1. Approaches to developing and evaluating the curriculum
Curriculum Studies - Session 5

2. What stimulates/initiates Curriculum Development?
Developments of fields of knowledge
Dissatisfaction with the old
Economic pressures
Societal pressures
Political pressures
Curriculum Studies - Session 5

3. Who are all these people?
Curriculum envisioners?
Curriculum influencers?
Curriculum designers?
Curriculum developers?
Curriculum mediators?
Curriculum interpreters?
Curriculum facilitators?
Curriculum receivers?
Curriculum evaluators?
Curriculum improvers?
Curriculum enforcers?
Curriculum Studies - Session 5

4. Curriculum Development in the UK
Government agencies (Schools Council)
Charitable bodies (e.g. Nuffield Foundation, Wellcome Trust, Gatsby Foundation)
Educational publishers
Awarding Bodies (examination boards)
Industry/business
Educational ‘businesses’ (e.g. IB, Fieldwork)
Curriculum Studies - Session 5

5. Changing the curriculum
Strategies for change:
empirical-rational
normative-re-educative
power-coercive
Chin & Benne, 1969
Curriculum Studies - Session 5

6. Curriculum Studies - Session 5
Empirical-rational
The fundamental assumption is that people are rational and keen to be efficient. They will adopt a proposed change if it appears rational and seems to be a better way of doing things. It has been suggested that for a person to respond, he or she would need to be invulnerable to the opinions of associates, the values exposed during their life, and the ideologies of their occupational group. Changes then result from a personal, wholly intellectual judgement.
Curriculum Studies - Session 5

7. Normative-re-educative
This assumes that people are rational and intelligent, but assumes that behaviour is affected by habits, values and attitudes. The change strategy therefore involves more than making people aware of technically more efficient ways of doing things. It involves changes in attitudes, values and norms so that the practitioner is a voluntary participant in the change process.
Curriculum Studies - Session 5

8. Curriculum Studies - Session 5
Power-coercive
This strategy is based upon the assumption of power and compliance. The underlying notion is that those who are less powerful will comply with the plans, directions and leadership of those with greater power.
Curriculum Studies - Session 5

9. What’s your experience?
From your own experience, can you give examples of curriculum change that fits into these three models?
From the perspective of different stakeholders, can you suggest the advantages and disadvantages of each?
Curriculum Studies - Session 5

10. Models of curriculum dissemination
Centre to Periphery
Proliferation of Centres
Shifting Centres
Schon, 1971
Research, Development, Diffusion
Social Interaction
Havelock, 1971
Curriculum Studies - Session 5

11. Curriculum Studies - Session 5
SBCD
‘School-based curriculum development’
An alternative perspective in the 1980s (Malcolm Skilbeck) in response to the failure of the large-scale centre-to-periphery projects of the 1960s and 70s.
Curriculum Studies - Session 5

12. A ‘Periphery to Centre’ model
The Secondary Science Curriculum Review (SSCR)
An attempt to provide a different approach to developing the curriculum that involved teachers centrally in the process at all levels.
Curriculum Studies - Session 5

13. Evaluation as measurement
Curriculum Studies - Session 5

14. Evaluating the curriculum
‘Measurement’ of whether objectives have been met
curriculum evaluation =
assessment of learner outcomes
Curriculum Studies - Session 5

15. Evaluation as research
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16. ‘Scientific’ curriculum evaluation
Methods drawn from agriculture
Control and experimental groups
Measure ‘yield’
Look for statistical differences
Curriculum Studies - Session 5

17. Evaluating the curriculum
Is this enough? Problems?
What does this sort of evaluation enable us to do?
What does it miss out?
Unintended outcomes
Judgements about process
Multiple perspectives
Curriculum Studies - Session 5

18. Evaluating the curriculum
Evaluation for accountability or
Evaluation for improvement
Curriculum Studies - Session 5

19. Evaluating for improvement
Iluminative evaluation (Parlett & Hamilton)
Holistic evaluation (MacDonald)
Responsive evaluation (Stake)
Curriculum Studies - Session 5

20. Evaluating for improvement
How? (what range of methods?)
More emphasis on qualitative data collection and analysis?
Who should be involved?
How do you evaluate your curriculum?
Curriculum Studies - Session 5