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Leading and managing the curriculum, productive pedagogy and effective schools
The focus on curriculum has been intentionally placed in the very early stages of this course.
As leaders and managers our role in educational settings is to ensure the work with students is undertaken through the creation and delivery of a quality curriculum.
Once again we face a plethora of definitions of curriculum. As we move from the early years through the phases of schooling and into the post compulsory provisions the notions of curriculum change drastically.
For your journal this week, search out the definitions of curriculum that you use to drive your work. Please acknowledge the sources.
There are a number of definitions that range from general statements to very specific ones. There has, in the past, been an accepted view that curriculum is all the learning that happens, planned and unplanned whilst a student is engaged in a school or institute.
The South Australian Curriculum Standards and Accountability [SACSA] framework [p.35] narrows this down to:
- The planned program of teaching and learning constructed by educators, in partnership with learners and others, to achieve agreed educational outcomes.
Whatever definition we choose, our personal / professional ideology, our values framework, the depth to which we have thought the process of education through will impact on our choice.
There are theorists [see Leithwood
and Duke] who argue that curriculum is that valued body of knowledge, skills and performance that a community hands from one generation to the next as part of the cultural education process. That process carries inherently within it the way that society organises and sustains class and power structures, gender construction, spiritual and cultural mores and the accepted means by which that society and its work, recreation and community life is organised.
They argue that each community must have a defined and agreed view of 'an educated person' and the curriculum and teaching processes work towards the achievement of that view.
Reading
The question of the student in educational reform.
In pursuing the goals of educational reform over the past several decades, educational policy makers have focused on teachers, administrators, and school structures as keys to higher educational achievement. As the would-be beneficiaries of reform, students, and their interaction with the educational system, have been almost entirely overlooked in the pursuit of educational excellence.
Ericson, D. P. and Ellett, F. S. (2002, July 2). Education Policy Analysis Archives, 10(31).
Retrieved 18/10/2004 from http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v10n31/.
The strategic and resource
implications of a new model of learning
Education, so politicians in many lands are quick to claim, is at the top of the political agenda - the "number one" item. Business people concur. So do community leaders. So do parents. However, it is easy to
say we are looking for higher standards. But what standards? What kind of society are we anticipating, or do we desire? How are "standards" to be achieved? If this means spending significantly more money, then given other political priorities surely this would be a non-starter. What does being "number one" on the agenda actually mean?
The 21st Century Learning Initiatives Policy Paper, November 1998.
Retrieved 18/10/2004 from http://www.21learn.org/publ/PP.pdf
Creating
the Future: perspectives on educational change
Twenty-five points of view come together in this compilation of leading-edge ideas on education. Each writer offers a unique perspective based on a rich background of research or educational practice, and each contributes to "the big picture" that is forming of a new kind of education for our time. Considered together, their ideas are complementary; the sum total of these brief articles offers important implications for educational planning and practice.
Dickinson, D, Editor, New Horizons for Learning, 1998.
Retrieved 18/10/2004 from http://www.newhorizons.org/future/Creating_the_Future/crfut_frontend.html
Maturing Outcomes
Expert educators continually make decisions about the outcomes of their curriculum and instruction. Over time, as we mature, we expand our capacity to think simultaneously about multiple, cumulative, long-range, hierarchical, and increasingly complex decisions. This article, in the form a conversation between Art Costa and Bob Garmston, describes simultaneous and increasingly complex outcomes educators hold as they work with students.
Arthur L. Costa, Ed.D. and Robert J. Garmston, Ed.D. Reprinted, with permission, from Encounter: Education for Meaning and Social Justice, 11 (1), pp. 10-18. Brandon, VT: Psychology Press/Holistic Education Press, 1998.
Retrieved 18/10/2004 from http://www.cognitivecoaching.cc/pdf/article3.pdf
Other Resources
Curriculum Leadership Powerpoint
[331k]
Angelica's Story [43k]
Cameron's School [30k]
Leading People
[75k]
Reflection
The definition of curriculum you take on will form the basis of your educational leadership and management work. We will ask as part of this course that you focus on that work and undertake the following tasks as part of your case study preparation.
This work should be submitted as part of your learning journal.
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- Describe with support from your reading, the role of the educational leader / leadership team as the developers and stewards of the curriculum and teaching process.
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- In investigating the case study scenario you are building up discuss with other significant leaders some of the current curriculum leadership opportunities you / they are working with.
Spend time exploring some of the current curriculum management challenges and opportunities you / they are working with.
Try to articulate how you see the difference between curriculum leadership and curriculum management and how the two functions interact.
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- One of the essential elements of this role will be the reform process to adjust and fine tune the curriculum to be more effective, equitable and accessible for all students.
As part of your analysis, describe the curriculum and student achievement evidence you have based your reform or change agenda upon.
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