The role of teachers in school and curricular reform Branislava Baranović, Ph.D. Institute for Social Research – Zagreb Centre for Educational Research.

The role of teachers in school and curricular reform

Branislava Baranović, Ph.D. Institute for Social Research – Zagreb

Centre for Educational Research and DevelopmentE-mail: [email protected]

The Educational System in Croatia

Characteristics of the national curriculum (NC) for compulsory education from the teachers’

perspective

Why is it important to examine the teachers’ opinions as part of the process of curriculum reform?

• The curriculum reform requires detailed analysis of factors that influence its development and implementation.

• Teachers/ pillars of NC - the main source of information on NC.

• Examination of theachers’ opininos provides:- insights into weaknesses and strenghts of the NC relevant for policy makers/curriculum developers; - sensitises the teachers for curriculum changes;- includes theachers in the very process of curriculum reform;- enhances the development of the “curriculum culture” in schools.

The current state of the national curriculum

• The results of empirical research on the opinions of school principals, teachers and pupils towards the current syllabi

• Sample (120 schools): 2134 subject teachers, 1334 classroom teachers, 2674 8th grade pupils, 120 school principals)

• Project carried out in 2003

The frequency of PC usage among subject teachers (%)

26,1

32,2

22,7

19Never

Rarely

Frequently

Very frequently

The frequency of Internet usage among subject teachers (%)

41,5

27,8

18,8

12

Never

Rarely

Frequently

Very frequently

Do you communicate through E-mail? (%)

35,5

63,5

Yes

No

Resources for lessons preparation (mean values)

1,32

1,83

2,5

2,55

3,14

3,19

3,28

3,71

1 2 3 4

Curriculum from other countries

Internet

Mass media

Teaching plans from previous years

Professional literature

Handbook for teachers

Framework programme Ministry ofEducation

Textbook

Legend: 1=never; 4=always

Teaching tools

Most commonly used:• Textbooks• Workbooks• Teacher’s Handbooks• Professional literature

Least commonly used: • Personal computers• Internet• Educational CD ROM• LCD projector

Teachers’ estimates of their subjects’ syllabi (subject ranks)

Croatian Lang. and Lit.

Art Mus. For.Lang

Maths

Bio Che. Phy. His. Geo.Tech.Edu.

Phy. & Health Ed.

Rel. Edu.

Rank

Up-to-date 8 7 8 6 8 7 6 7 8 7 6 7 5

Overloaded

1 6 2 2 1 1 1 4 2 1 2 4 6

Demanding 2 9 7 7 3 6 5 6 3 6 5 7 9

Interesting 6 4 6 5 7 2 2 3 6 3 7 5 3

Horizontally coherent

9 8 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 8 9 8

Vertically coherent

4 5 3 4 5 8 7 8 5 8 9 6 7

Useful 6 3 5 3 6 5 4 2 7 5 4 2 2

Important for the future

5 2 3 1 2 3 3 1 4 4 3 1 1

In need of change

3 1 1 8 3 4 7 5 1 2 1 3 3

Note • Table on the previous slide presents the rank of

teachers' estimates of the syllabi characteristics for each subject.

• They were derived from the teachers' perceptions of the subject they teach.

• Rank 1 being the highest and rank 9 the lowest.• Rank explains the position of the characteristic in relation

to all other subject syllabi characteristics.• On all dimensions except for "overload" and "demand" a

higher rank describes a more positive estimate (e.g. more up-to-date, more interesting, but less overloaded and less demanding)

Teachers’ estimates: change of number of lessons for each subject (% of teachers)

Subject - = + Subject - = +

Croatian lang. and lit.

19.4 67.8 12.8 Physics 11.5 78.1 10.4

Arts 3.4 50.4 46.2 History 13.5 79.2 7.2

Music 3.9 56.4 39.7 Geography 9.2 76.8 14.0

Foreign language 2.4 59.8 37.9Technical Education

8.1 53.0 38.9

Mathematics 15.6 74.0 10.4Physical and Health Ed.

2.1 52.5 45.4

Biology 6.4 83.1 10.5 Religious Ed. 51.3 46.1 2.5

Chemistry 11.6 80.1 8.3 Elective subjects 7.8 53.1 39.0

Legend: -: reduce current number of lessons =: keep current number of lessons

+: increase current number of lessons

The subject (content) structure of the national curriculum should be changed

• The subjects that should not be taught in school according to the teachers’ estimates:

• Catechism - 34.5% teachers• Technical education- 7.8% teachers

• The subjects that should be included in school:• ICT (as a compulsory subject for all students) – 24.4% • Ethics – 10.4%• Second Foreign Language – 10.3% • Sexual Education – 8.9%

The teachers’ perception of the obstacles to quality teaching and implementation of the syllabi

The most frequent responses:

1. Differences in motivation of students in a single class2. Differences in abilities of students in a single class3. A fast pace of teaching or syllabi implementation4. Large classes5. Insufficient collaboration among teachers

What kind of curriculum changes should be done according to the findings? (teachers’ perspective)

Weaknesses of NC Necessary changes

Overloaded syllabi Reduction of content load

Insufficiently up to date Content update

Insufficiently horizontally and vertically coherent

Interdisciplinary approach with horizontally and vertically aligned syllabi

Inappropriate subject structure New content/subject structure

Insufficiently balanced (underrepresented subjects)

“Soft subjects” should get more time

Insensitive to student differences Differentiation according to abilities and interests of students

Domination of traditional teaching methods and tools

Based on the use ICT technology and student centered teaching approach

Poor collaboration among teachers Foster cooperation of teachers in planning/ implementation NC in school

Internationalisation of educational change

- European integration and globalisation place the Croatian educational system in an international context

- To align educational changes to the needs of the national economy

and society but also to European and international trends - International trend - education for life and work in a knowledge based

society and globalised economy (education for new competences)

- European Reference Framework for qey competences: 1. communication in mother tongue, 2. communication in foreign language, 3. mathematical competence and competences in science and technology, 4. digital competence, 5. learning to learn, 6. interpersonal,intercultural and social competences, 7. enterpreneurship and 8. cultural expression.

Towards the new national curriculum

- A request for the development of new national curriculum (a coherent, balanced and integrated national curriculum, based on new competences).

- Changes in other segments of the educational system (e.g. teacher education, length of compulsory education, organizational structure of educational system, etc.).

- What has been done: reduction of content load and content update.

New demands on teachers’competences

- Traditionally - a centralised, subject-based and knowledge oriented national curriculum.

- Education and training of teachers for development and implementation of outcome/competence based curriculum

(in methodology of designing outcome/competence based curriculum, new approaches to teaching and learning, assessment of learning outcomes, use of ICT, crosscurricular and team work, etc.).

Questions for disccussion in groups (1)

1. Role of teachers in curricular changes:

- Reflection on curricular reforms in individual countries

- Why teachers’ opinions and participation in the curricular reform (CR) are important?

- In what way have teachers participated in the CR in your country (in committies, school curriculum development, etc.)?

- In what way the participation in the CR facilitate the teachers competence in implementation of new curriculum?

Questions for disccussion in groups (2)

2. Capacity building of teachers for the implementation of the new curriculum

- What kind of training provision for the implementation of the new curriculum did teachers receive?

- How much did the initial education prepare the teachers for new curriculum demands?

- How much did the in-service trainings prepare the teachers for new curriculum demands?

- What would you change in the existing in-service training?- What would you change in the existing pre-service training?- In what elements of professional development da you need training?

Questions for disccussion in groups (3)

3. Suggestions for the future

- Examples of good experience or practices in participation of teachers in the curriculum reform useful for others.

- Examples of good practices in pre-service education and in-service training of teachers useful for others.

- How to improve the processes of exchanging ideas and teachers’ experience in the region?