework for ‘global competence’ in the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment. Evidence is presented that frameworks which attempt to make explicit educational phenomena and processes are overdetermined by e cacy and metrics that become perverse ends in themselves. While the anticipated project output here was the framework itself, the substantive output was, in fact, practical: namely the ongoing deliberation and re ection upon the discourses that both do and undo the task of locating the transformative dimension of GCE.
49 citations
TL;DR: Using the medical framework (symptoms, diagnosis and prescription) in Schwab's the Practical 1 article, the authors analyzed the current state of contemporary curriculum theorizing as a result of the reconc...
Abstract: Using the ‘medical’ framework (symptoms, diagnosis and prescription) in Schwab’s the Practical 1 article, I analyze the current state of contemporary curriculum theorizing as a result of the reconc...
43 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a case study of a new "21st Century" secondary school where interdisciplinarity is a cornerstone of the school's philosophy is presented, where curriculum integration should be utilized not as a main means of curricular delivery but as a supplementary opportunity to put disciplinary knowledge to use in certain, well-planned contexts.
Abstract: This paper considers curriculum integration in the secondary school context and investigates the claims made that it can enhance learning outcomes for students. I argue that curriculum integration should be utilized not as a main means of curricular delivery but as a supplementary opportunity to put disciplinary knowledge to use in certain, well-planned contexts. In other words, disciplinary learning comes first and is then deepened through application in an interdisciplinary context. This argument is illustrated through a case study of a new ‘21st Century’ secondary school where interdisciplinarity is a cornerstone of the school’s philosophy. Methods for the study included weekly observations, interviews, focus groups and a survey. I conclude by suggesting that teachers require further time and assistance to develop programmes and evaluative criteria to ensure learning moves beyond thematically generated common sense knowledge, towards interdisciplinary insights.
42 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the diagnostic test scores of incoming students in an Irish university in the years before and after the reform were compared, and it was found that the reformed approach has coincided with a decline in students' technical algebraic skills.
Abstract: Algebra has long been identified as an area of difficulty in the teaching and learning of mathematics. Evidence of this difficulty can be found in Irish secondary-level classrooms. Chief Examiner Reports have consistently identified algebra as an area of student weakness in State examinations. In light of poor student performance, and as part of a nationwide reform of secondary mathematics curricula, a functions-based approach to teaching algebra has been adopted in Irish schools. It was introduced in September 2011 in place of the transformational (rule and procedure)-based approach which was previously used. Through comparing the diagnostic test scores of incoming students in an Irish university in the years before and after the reform, this study finds that the reformed approach has coincided with a decline in students’ technical algebraic skills. However, interviews with practising mathematics teachers reveal that this decline is not a direct result of the functions-based approach, but rather ...
37 citations
TL;DR: The concept of hidden curriculum has become well established as discussed by the authors, addressing the contexts of learning, the actions of students' peers and teachers, and other domains which shape learning but are not...
Abstract: The concept of hidden curriculum has become well established. It addresses the contexts of learning, the actions of students’ peers and teachers, and other domains which shape learning but are not ...
37 citations
TL;DR: This paper investigated the mechanisms and outcomes of school-based curriculum (SBC) development in kindergartens between the two neighbouring cities of New York and New Jersey, in order to compare the two neighboring cities.
Abstract: This study forms part of a wider comparative research project investigating the mechanisms and outcomes of school-based curriculum (SBC) development in kindergartens between the two neighbouring ci...
35 citations
TL;DR: This article developed a theory of "the mind as a curriculum deliberator" and explained how the mind can be seen as "schooling itself" when not attentive to the formal/enacted curriculum.
Abstract: Curriculum discourse focuses understandably, on the formal and enacted curriculum; however, studies demonstrate that much of individuals’ waking hours are spent in task-unrelated thinking and mind-wandering. No less, this pervasive phenomenon has been shown to affect us in many ways that can be linked to education. This paper examines this null-hidden inner curriculum that is enacted within students’ minds when they are not attentive to the formal/enacted curriculum. Drawing on a review of research in cognitive science, the paper develops a theory of ‘the mind as a curriculum deliberator’ and explains how the mind can be seen as ‘schooling itself’. Different states of mind such as mind-wandering, rumination and mindfulness are discussed in terms of their educational effects and a systematic framework that renders them in curricular terms is suggested. Based on this analysis, the paper aims to mobilize this inner curriculum from opaqueness and absence to a more explicit presence in curricular disco...
30 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the nature of and mechanisms underlying school-based curriculum (SBC) development in an informative kindergarten in southern China from a sociocultural-historical perspective and found that SBCD in the Chinese kindergarten under study was a dynamic process undertaken in four main stages: imitation, absorption, integration, and evaluation.
Abstract: School-based curriculum innovations have been widely implemented in Chinese kindergartens since the turn of the new millennium. However, in the absence of professional guidance, Chinese kindergartens have been forced to ‘ride a blind horse’ when developing curriculum. The aim of this study was to understand the nature of and mechanisms underlying school-based curriculum (SBC) development (SBCD) in an informative kindergarten in southern China from the sociocultural-historical perspective. Data obtained from interviews, observations and document analysis were triangulated to determine why and how curriculum innovations had taken place and the nature of the curriculum introduced. Evidence suggested that (1) SBCD in the Chinese kindergarten under study was a dynamic process undertaken in four main stages: imitation, absorption, integration, and evaluation; (2) the resulting SBC was a comprehensive and sophisticated curricular system balancing child-centred and teacher-directed pedagogies and hybridis...
30 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors expose and disrupt discourses dominating global development in an English school geography textbook chapter, which was prompted by a teacher's encounter with a teacher who was concerned about the domination of global development.
Abstract: The main purpose of this article is to expose and disrupt discourses dominating global development in an English school geography textbook chapter. The study was prompted by a teacher’s encounter w...
28 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that twenty-first century education policies have largely been articulated in response to the exigencies of economic globalization and a survey of the worldwide spread of 20th century education frameworks reveals that these are predominantly informed by Human Capital Theory.
Abstract: All over the world, educators and policy-makers are concerned about how best to prepare students to engage actively in an increasingly interconnected world. In this paper, I begin by arguing that twenty-first century education policies have largely been articulated in response to the exigencies of economic globalization. Further, a survey of the worldwide spread of twenty-first century education frameworks reveals that these are predominantly informed by Human Capital Theory. Conceptualized mainly by transnational and governmental organizations, such frameworks essentially steer education towards preparing students to compete successfully in the global economy. Next, utilizing findings from a case study of two schools in Singapore and the USA, I highlight how the concretization of twenty-first century education via school-level frameworks is similarly governed by the aims of Human Capital Theory and I discuss some of the resulting effects. Using these case studies as a platform for theory-building...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors share a number of thoughts and concerns about the current and future status of a field in which I have been a participant for five decades. I know that many others share these wo...
Abstract: In this article, I share a number of thoughts and concerns about the current and future status of a field in which I have been a participant for five decades. I know that many others share these wo...
TL;DR: The Egyptian Coptic minority's marginalization in politics and the Egyptian public sphere has been well investigated by several scholars as discussed by the authors, however, while many scholars and activists conti c...
Abstract: The Egyptian Christian (Coptic) minority’s marginalization in politics and the Egyptian public sphere has been well investigated by several scholars. However, while many scholars and activists cont...
TL;DR: This article used linguistic ethnographic methods to analyse the curricular materials and their enactment in four video-recorded lessons in three primary schools during the 2012-2013 school year, and argued that while the curriculum addresses deeply controversial content, it is designed to inculcate a shared national ethos and therefore avoids controversy.
Abstract: Teaching through controversial, politically charged issues is promoted in Anglo-American democracies as a key means for cultivating active citizenry and democratic values. However, the challenges of discussing controversial issues in the classroom may differ in younger, deeply divided democracies that lack common ground and institutional stability. In this study we ask, what approaches to the teaching of controversial issues do Israeli teachers adopt while enacting a curricular unit concerning Israel’s founding fathers? The data were collected in an ethnographic study in two primary schools during the 2012–2013 school year. We use linguistic ethnographic methods to analyse the curricular materials and their enactment in four video-recorded lessons in three classrooms. We argue that while the curriculum addresses deeply controversial content, it is designed to inculcate a shared national ethos and therefore avoids controversy. In practice, teachers and students engaged with controversial issues, bu...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the question, what is being studied, when the notion of Lehrplan defines the research focus, and what can be gained by guiding research by the Anglo-Saxon notion and tradition of curriculum history and if and how comparative research is possible.
Abstract: Discussions about the what, the when and the how of teaching and learning in schools deal in German-speaking countries with the term Lehrplan, while English-speaking countries discuss similar topics with the term curriculum. Yet, these two terms are not just exchangeable terms in two different languages, but imply also two different styles of reasoning or two different modes of thinking. By the examples of a Lehrplan designed by Georg Kerschensteiner for the Munich school in 1899 and two different Lehrplane for the elementary school in the Swiss canton of Zurich, one from 1905, the other just currently being implemented, the paper discusses the question, what is being studied, when the notion of Lehrplan defines the research focus. Against this backdrop the paper askes in a concluding chapter, what can be gained by guiding research by the Anglo-Saxon notion and tradition of curriculum history and if and how comparative research is possible, regarding the tight coupling of language and concepts.
TL;DR: The authors investigated students' ideas about historical significance in Korea using qualitative, task-based interviews, and interviewed 28 secondary students who had taken Korean and world history classes, and found that the students believed that historical significance was important.
Abstract: This study investigated students’ ideas about historical significance in Korea. Using qualitative, task-based interviews, I interviewed 28 secondary students who had taken Korean and world history ...
TL;DR: This article reviewed and compared teacher competence frameworks developed in Eastern (Chinese) and Western (German) contexts, exemplified by Chinese and German teacher competence models, and showed that teacher competence can be achieved in both Eastern and Western contexts.
Abstract: The study presented in the paper has the following goals The first is to review and compare teacher competence frameworks developed in Eastern (Chinese) and Western (German) contexts, exemplified
TL;DR: The authors explore to what extent and in what ways discourseinstitutionalism can contribute to the understanding and analysis of curriculum change in a globalized context, by focusing speci cally on the role of discourse.
Abstract: The article aims to explore to what extent and in what ways discourseinstitutionalism can contribute to the understanding and analysis ofcurriculum change in a globalized context. By focusing speci ...
TL;DR: Schwab's famous remark that the field of curriculum is "moribund" is no longer able "to contribute significantly to the advancement of education" has long echoed in curriculum studies as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Joseph Schwab’s famous remark, that the field of curriculum is ‘moribund’—no longer able ‘to …contribute significantly to the advancement of education’—has long echoed in curriculum studies. Althou...
TL;DR: In this paper, a multidisciplinary research team conducted design-based implementation research (DBIR) for seven years across three school systems for the purpose of achieving deeper learning in an advanced high school government and politics course.
Abstract: Is in-depth political learning possible in college-preparatory courses known for curricular breadth at an accelerated pace plus a high-stakes exam? A multidisciplinary research team conducted design-based implementation research (DBIR) for seven years across three school systems for the purpose of achieving deeper learning in an ‘advanced’ high school government and politics course. This article reports findings from the final year of research and development. The design centres on cyclical learning, projects (simulated political processes) and strategic use of texts as resources for learning the curriculum. Quantitative analysis shows comparable achievement to students in traditional classrooms on the high-stakes summative assessment despite the dramatic departure from test-prep instruction. Qualitative analyses focus on two of the design elements: learning from simulations and learning from text. The first allowed students to ‘experience’ political beliefs, institutions, and conflict, although s...
TL;DR: This paper examined the extent to which intellectually challenging authentic pedagogy was present in study classrooms, and the characteristics of classroom practice at different levels of authenticity, and how those characteristics may promote or inhibit high levels of authentic intellectual work in social studies classrooms.
Abstract: This paper reports results from a six-state study of 62 USA social studies classrooms We examined the extent to which intellectually challenging authentic pedagogy was present in study classrooms, the characteristics of classroom practice at different levels of authentic pedagogy, and how those characteristics may promote or inhibit high levels of authentic intellectual work (AIW) Like earlier AIW studies, we found generally low levels of AIW in observed classes However, we did find several cases of classrooms scoring in the highest AIW range We examined characteristics of practice that typified teaching of exemplar lessons at four different levels of authentic pedagogy and identified noteworthy differences in teacher purpose, the ways teachers structured and enacted lessons to accomplish their purposes, and the ways that the structures of the lessons encouraged different lesson narratives that communicated different epistemological assumptions about the complexity of social reality and the pr
TL;DR: It is widely known that there is a discrepancy between educational policy on the one side, and teaching and learning practices on the other most studies have been focusing on the sociocultural and
Abstract: It is widely known that there is a discrepancy between educational policy on the one side, and teaching and learning practices on the other Most studies have been focusing on the sociocultural and
TL;DR: In this article, a typology of the positions of French-speaking researchers involved in those studies and contributing to the establishment of the national curriculum is constructed using a methodology based on the frequency of lexical occurrences in a bibliographic database, combined with a methodology of research on the social representations of the researchers.
Abstract: The article sets the international context for the development of a curriculum of education for sustainable development and shows the directions being taken in the Francophone community. Building on a significant number of studies carried out in France, we constitute a typology of the positions of French-speaking researchers involved in those studies and contributing to the establishment of the national curriculum. This typology is constructed using a methodology based on the frequency of lexical occurrences in a bibliographic database, combined with a methodology of research on the social representations of the researchers of this community. We first present a broad comparison with the Anglo-Saxon sphere, we postulate that these positions influence the curriculum construction and raise the issue of the social responsibility of education science researchers in the face of international political demands.
TL;DR: This paper examined the co-evolutions of metaphors for knowledge, learning and teaching across four prominent "frames" namely, Standardized Education, Authentic Education, Democratic Citizenship Education and Systemic Sustainability Education.
Abstract: Current landscapes of curriculum discourse and educational practice are examined by focusing on co-evolutions of metaphors for knowledge, learning and teaching across four prominent ‘frames’—namely, Standardized Education, Authentic Education, Democratic Citizenship Education and Systemic Sustainability Education It is argued that these frames become compelling and resilient (or repulsive and nonsensical)—not because of what they explicitly assert, but because of the coherence of their implicit webs of vocabulary, metaphor, image and ideological association While some of these frames/webs may be embraced as complementary, more often they are treated as conflicting or incoherent—in part, it would seem, because of tensions among their mainly implicit substrates of figurative association
TL;DR: In this article, the authors share the results of research into the experience of teacher risk-taking in the classroom, and the development of children as risk-takers is discussed.
Abstract: Objective: The purpose of this paper is to share the results of research into the experience of teacher risk-taking in the classroom. The development of children as risk-takers is featured prominen...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present an analysis of a rang-based approach to health and wellbeing education in the context of mobile health and well-being education, focusing on contextual and critical features.
Abstract: Perspectives and approaches to health and wellbeing education vary considerably over time and space even as certain contextual and critical features may be maintained. Through an analysis of a rang...
TL;DR: The number of international schools such as the recently founded French-Israeli school in Israel is growing continuously around the world as mentioned in this paper, and international schooling, seen as a means to accumulate int...
Abstract: The number of international schools such as the recently founded French-Israeli school in Israel is growing continuously around the world. International schooling, seen as a means to accumulate int...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore how education policy that is both enabled and constrained by transnational policy flows and national policy built up by social, cultural and historical factors is explored.
Abstract: The purpose of this article is to explore how education policy that is both enabled and constrained by transnational policy flows and national policy built up by social, cultural and historical tra
TL;DR: In this paper, the 50th anniversary of the Journal of Curriculum Studies (JCS) was celebrated, and the notion that all educational actions carry philosophical implicits was introduced.
Abstract: As an overview in connection with the 50th anniversary of the Journal of Curriculum Studies (JCS), this article begins with John Dewey’s notion that all educational actions carry philosophical impl...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyse the nature of collaborative teacher learning as a form of public sphere, under current policy conditions, and draw upon Habermas' notions of communicative action and public spheres, to analyse how teachers work and learning can be understood in light of pressure for increased accountability for improved performance.
Abstract: This paper analyses the nature of collaborative teacher learning as a form of ‘public sphere’, under current policy conditions. The research draws upon Habermas’ notions of communicative action and public spheres, and literature on the nature of teachers’ learning in the context of standardized curriculum and assessment reform, to analyse how teachers’ work and learning can be understood in light of pressure for increased accountability for improved performance. Drawing upon transcripts of professional learning meetings—referred to as ‘Inquiry Cycles’—at a school in northern Queensland, Australia, and interviews with participants, the research reports that while the Inquiry Cycles constituted a ‘public sphere’ for teachers’ learning and inquiry, they were simultaneously influenced by more instrumental policy support for an increasingly prescriptive curriculum, and pressure for improved performance, particularly against standardized measures of literacy and numeracy. The research explores how a public sphere in the form of the Inquiry Cycles was responsive to these more instrumentalist forms of rationality, revealing a need for cautious engagement with such initiatives under current policy conditions, even as they have the potential to effect more productive learning on the part of teachers.