Curriculum Development for Inclusive Practice

Module 8

carol.dennis@hull.ac.uk

Dr Carol Azumah Dennis

Programme DirectorTeaching in Lifelong Learning Sector

307a

What is Curriculum Development?

Curriculum definitions

National strategy for curriculum development

Social construction of curriculum

Influences on curriculum development

Curriculum reform

Context of learners’ curricula within LSS sector

Curriculum Development for Inclusive Practice What is Curriculum Development

Curriculum philosophies, theories and models

The Curriculum Development process

The Balanced Curriculum

The development cycle

Curriculum development project – support sessions

Part A: Project1500 words

Identify the key factors which shaped curriculum Review curriculum theories and models; select

and apply models and theories a to your project Demonstrate ways of facilitating change to

improve the inclusiveness of your curriculum Explain the evaluation procedures which apply to

your curriculum development, indicate how they improve the quality of your programme

Part B: Action Plan Identify areas for future curriculum development and submit in the form of an Action Plan

(500 words)

Part C: Commentary a reflective commentary : personal and

professional development during Yr 2

 (1500 - 2000 words)

your professional practice file

1 lesson observation: Teaching log (25 hrs)

7 lesson observations: Teaching log (125 hrs)

Group Profile◉Please list the diverse curricular areas that each of you work in.

◉Please list the various employment contexts that you work in.

◉How do your interests in curriculum overlap / diverge?

Group Activity◉In small groups scribe a single statement that defines the concept of curriculum

◉Read the material I have given you. Agree 2 or 3 other ways curriculum might be used.

Group Activity◉Can you differentiate the concept of curriculum from course, syllabus, timetable, programme?

◉Do colleges or non-statutory providers ‘have a curriculum’ in the way schools do?

◉Are all activities in an educational establishment part of the curriculum?

What do we mean by Curriculum?

◉A curriculum may refer to a system: the national curriculum

◉An institutional area: the vocational curriculum

◉Or to an individual programme: the colleges' study skills curriculum

Curriculum as Product◉Performance: learning history

◉Unambiguous observable behaviour

◉A body of knowledge

◉Transmission (teacher-proof)

◉Syllabus

◉Lucy to Charlie Brown: ‘I taught

Snoopy (my dog) how to whistle.’

◉Charlie Brown : (looks at Snoopy for a few

moments; then to Lucy) ‘I don’t hear him

whistling.’

◉Lucy to Charlie Brown: ‘I said I taught

him to whistle. I didn't say he learned!’

Efficient and effective

◉Why: aims & objectives

◉What: content or subject matter

◉How: methods or procedures

◉To what effect: evaluation or assessment

Curriculum as Process◉Competence: becoming a historian

◉Understanding

◉Constructed knowledge

◉Inquiry

◉The teachable moment

◉...a discipline is not a series of

knowledge bites to be consumed by

the learner, but a body of knowledge

with its own logical structure and

form ... a syntax

◉‘Ideas and action are fused in

practice. Self-improvement comes in

escaping from the idea that the way

to virtuosity is the imitation of others

– pastiche [...] in art ideas are tested

in form by practice, exploration and

interpretation lead to revision and

adjustment.’Stenhouse, L (1975) p 65 An introduction to

Curriculum research and development,

London: Heinemann

Activity: Curriculum Reform -1990

◉ 1990: British Baccalaureate

◉ 1991: Training and Enterprise councils

◉ 1991: Education and Training for 21st C

◉ 1992: Further and Higher Education Act

◉ 1992: OfSTED◉ 1992: GNVQ ◉ 1993: Incorporation of

colleges◉ 1995: FEDA - not just

promote but embody

◉ 1996: Dearing review of 16-19 qualifications

◉ 1996: International Year of Lifelong Learning

◉ 1997: Education, Education, Education

◉ 1997: Learning Works◉ 1999: Moser report◉ 2000: Learning and Skills

Act (ALI)◉ 2007: Functional Skills◉ 2008: FLT◉ 2009: LA & ALF

Top DownPolicyFundingQualityRestructureNational Curriculum... to strategy

Bottom upSmall scaleTranslation

Direct actionFlexible

ResponsiveFrom campaign...

Activity: Access for AllA student enrols on your class who is

a) profoundly deaf b) SLDD c)dyslexic

How will you make sure she has the support she needs to participate in your class.

How might you change your class to enable her to take part. Think in terms of your

structure, content, delivery.

http://www.excellencegateway.org.uk/sflcurriculum

both / and instead of either / or

curriculum‘a discursive space’

negotiatedtotal

receivedexperienced / enacted

hidden

plannedformal / official

Theory and Practice

THEORETICAL PRACTICAL PRODUCTIVE

syllabus process product

praxis

◉[...] ... there is no such thing as the

curriculum, there is only a curriculum: it is

very specific to a particular situation and

to a particular student, and it will vary. For

[...] it is an animated conversation on a

topic [...] between a learner, someone who

is somewhat more expert in a subject [...]

and a body of knowledge.

Bruner, J p 141 In Search of Pedagogy Vol II

The Selected Works of Jerome Bruner Routledge: Taylor & Taylor Group