Putting out the fires: Supervisors' experiences of introducing primary English in Saudi Arabia.

Teaching English to Young learners (TEYL) initiatives can represent an example of complex change (Fullan, 1992), whose classroom implementation implies those affected by the change learning new, or adjusting existing, practices and beliefs. Research (Levin and Fullan, 2008; Wedell, 2013) suggests that if contextually appropriate versions of complex change outcomes are to become visible in the majority of classrooms, both the parts of the change system (e.g. materials and assessment), and the way in which the people affected (change ‘partners’) carry out their roles, need to be as consistent as possible with change aims. Saudi Arabia introduced the teaching of English in the last year of primary level in 2004, and expanded it to the fourth year of schooling in 2011. This study uses the reported experiences of representatives from one key group of change ‘partners’: Saudi Primary English Supervisors, to explore aspects of the first six years of TEYL implementation. Their reports suggest widespread inconsistency during the first phase of implementation and little attempt to address the issues before launching the second phase. We suggest that acknowledging the value of these implementers' experiences and giving greater consideration to their suggestions, could help enable the second phase of implementation to become more consistent than the first

Challenges in school mathematics curriculum reform in India: transforming teacher practices through pedagogical innovations

Over the last four decades, India has seen tremendous growth and change in the field of education, especially mathematics education. There has been a growing awareness in India for the need to improve student learning in a continually changing and highly demanding environment. In facing this challenge, it is essential to understand the complexity of the educational system and the multitude of problems it comes with. Over the years, India has made small but significant efforts in the form of intervention at various levels in K-12 mathematics education. These efforts have begun to indicate the direction in which we need to put in our efforts for improving both student thinking and learning and teacher pedagogical practices. In this chapter, we will discuss how India’s mathematics education is changing through various governmental and non-governmental initiatives, national curriculum framework reforms and activities to popularize mathematics. While these have been evolving, one of the continuing challenges that have been identified in India is teacher preparation and a good model for teacher professional development at the in-service and pre-service levels. We will discuss how one can tackle this problem through engagement of teachers in novel pedagogical practices both inside and outside of classrooms, through creation of rich tasks and problems with varying levels of cognitive demand, through recognition of multiple approaches to problem solving in a classroom and through a culture of lesson study to promote a collaborative teacher network. Such innovative reforms will not only enhance the mathematics education curriculum in India but also will help prepare students with lifelong twenty-first-century skills including collaboration, communication, critical thinking and creativity