Curriculum innovations

Curriculum InnovationsAddressing the Future:

Local and Global Trends Issues and Concerns in CurriculumPart 1:

Innovation

• - is often used to discribe solutions to problems which represent a change or departure from current practice as opposed to progressive improvements within an existing framework (Klaus, 1969).

• -It’s also defined as “the introduction of something new” and as “a new idea, method or device” (Merriam Webster’s Desk Dictionary, 1995).

Three Kinds of Innovations in Education

1. Stucture- involve the ways in which classroom and schools are organized

2. Content- introduce subjects not previously included in the curriculum, or those that revise old subjects in new ways.

3. Process- those that have to do with human interaction. Involves the cognitive or intellectual or thinking domain as well as the affective (social and emotional) domain in Education.

Local and Global Trends Issues and Concerns in

Curriculum

Source: Curriculum Change in Basic Education and Teacher Professional Development

Regional Experiences and National Cases

Merle C. Tan, PhD

Director, National Institute for Science and

Mathematics Education Development

University of the Philippines

(UP NISMED)

Basis for Curricular Improvements: Brief Background

1. Education for all.

2. Reorientation of Educational system. Learning to know, to do, to be, and to live together.

3. Increasing the role of scientific literacy and technological skills.

Emerging Trends in Basic Education

1.

A shift in educational goals and objectives towards using educational systems to

prepare learners as functioning citizens

of the Twenty first century.


2.

A move towards decentralizing

various aspects/processes of curriculum

development,implementation

and administration.


3. The national curriculum for basic

education is being diversified precisely to meet the basic learning needs of different groups in the population.


4.

Emphasis on education programs

that enhance science and technology

literacy and are introducing as much ICT in schools as they can support.


5.

Emphasis on independent study or self-learning, and of inculcating in students

the love and desire to learn and the basic

skills for learning.


6.

Pedagogically, shifts have also been occurring away from traditional approaches

where teachers are the major authority in knowledge construction and transmission.


7.

Experimentation on various teaching learning methods and approaches to

attain a better integration of the contents of the curriculum both within and across

subject offerings.


8.

There is an increasing awareness of the

need to reorient teaching_learning

processes and outcomes away from earliernotions that education is primarily a

means for preparing students to take and pass school tests and national standard

examinations.

Summary of Emerging Trends

“Curriculum renewal today requires

educators and curriculum specialists to go beyond the framework of a

content and competency based curriculum. ”

Summary of Emerging Trends

“Educators and curriculum developers,

too, must work to ensure the effective

implementation of new curricular

reforms and innovations.”

K-12 Curriculum Concerns and ProblemsPart 2:

What is K-12?

K-12 has kindergarten as base, to be followed by six years of elementary (Grades 1 to 6), four years of junior

high school (Grades 7 to 10), and two years of senior high school

(Grades 11 and 12).

Why K-12?

As of School Year 2009-2010, National Achievement Test (NAT) passing rates for Grade 6 and 4th year students are only 69 and 46 percent, respectively.

In the Trends for International Math and Sciences Study (TIMSS), the Philippines often placed fourth from last.

Why K-12?

“You are given ten years to take in, to chew on, and to digest the lessons. There is no time for the children to savor the knowledge they are receiving. You just keep feeding and feeding them.” -Pres. Aquino-

“ADDITIONAL YEARS NOT EQUAL TO QUALITY EDUCATION”

Reality Bites!

Is K to 12 sustainable?

The development of a better-educated society capable of pursuing productive employment, entrepreneurship, or higher education disciplines.

How to fund the program?

To implement K to 12, it would need at least P363.29 billion in 2013; P361.17 billion in 2014; P377.21 billion in 2015; P423.04 billion in 2016; and P443.55 billion in 2017.

SHORTAGE EVERYWHERE!

Reality Bites!

Where will more, better-trained teachers come from?

Teachers in Elementary and High School will need to go through some adjustments with the new curriculum.

Teachers will not get an additional workload for the K to 12 implementation, as the Magna Cart for Public School Teachers provides that teachers should teach only up to six hours a day.

EXPLOITATIVE CONDITION, THREAT OF DISPLACEMENT

Reality Bites!

Will K to 12 solve the country’s employment, development problems?

The goal, according to DepEd, is for a student who completes K to 12 to be “equipped with skills, competencies, and recognized certificates equivalent to a two-year college degree.”

LACK OF COLLEGE ENROLLEES, PROMOTION OF LABOR-EXPORT POLICY

Reality Bites!

UNESCO and UNICEF Global Concerns in the CurriculumPart 3:

Source: Defining Quality in Education

Copyright © 2000

United Nations Children’s Fund

3 United Nations Plaza, H-7

New York, NY 10017

A publication of UNICEF

Programme Division

Education

Document No. UNICEF/PD/ED/00/02

The principal researcher for this paper was Jeanette Colby, Miske Witt and Associates, for

the Education Section, Programme Division, UNICEF New York.

“Children have a right to an education, a quality education.”

UNESCO-

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

UNICEF-

United Nations Children’s Fund

Quality education includes:

• Learners who are healthy, well-nourished and ready to participate and learn, and supported in learning by their families and communities;

• Environments that are healthy, safe, protective and gender-sensitive, and provide adequate resources and facilities;

• Content that is reflected in relevant

curricula and materials for the acquisition of

basic skills, especially in the areas of literacy, numeracy and skills for life, and knowledge in such areas as gender,

health, nutrition, HIV/AIDS prevention

and peace.

• Processes through which trained

teachers use child-centred teaching

approaches in

well-managed classrooms and schools and skilful assessment to facilitate learning

and reduce disparities.

• Outcomes that encompass knowledge, skills and attitudes, and are linked to

national goals for education and positive participation in society.

Global Concerns in the Curriculum

1. Quality Learners

A. Good Health and Nutrition

B. Early childhood psychosocial development experiences.

C.Regular attendance for learning.

D.Family support for learning.

2. Quality Learning Environments

A.Physical Elements

a. Quality of school facilities

b. Interaction between school infrastructure and other quality dimensions.

c. Class size


B. Psychosocial elements

a. Peaceful, safe environments, especially for girls.

b. Teachers’ behaviours that affect safety.

c. Effective school discipline policies.

d. Inclusive environments.

e. Non-violence.


C. Service Delivery

a. Provision of health services.

3. Quality Content

A. Student-centred, non-discriminatory, standards-based curriculum structures.

- Curriculum should emphasize deep rather than broad coverage of important areas of knowledge, authentic and contextualized problems of study, and problem-solving that stresses skills development as well as knowledge acquisition.

3. Quality Content

B. Uniqueness of local and national content.

- quality content should include several pivotal areas. These include literacy, numeracy, life skills and peace education — as well as science and social studies.

3. Quality Content

C. Literacy

- Literacy, or the ability to read and write, is often considered one of the primary goals of formal education.

3. Quality Content

D. Numeracy

- Also known as ‘quantitative literacy’, numeracy encompasses a range of skills from basic arithmetic and logical reasoning to advanced mathematics and interpretative communication skills (Steen, 1999).

3. Quality Content

E. Life Skills

- are defined as “psycho-social and interpersonal skills used in every day interactions…not specific to getting a job or earning an income”.

3. Quality Content

F. Peace Education

- Peace education seeks to help students gain the ability to prevent conflict, and to resolve conflict peacefully when it does arise.

3. Quality Content

G. Challenges in reaching large numbers of children with quality content.

a. Teachers often find curricular integration and interdisciplinarity difficult, especially when the teacher does not have a role in curriculum design;

b. Subjects that do not appear on important examinations are not always taken seriously;

3. Quality Content

c. Social attitudes towards the subject may not be favorable, and cultural patterns are difficult to change;

d. Ideas conceived in other regions of the world may not be adequately adapted to the local context;

e. Political and economic instability can lead to discontinuity in policies andprogrammes, as well as teacher and administrator turnover.

4. Quality Processes

A. Teachers

a. Professional learning for teachers.

b. Teacher competence and school efficiency.

c. Ongoing professional development.

d. Continuing support for student-centered learning.

e. Active, standards-based participation methods.

f. Teacher feedback mechanisms.

g. Teacher beliefs that all students can learn.

h. Teacher’s working conditions.

4. Quality Processes

B. Supervision and Support

a. Administrative support and leadership.

b. Student access to languages used at school.

c. Using technologies to decrease rather than increase disparities.

d. Diversity of processes and facilities.

5. Quality Outcomes

A. Achievement in literacy and numeracy.

- Academic achievement in general and achievement in literacy and numeracy in particular represent key educational outcomes.

5. Quality Outcomes

B. Using formative assessment to improve achievement outcomes.

- Testing information tends to be used primarily as a screening device to decide who can continue to the next grade of level rather than as a tool to help improve educational quality for individuals and systems.

5. Quality Outcomes

C. Outcomes sought by parents.- Parents tend to see academic achievement as

closely related to the opportunity for social promotion and employment.

- These anticipated outcomes tend to be highly valued by families: future employment possibilities that result from education seem to be a primary factor in the demand for primary education (Bergmann, 1996).

5. Quality Outcomes

D. Outcomes related to community participation, learner confidence and life-long learning.

- Academic achievement is often used as an indicator of school quality because it is easily measurable using standardized tests, while other outcomes may be more complex and less tangible.

5. Quality Outcomes

E. Experiential approaches to achieving desired outcomes.

- schools can help build social capital and create interconnecting links that promote quality affective and behavioural outcomes for children (Bronfenbrenner, 1986).

5. Quality Outcomes

F. Health outcomes.

- Students should receive services to improve their health, such as treatment for illness and infection and school feeding programmes to improve nutrition, as well as curricular content that increases their knowledge and affects their behaviour related to health and hygiene.

5. Quality Outcomes

G. Lifeskills and outcomes.

- Psychosocial and interpersonal skills can be applied to many contexts — HIV/AIDS prevention, drug abuse prevention, nutrition and hygiene behaviour and many non-health contexts as well.

FIN