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Do we have what it takes? Do we have what it takes? – – the Finnish Core Curriculumthe Finnish Core Curriculum

and information Literacyand information Literacy

Anu Ojaranta, PhD candidate

Information Studies,School of Business and Economics,

Åbo Akademi University, Finland

ECIL, Istanbul, Turkey22-25 October 2013

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Background and aim of the studyBackground and aim of the study

The background is in understanding information literacy conceptions in the educational environment, the research of information literacy instruction of teachers and librarians and in school libraries as possible advocates of information literacy in schools.

The aim of this research is to study the two consecutive national core curricula of the comprehensive school from information literacy perspective and to understand the information literacy conception of teachers and librarians and are there discourses found between the actors and the actors and the curricula.

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Research questionsResearch questions

How are aspects of information literacy present in the national core curricula? How does the findings compare to the information literacy model of Christine Bruce? Are there differences between the curricula of 2004 and 2016? If so, what are the differences?

How do teachers and school librarians conceptualize information literacy and do the conceptions differ from as they are present in the core curricula? If so, what are the differences?

What differences or similarities are there to be found between teachers’ and school librarians’ conceptions? Does the presence of a school library have impact on their conceptions?

The core curriculum and Finnish school The core curriculum and Finnish school systemsystem

Presented by the Board of Education

The national guideline At the moment describing

learning goals, what has to be learnt

Municipalities and schools has to adapt it to their own use.

Current curriculum from 2004

Consists of a general part and a subject related part

New curriculum is ready at the end of 2014

The comprehensive school was established in 1972

It is compulsory Primary school (grades 1-6) Secondary school (grades

7-9) The Finnish school system

has gainned visibility and fame because of PISA results

The results has a slight downward trend

Education debate is vivid in Finland at the moment because of that

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The Seven Faces of Information The Seven Faces of Information LiteracyLiteracyby Christine Bruceby Christine Bruce Seven faces of information literacy was chosen

because of a need to understand conceptions, not skills or process described to be information literate.

Hoping to understand discourse differences between teachers and school librarians.

A relational model of information literacy– Information technology conception– Information source conception– Information process conception– Information controling conception– Knowledge construction conception– Knowledge extension conception– Wisdom conception(Source: Bruce, C. (1997). The Seven Faces of Informaiton Literacy. Adelaide: Auslib

Press.)

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How the framework was used?How the framework was used?

The core curriculum was first analyzed counting words related to information, knowledge, information, libraries, media, information literacy, etc. This was to get an over all picture of the material.

The core curriculum was analyzed by concepts and the concepts were organized to a table according to Bruce’s model’s categories.

Some adjustments are explained in the following slides, as well as some of the challenges.

Reasons for the challenges were partly posed by the text itself and some by the framework.

The results were presented both according to subject categories in the curriculum and by Bruce’s categories.

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Challenges of the empirical Challenges of the empirical materialmaterial There is distortion in the number of occurrences

between primary and secondary schools because of grade division in some subjects

Comparison between primary and secondary school is therefore not useful

There are 5 languages that has an official mother tongue status in the curriculum.

Therefore same issues as occurrences come up several times

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The knowledge construction The knowledge construction conceptionconception

Category of Bruce’s model Concept on the curriculum Where and grade

Knowledge

construction

Typical "Recognize genres of normal fictional text and

different styles of factual and media texts – news

reports, advertisements, and various articles, in

particular – and be able to take an analytical and

critical stance towards them.”

7. Learning objectives and core

contents of education

7.3 Mother tongue and literature,

Swedish as mother tongue, grades 6-

9,

final-assessment criteria for grade of

8

Subject-

related

p. 188, " The core task of physics instruction in the

seventh through ninth grades is to broaden the pupil’s

knowledge of physics and their conceptions of the

nature of physics, and to strengthen skills in the

experimental acquisition of information "

7. Learning objectives and core

contents of education

7.9 Physics,

grades 7-9,

introduction

Discarded s.178, "[The pupils will] … how to evaluate different

data sources critically”

7. Learning objectives and core

contents of education

7.8 Biology and geography,

grades 5-6,

description of good performance at

the end of the sixth grade.

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Word analysis to show Word analysis to show proportionsproportionsOccurrences in general or subject related part of the curriculum40 (7,3%) occurrences in the general part of the curriculum503 (92,0%) occurrences in the subject related part of the

curriculum245 (44,8%) 245 occurrences out of 547 are found in the

mother tongue  Occurrences according to primary or secondary level55 (15%) occurrences in general, not specific to school level280 (51,2%) occurrences in primary school curriculum212 (38,8%) occurrences in secondary school curriculum

Languages include Finnish, Swedish as official languages and Sami, Romani and sign language as minority languages

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Example of division of occurrences in one conception Example of division of occurrences in one conception category (with only Finnish as mother tongue category (with only Finnish as mother tongue

occurrences)occurrences)

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Example of how the occurrences are divided inside the Example of how the occurrences are divided inside the subject group of mother tongue (only Finnish)subject group of mother tongue (only Finnish)

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Summary of the findings in a figure Summary of the findings in a figure (including the whole mother tongue subject group)(including the whole mother tongue subject group)

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Summary of findingsSummary of findings

Information literacy is present in the Finnish core curriculum

The general part has more emphasis on learning aspects then the subjects specific groups

The core curriculum is describing the learning goals but the means to reach it is not present in the curriculum.

– 2004 curriculum is describing what– 2016 curriculum is describing how (?)

Discources found are finding information and learning– Phases 1 and 2 = information finding discourse STRONG– Phases 5 and 6 (+7) = learning discourse STRONG– Phases 3 and 4 = informaiton managing discourse WEAK

Interesting point of continuin the research…

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Thank you! Kiitos!Thank you! Kiitos!

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In case you have questions:

anu.ojaranta@abo.fiLinkedIn

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