CHAPTER 2: HISTORICAL BACKGROUND AND TRENDS IN EDUCATION
2.2 OVERSEAS AND AUSTRALIAN TRENDS IN EDUCATION
2.2.3 The Role of the Curriculum in Improving the Quality of Education
2.2.3.1 Overseas Trends
In many countries the curriculum is at the centre of the debate about schooling. Control of the curriculum and its relevance to national needs are vital issues everywhere. Much
of the debate concerns "core curriculum" as in England and Wales where the Government's drive to establish a national core curriculum is causing much controversy .(>
In most education systems an enlarged concept of the curriculum now operates. Curriculum is no longer restricted to the academic content of syllabuses which teachers transmit as information to students, but is perceived as a way of analysing the teaching and learning process so that content is only one of several factors. This broader approach is finding support from employers and politicians as they urge the development in students of initiative, creativity, flexibility, problem solving and the ability to work with others.
It is the new concern with quality which has refocused attention on the idea of a "core curriculum". Although there is a wide range of meanings attributed to this term it is possible to identify a number of essential features in its current use. It applies to all schools in a given system, national, regional or local and implies system wide control of defined, essential elements to meet system-wide goals and objectives. It specifies pre-determined content in terms of knowledge, skills and values and it assumes some method of assessing student achievement.
While there is a definite trend to express the core curriculum as a set of compulsory subject learnings there are also many critics of such an approach. They point to serious limitations and argue for essential learnings to be presented as not subject bound but consisting of general understandings, critical thinking skills, values and intellectual flexibility. These educators are arguing not for subjects to be abandoned but to be used as resources in the design of curriculum.
In this regard the original principles of the early Core Curriculum movement in the United States arе often raised: that subject matter can be integrated through interdisciplinary studies;
that there is a common set of social values and democratic principles which all citizens should imbibe; and that the core curriculum can be stated as a set of learning experiences. cis) A critical question which overrides this debate arises from a new element: universal, compulsory schooling. This adds a new dimension not present in the classical model developed at a time of restricted schooling when core curriculum meant the whole curriculum for all students. The new question asks whether there is any common body of knowledge, values and skills which can form a core, regardless of student aptitudes and background.
There appears to be a general recognition in most countries that the scope, content and organisation of the core curriculum requires more rigorous analysis than it has received in the past. There remains vigorous debate between those who argue for diversity to cater for the range of student aptitudes, abilities and interests and those who argue for academic rigour,
2.2.3.2 Primary Curriculum
The issue of the kind of core curriculum to be offered appears to present fewer problems at the primary level. The "core" principle has been largely taken for granted in contrast ti the problems at secondary level. There is increasing interest in using broad learning areas as the framework for the primary curriculum 6)
Among the ever-broadening range of curricular demands being made on schools are those arising from new technology. Education systems are grappling with the implications for schooling of the revolution in information technology and the introduction of computers.
While the potential of new technology is recognised, development is constrained by the lack of resources for purchasing equipment and training teachers.
BOth Primary and secondary curricula are under pressure to include the treatment of important social issues. For example, the growing public awareness of the precariousness of life on
our planet is leading to demands for the fostering of environmental awareness in children.
The most obvious trend at primary level is the drive towards greater structure and coherence in the curriculum, more rigorous assessments, accountability for outcomes and more formal procedures in teaching. This strong, official drive towards the "basics" and testing is being modified in some countries by accommodating it within a broad, child-centred curriculum.
While the long standing argument between the "subject-centred" or "utilitarian" perspective and the "child-centred" or "progressive" perspective is maintained in some quarters, a more middle ground position appears to be emerging as "liberal pragmatism" .(3) This position views the curriculum as a set of learning experiences largely determined by teachers but respecting to some extent both the individuality of children and the importance of cultural transmission. It advocates a broad curriculum which acknowledges the value of first-hand experiences but recognises that children also learn from second-hand experiences.
It uses children's knowledge and interests as a starting point but shapes and refines their experience along teacher-structured lines •(38) This sensible and pragmatic approach avoids the polarisation of the child/subject centred debate.
There is increasing concern about the transition from primary to secondary schooling. Some countries have solved this problem by establishing continuous common schools. Others have tried the establishment of middle schools. Elsewhere there is concentration on better communication and inter-school visits.
2.2.3.3 Secondary Curriculum
Remarkably consistent across countries in recent years has been the theme that secondary curricula should be developed around an enlarged core of compulsory subjects and that students should be directed towards further education and the working world. Associated with this trend has been a strengthening of the vocational strand within the comprehensive school itself or through specialised pre-vocational and vocational institutions.
This strand includes attention to "multi" skills, positive attitudes to work, technological understanding and orientation to specific vocational areas. It is obvious in many countries that these efforts to strengthen the work-related and essential areas of the general curriculum are not reducing the continuing dissatisfaction expressed by both employers and higher education institutions with the skills, knowledge and attitudes of secondary school graduates.
Coincident with the widespread attention being given to work related edисátiоп and training are efforts in most countries to keep adolescents from the labour market as long as possible.
The consequent growing percentage of adolescents remaining to complete six or more years of secondary schooling is creating new demands to adapt curricula to a much wider range of abilities. The traditional secondary school curriculum is seen to offer too little to the less academically inclined student. A common response has been to include a vocational orientation within a framework of general education. Sometimes this has involved the provision of common courses but at different levels and with emphases varying from the more academic to the more practical.
Most countries are grappling with this problem of combining the general and the vocational and the debate is cross-national. Whether the dichotomy can be solved by the incorporation of general vocational elements into the mainstream of general curriculum is a question yet to be solved.
The priority being given to labour market needs is not without its critics. They point to other equally important needs such as personal values; citizenship, general culture, education for leisure and adult relations and argue that the labour market and economic analysis should not take over education. Despite this criticism the predominant trend is for a broader emphasis on general preparation for the world of work.