Changing Scottish education policy definitions of what it means to be a teacher: fit for a diverse system?

As countries seek to secure their economic future, education has become increasingly central to socioeconomic strategy in the United Kingdom and beyond. As a result, there is increased governmental expectation and scrutiny of the learning outcomes achieved by pupils. Following from this, teaching quality has become a significant focus in a number of countries. As part of the quality agenda, career-long professional learning has become a major policy theme from which a range of approaches has been implemented in Scotland: increased entry qualifications, the development of professional standards, and emphasis on the ongoing professional development of teachers. Within these approaches can be identified a reconceptualisation of what it means to be a teacher. While there is some expression of values related to social justice, equality and inclusion in education policy, the actions to implement policy tend to centre on instrumental approaches to career-long development. The idea of 'career-long teacher education' is underpinned by an assumption of a stable and readily accepted understanding of what it means to be a teacher. However, as expectations of schools have intensified, education policy indicates significant changes in the construction of the ‘effective’ teacher within an overall reconstruction of the nature and trajectory of the teaching career. This paper draws from a comparative policy study project and traces the evolving and competing ideas of what it means to be a teacher evident in recent key reviews (McCrone 2000; Donaldson, 2010; McCormac, 2011). It pays particular attention to how these ideas have been translated into expectations for initial teacher education and beyond in the form of the Standards for Registration (GTCS, 2012) and the Standard for Career-Long Professional Learning (GTCS, 2012). The paper considers the implications of the policy and the standards for the construction of teacher identity in both an increasingly globalised educational policy context and a more diverse Scottish society. It sets out for discussion the question of whether or not policy definitions of what it means to be a teacher in Scotland today are fit for a diverse, globalised and inclusive education system

Theoretical Foundations of Learning Communities

This chapter describes the historical and contemporary theoretical underpinnings of learning communities and argues that there is a need for more complex models in conceptualizing and assessing their effectiveness

A 'seamless enactment' of citizenship education

Educational undertakings are subject to disjunctures at three separate stages: in the creation of curricular programmes, in the implementation of these curricula in practice and in their effects on students. These disjunctures are the result of complex `leaps' between ends and means, and between ideal and real. This article proposes a response in the form of `seamless enactment', applied here to citizenship education. Seamless enactment involves, first, the harmonisation of the principles underlying the different stages in the passage of the curriculum, avoiding problematic tensions between, for example, democratic aims and undemocratic teaching practices. Second, it requires the involvement of teachers and students in the design and development of the educational initiative, as well as in its implementation. Taken to its fullest extent, seamless enactment involves a unification of the separate stages, leading to the collapsing of the curricular transposition framework onto a single point. Finally, some possible justifications for and potential objections to the notion are considered

The Role of Coherent Research-Based Curricular Unit in Mediating Students’ Integrated Vision of Human Impact on the Environment

[EN] The ongoing development of the high school ecology curricular unit presented in this proposal is a response to the new tide of educational reforms in the United States. This curricular unit represents an attempt to frame K-12 science curriculum around three dimensions: crosscutting concepts, disciplinary core ideas and scientific practices recently released in the report on a Framework for New K-12 Science Education (National Research Council, 2012). Integration of three dimensions into the development of agriculture-related curricular unit reflects complexity and logic inherent in science education facilitating deeper conceptual understanding. The development of this curricular unit takes place under the initiative of the National Science Foundation (NSF) funded project and explores the efficacy of the agriculture-related unit on students’ integrated vision of the human impact on natural systems. Research project seeks to recognize the characteristics that identify research-based curriculum (Clements, 2007). The interdisciplinary nature of this project has the potential to investigate how close adherence to features identifying research-based curriculum can support the development of coherent curricular unit mediating students’ integrated vision of environmental issues. Mediation results of this nature have larger implications on future efficacy studies of curriculum intervention.Ghalichi, N.; Roehrig, G. (2017). The Role of Coherent Research-Based Curricular Unit in Mediating Students’ Integrated Vision of Human Impact on the Environment. En Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Higher Education Advances. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 965-973. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAD17.2017.5489OCS96597

Curriculum implementation exploratory studies: Final report

Throughout the history of schooling in New Zealand the national curriculum has been revised at fairly regular intervals. Consequently, schools are periodically faced with having to accommodate to new curriculum. In between major changes other specifically-focused changes may arise; for example, the increased recent emphasis upon numeracy and literacy

Engaging with the research methods curriculum

Training in research methods has always been an important part of postgraduate courses; however, in recent years, what constitutes an "appropriate" kind of training for postgraduate students in Education has been shaped by national policy in addition to disciplinary traditions. Such debates became a live issue during the process of developing an online research methods module for three related MA programmes. In this paper, a critique is developed of approaches to teaching research methods. This is achieved by exploring three different approaches to the teaching and assessment of an online research methods module. The differences between these are examined, drawing on the theoretical framework and the idea of the 'engaged curriculum' developed by Barnett & Coate (2005). The paper concludes by contrasting the diversity in this case with the position currently being advocated by the UK's funding councils

Koherenssin rakentaminen kansallisessa opetussuunnitelmauudistuksessa : Kuinka koulun toimijat kokevat opetussuunnitelman koherenssin ja miksi sillä on väliä?

This dissertation presents an exploration of the anatomy and function of curriculum coherence as perceived by educational stakeholders in national core curriculum reform in basic education. It presents analysis of how educational stakeholders from three levels of the educational system experienced the core curriculum’s coherence, and whether there were differences within and between the levels. In addition, the study included an examination of whether curriculum coherence is connected to the impact of the reform process on school-level development. The dissertation is comprised of three independent part studies. The study was conducted with quantitative methods, combining variable-centered and person-centered analyses. Survey data were collected from three cohorts: state-level stakeholders involved in core curriculum development (N = 116), district-level stakeholders involved in local curriculum development (N = 550) and comprehensive school teachers at two time points in the early stages of implementing the curriculum in schools (N = 901). The results showed that perceived curriculum coherence consisted of: 1) consistency of the intended direction, 2) an integrative approach to teaching and learning, and 3) alignment between objectives, content and assessment (study I). Overall, the state-level stakeholders seemed to have the highest perceptions of the core curriculum’s coherence and teachers the lowest. While all participant cohorts perceived the core curriculum to be rather coherent, the consistency of the curriculum’s intended direction was seen as the least successful element of coherence. The person-centered analyses provided more detailed information about the variation in perceived curriculum coherence within and between the levels of the educational system. Two distinctive profiles were identified among state- and district-level stakeholders in study II. Stakeholders in the high coherence and impact profile (83%) experienced the core curriculum to be coherent in terms of all three elements and expected the reform process to have positive impact on school-level development work. In turn, stakeholders in the lower consistency of the intended direction and impact profile (17%) perceived the consistency of the intended direction to be lower, combined with less positive expectations of the school-level impact. State-level stakeholders had higher odds of belonging to the high coherence and impact profile compared to the district-level stakeholders. In study III, five profiles were identified based on teachers’ perceived curriculum coherence at two time points during the early stage of curriculum implementation. Teachers in the largest profiles, high (21%) and high-moderate coherence (48%), experienced the core curriculum to be coherent, however their perceived coherence slightly decreased during the one-year follow-up. In turn, teachers in the low-moderate (20%) and low coherence (3%) profiles perceived the core curriculum to be less coherent at first but their perceptions slightly increased after the first year of implementation. Finally, the decreasing coherence (9%) profile had rather low initial perceived coherence and showed a large drop during the follow-up. The results also showed that district-level stakeholders’ perceptions of the core curriculum’s coherence were strongly connected to their expectations of the reform’s impact on functional school development (study I). Moreover, teachers’ curriculum coherence profiles differed in terms of their perceptions of the school impact: the more coherent teachers perceived the core curriculum, the more positive they considered the impact of the reform to be on school-level development work (study III). The dissertation contributes to the research on curriculum reform by a) exploring the anatomy of curriculum coherence as perceived by educational stakeholders, b) showing that curriculum coherence is connected to the potential of the reform to support locally functional school development, c) providing a systemic inquiry of perceived curriculum coherence at various levels of the educational system in the context of large-scale curriculum reform, and d) utilizing both variable-centered and person-centered analytical approaches to gain more detailed information on perceived curriculum coherence throughout the system. ________________________________________ Keywords: curriculum coherence, curriculum reform, Finnish comprehensive school, school developmentTässä väitöstutkimuksessa tarkasteltiin opetussuunnitelman koherenssin, eli sen yhtenäisyyden ja johdonmukaisuuden, rakennetta ja merkitystä koulun toimijoiden kokemana kansallisten perusopetuksen opetussuunnitelman perusteiden uudistuksessa. Tutkimuksessa tarkasteltiin, kuinka koulujärjestelmän eri toimijat kokivat uudistetun opetussuunnitelman koherenssin sekä sitä, erosivatko näkemykset koulujärjestelmän eri tasoilla ja niiden välillä. Lisäksi tutkittiin, onko opetussuunnitelman koherenssi yhteydessä odotuksiin uudistuksen vaikuttavuudesta koulutasolla. Väitöstutkimus koostuu kolmesta itsenäisestä osatutkimuksesta. Tutkimus toteutettiin kvantitatiivisilla menetelmillä hyödyntäen sekä muuttuja- että yksilökeskeisiä lähestymistapoja. Kyselyaineisto kerättiin kolmelta koulujärjestelmän tasolta: kansallisen tason opetussuunnitelman perusteiden kehittämiseen osallistuneilta toimijoilta (N = 116), paikallistason opetussuunnitelmatyöryhmiin osallistuneilta toimijoilta (N = 550), sekä peruskoulun opettajilta kahdella mittauskerralla opetussuunnitelman toteutuksen alkuvaiheessa (N = 901). Tulosten perusteella näkemykset opetussuunnitelman koherenssista koostuivat: 1) tavoitellun suunnan johdonmukaisuudesta, 2) opetusta eheyttävästä lähestymistavasta sekä 3) tavoitteiden, sisältöjen ja arvioinnin linjakkuudesta (osatutkimus I). Yleisesti ottaen kansallistason toimijat kokivat opetussuunnitelman perusteet eniten koherenteiksi ja opettajat vähiten. Vaikka kaikkien vastaajaryhmien näkemysten perusteella opetussuunnitelman perusteet olivat melko koherentit, tavoitellun suunnan johdonmukaisuus koettiin koherenssin ulottuvuuksista matalimmaksi. Yksilökeskeiset analyysit antoivat lisätietoa tasojen sisäisestä ja välisestä vaihtelusta. Osatutkimuksessa II kansallisen ja paikallisen tason toimijoiden keskuudesta tunnistettiin kaksi erilaista profiilia. Korkean koherenssin ja vaikuttavuuden ryhmään kuuluneet toimijat (83%) kokivat opetussuunnitelman perusteet koherenteiksi kaikkien kolmen ulottuvuuden suhteen sekä samaan aikaan odottivat, että opetussuunnitelmauudistusprosessi vaikuttaa positiivisesti koulutason kehittämistyöhön. Matalan johdonmukaisuuden ja vaikuttavuuden ryhmään kuuluneet toimijat (17%) sen sijaan kokivat opetussuunnitelman perusteiden tavoitellun suunnan johdonmukaisuuden matalammaksi ja samalla heidän uskomuksensa uudistuksen koulutason vaikuttavuudesta olivat heikommat. Kansallistason toimijat kuuluivat todennäköisemmin korkean koherenssin ja vaikuttavuuden profiiliin verrattuna paikallistason toimijoihin. Osatutkimuksessa III tunnistettiin viisi koetun koherenssin profiilia opettajien kahden mittauskerran vastausten perusteella. Opettajat suurimmissa profiileissa, korkea (21%) ja korkea-kohtalainen koherenssi (48%), kokivat opetussuunnitelman perusteet koherenteiksi, vaikka heidän näkemyksensä koherenssista laskivat hieman opetussuunnitelman toteuttamisen alkuvaiheissa. Matala-kohtalainen (20%) sekä matala koherenssi (3%) ryhmiin kuuluneet opettajat sen sijaan kokivat opetussuunnitelman koherenssin vähäisenä ensimmäisellä vastauskerralla, mutta koettu koherenssi kasvoi hieman opetussuunnitelman toteuttamisen alkuvaiheessa. Laskevan koherenssin (9%) ryhmän näkemykset opetussuunnitelman koherenssista olivat matalat sekä laskivat edelleen vuoden seurannan aikana. Lisäksi tulokset osoittivat, että paikallistason toimijoiden näkemykset opetussuunnitelman perusteiden yhtenäisyydestä kolmella koherenssin ulottuvuudella olivat vahvasti yhteydessä heidän arvioihinsa opetussuunnitelmauudistuksen vaikutuksesta koulujen kehittämistyöhön, esimerkiksi opettajien sitoutumiseen ja paikallisesti toimivaan kehittämistyöhön (osatutkimus I). Lisäksi opettajien koetun koherenssin profiilit erosivat uskomuksissa koulutason vaikutuksista; mitä koherentimmiksi opetussuunnitelman perusteet koettiin, sen vahvemmiksi arvioitiin uudistuksen vaikutukset koulutason kehittämistyössä (osatutkimus III). Väitöstutkimus edistää opetussuunnitelmauudistuksiin liittyvää tutkimusta seuraavilla tavoilla: a) tarkastelemalla opetussuunnitelman koherenssin rakennetta koulujärjestelmän toimijoiden kokemana, b) osoittamalla, että koettu opetussuunnitelman koherenssi on yhteydessä uudistuksen odotettuun vaikuttavuuteen koulun kehittämistyössä, c) tarjoamalla systeemisen tarkastelun koetusta koherenssista koulujärjestelmän kolmella eri tasolla sekä d) hyödyntämällä muuttuja- ja yksilökeskeisiä lähestymistapoja aineiston analyysissa. ________________________________________ Avainsanat: opetussuunnitelman koherenssi, opetussuunnitelmauudistus, peruskoulu, koulun kehittämine

Fostering Inquiry and Creativity in Early Years STEM Education: Policy Recommendations from the <i>Creative Little Scientists</i> Project

Creative Little Scientists was a 30-month (2011-2014) EU/FP7-funded research project focusing on the synergies between early years science and mathematics education and the development of children’s creativity, in response to increasing interest in these areas in European educational policy. Using a variety of methods, including desk research, a teacher survey and classroom-based fieldwork, the research provided insights into whether and how children’s creativity is fostered and appropriate learning outcomes, including children’s interest, emerge. Based on these and ongoing collaboration and dialogue with participants and other stakeholders the project proposed recommendations for policy and teacher education. This paper presents these recommendations and the research on which they were based. Throughout the study, mixed methods were employed, combining quantitative approaches used in surveys of policy and teachers’ views based on a list of factors, alongside qualitative approaches employed in case studies of classroom practice. A strong conceptual framework developed at the start of the project guided data collection and analysis, as well as the presentation of findings and the development of policy recommendations, thus ensuring the latter’s strong and consistent relationship with the relevant theoretical knowledge, the comparative research, analysis of classroom practices and the production of guidelines for teacher education

Evaluating a virtual learning environment in the context of its community of practice

The evaluation of virtual learning environments (VLEs) and similar applications has, to date, largely consisted of checklists of system features, phenomenological studies or measures of specific forms of educational efficacy. Although these approaches offer some value, they are unable to capture the complex and holistic nature of a group of individuals using a common system to support the wide range of activities that make up a course or programme of study over time. This paper employs Wenger's theories of 'communities of practice' to provide a formal structure for looking at how a VLE supports a pre-existing course community. Wenger proposes a Learning Architecture Framework for a learning community of practice, which the authors have taken to provide an evaluation framework. This approach is complementary to both the holistic and complex natures of course environments, in that particular VLE affordances are less important than the activities of the course community in respect of the system. Thus, the VLE's efficacy in its context of use is the prime area of investigation rather than a reductionist analysis of its tools and components. An example of this approach in use is presented, evaluating the VLE that supports the undergraduate medical course at the University of Edinburgh. The paper provides a theoretical grounding, derives an evaluation instrument, analyses the efficacy and validity of the instrument in practice and draws conclusions as to how and where it may best be used

Leadership for Transforming High Schools

Explores the unique tasks and challenges faced by education leaders in the face of stricter accountability reforms associated with the federal No Child Left Behind legislation and associated state-level education policy initiatives