Teachers as curriculum designers
As we are dedicating special attention to the redesign of curricula in this reference tool, you will not be surprised to find that we have a substantial section on the role of teachers as curriculum designers.
Decentralisation is enhancing the role of teachers in the design of curricula, a trend that is visible in the European Union and in Partner Countries. The outcome-based approach can facilitate alternative pathways and therefore stimulate more autonomy for schools and teachers in the design of curricula.
Curriculum development at micro, mesa and macro levels is strongly interconnected. VET curricula should be co-created and connect teachers and workplaces in regional networks. Collaboration between teachers and stakeholders from outside the education provider is very important at the beginning of these processes. The design process should become as participatory as possible and include end users. Including end users is not very common yet, apart from certain areas like ICT and Health Care, where users are actively involved.
The collaborative design process can be facilitated by school leaders and other external facilitators, such as (regional) methodological centres. Collaborative design in so-called teacher design teams has a positive impact on both curriculum development and professional development. It has positive effects on design and implementation skills of teachers, ownership of the curriculum innovation, and the actual implementation of the innovation (Voogt, Pieters & Handelzalts, 2016).
Most teachers have some experience with designing education and materials. Daily practice often demands teachers adopt new curriculum materials, or adapt those to the needs of specific groups of learners. Curriculum design is becoming part of pre-service and in-service training programmes for teachers. Teachers will need to learn to become designers in steps, moving from simple to more complex tasks. The scope can vary from designing individual lessons or sessions to developing a school-, regional- or national-level framework curriculum together with colleagues.
The process normally starts with a needs analysis, defining objectives and outcomes, then moves on to developing a prototype, implementing and evaluating models, then redesigning, further implementation and eventual dissemination of the new curriculum. The validity of the contexts for learning are becoming more and more important. Even for a lesson/session curriculum, careful planning and reflection is recommended. Design is an iterative process. It is important to go back and check, as well as go forward, to get the curriculum right.
Attention should be paid to the process of implementation, especially the re-design that takes place during this implementation. Tools for teachers can help them record their redesign process, for example through a so-called implementation scenario. This involves reflecting on the original design, making local decisions explicit, and collecting anecdotal evidence of the implementation of their local version, to show how the local adaptation worked out. This helps teachers to get a stronger grip on the original design, increases their sense of autonomy to make adaptations, and supports collecting evidence on how decisions worked out (de Vries 2010).
The successful adoption and implementation of new curricula can be further enhanced by supplying design products which teachers can adapt to their own situations. Many researchers who studied the implementation of new curricula conclude that teachers do not and should not enact curricula strictly according to the designs of the curriculum materials provided. If they feel ready to adopt an innovation, and this is a stage that is not automatically reached (Evans, 2008), they need to adapt the approach and/or materials to local circumstances and capabilities. By definition, curriculum innovations and new materials deviate from existing daily practices and put forward new opportunities and constraints to existing classroom ecologies (Doyle & Rosemartin, 2012). Teachers, therefore, need to reflect on the innovation to align it with personal capacities and their own practices (Paniagua & Istance, 2018)
Curriculum builder Ukraine
In Ukraine, general education, VET and HE are all moving towards a competency-based approach based on learning outcomes. In general education, the New Ukrainian School initiative has reduced the number of subjects from 19 to nine broad subjects, and educational standards set outcomes, rather than a compulsory curriculum. Schools are now expected to develop their own curricula in line with these learning outcomes. To assist schools, special software has been developed as a curriculum builder for schools. This software allows schools to develop educational programmes and training (subject-focused or modular) programmes. A drop-down menu guides them through the learning outcomes in the standards (including those for key competences). Schools can then choose to adapt typical programmes, adding more detail, or can opt to be a creator, making their own programme from scratch. The programme helps them to ensure that all learning outcomes in the education standards are covered.
Adaptive instructional materials (AIM) have the following three characteristics:
- They consist of building blocks rather than one line of reasoning and usage, and more than one procedure is provided to guide the alignment of the building blocks.
- The building blocks consist of reusable resources that actively support customisation.
- The materials are easily accessible in different ways so that teachers with varying degrees of motivation and prior knowledge can access the materials in suitable manners.
Further reading:
- De Vries, B. (2010). De docent als ontwerper: Een implementatiescenario als hulpinstrument [ teachers as designers: An implementation scenario as a tool ]. Internal report. Nijmegen: HAN University of Applied Sciences.
- Evans, L. (2008). Professionalism, professionality and the development of education professionals. British Journal of Educational Studies, 56(1), 20-38.
- Doyle, W., & Rosemartin, D. (2012). The ecology of curriculum enactment: Frame and task narratives. In: Wubbels, T., den Brok, P., van Tartwijk, J., & Levy, J., (Eds.), Interpersonal Relationships in Education. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. pp.137-147.
- Paniagua, A., & Istance, D. (2018). Teachers as Designers of Learning Environments: The Importance of Innovative Pedagogies. Educational Research and Innovation, OECD Publishing, Paris.
- Voogt, J.M., Pieters, J.M., & Handelzalts, A. (2016). Teacher collaboration in curriculum design teams: effects, mechanisms, and conditions. Educational Research and Evaluation, 22(3-4), 121-140.
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