- Curriculum Change & Implementation: An overview
- Definitions of curriculum
- Types of Curriculum
- Levels of Curriculum
- 4 Curriculum orientations
- Curriculum Planning
- Curriculum Innovation (Dimensions)
- Curriculum Change Theory
Subject (Content)
Plan
Experience
Objectives
Everything that is planned by school personnel
A set of subjects
A syllabus
A set of materials
A document (Goals, Objectives & Contents)
which an individual learner experience as a result of schooling
which is taught both inside and outside of school and directed by the school
A set of performance objectives (Specific skills / knowledge to be attained)
Planned / Intended / Written curriculum
Implemented curriculum
Hidden curriculum
Formal curriculum
Informal curriculum
what organizations develop for the learners in their educational systems and what should be taught by the teachers in that system
examples: KLA curriculum guide, C&A guide
what actually goes on in classrooms and what pupils learn in schools
Social roles, attitudes and values which students learn that are not planned
examples:
ability grouping,
sequential room arrangements,
students getting in and standing in line silently,
student quietly raising their hands to be called on,
endless competition for grades
which is planned and goes on during timetabled periods
those planned school activities which are not part of the subject timetable
example: ECA, sport activities, school trips
National
Regional / State
School
Subject
Classroom
Academic rationalism
Social and economic efficiency
Child-centred
Social reconstructionism
Objectives
Rationale
Content
Characteristics of target audience
Activities
Materials
Sequencing principles
Schedule
Evaluation
Administrative structure, school facilities and financial constraints
Other parts of curriculum
Platform or image
Objectives
Student entry behaviour
Assessment tools and procedures
Instructional materials
Learner experiences
Teaching strategies
Content
Time
Beliefs and assumptions behind
Intended outcomes
Competency requirements for a particular programme
Test items and test forms
Written, visual, audio or other materials
Different learner profile descriptions
Patterns of teacher behaviour
Facts, concepts, principles or generalisations and thought systems
"indicate preferred patterns on emphasis"
e.g. LS curriculum
- Curriculum Implementation
Definition
Using new materials
Engaging in new teaching behaviours and practices
Incorporating new beliefs
Failures of educational innovations and reforms
Lack of understanding of what has changed (if anything) without attempting to conceptualize and measure it directly. (Fullan, 1997)
BLACK BOX
Is failure due to implementing poor ideas, or to the inability to implement good ideas?
Is success due to a well0implemented innovation, or to some extraneous factor?
Multi-directional
Change
Why?
Who?
How?
Diffusion of Innovations Theory
(How new ideas, products & social practices spread)
Relative advantage
Compatibility
Complexity
Trialability
Observability
Provides tangible / visible results
Degree of difficulty to be understood or used
Innovation is seen as better than idea, practice, programme or product it replaces
Consistency of the innovation with valves, habits, experience & needs
Can be experimented with before a commitment to adopt
Stages of innovation
- Initiation
- Implementation
- Incorporation
Decision-making activities about the reasons for change
Selecting solutions (new programs and practices)
Implementation planning
Seeking resources
Putting the selected change into practice
Adaptions - changes and modifications in the organizational setting and behaviours
Activities associated with the continuation of what incorporation was originally a change into ongoing organizational routines and work practices
Triple III Phases of Change
(Fullan, 1982)
- Initiation (adoption or mobilization)
- Implementation
- Continuation (incorporation, routinization; institutionalization)
Policy is formulated & resources are allocated
Initial use, implementation, reaction & role changes
Policy, programmes; new goals & values are internalized
Kotter's 8 step change model
- Create a climate for change
- Engaging & enabling the organisation
- Implementing & Sustaining for change
1.1 Create urgency
1.2 Form a powerful coalition
1.3 Create a vision for change
2.1 Communicate the vision
2.2 Empower action
2.3 Create quick wins
3.1 Build on change
3.2 Make it part of the culture
Complexity Theory (Berman, 1972)
Unpredictability of change due to "unique histories, socio-cultural characteristics and relationships, and social structural conditions of the different interacting contexts (Anderson, 2010)
Actions taken in any specific socio-organizational contexts that are interlinked and implicated in adopting, implementing, and sustaining the change have unpredictable effects (including no effects) on organizational conditions and actions in other contexts
- Summary
Model of implementation of change (Anderson, 2010)
- Deciding to change (adoption)
- Doing the change (Implementation)
- Sustaining (or abandoning) the changes over time