Curricular design for competencies in basic education in Uruguay: Positions and current debates (2008–2019) (original) (raw)

The Curriculum Development Process: An Overview of the Educational System in Ecuador

2019

The conceptual framework of the study is based on a brief overview of the history of curriculum in the educational system in Ecuador over the years, and a general outline for providing guidelines and specifications in the curriculum development process. During the last century and until the present date, there have been several important curricular changes that have impacted the educational system, but none of these changes have occurred in primary level of education. It is also shown the lack of a standard curricular design for the teaching of English as a foreign language in Ecuadorian public schools. The study aims to understand the process of determining to what extent the educational objectives are being recognized by the curriculum and associated guidelines. Finally, this outline provides the necessary steps for the curriculum development process in a public school: selecting the model, establishing educational aims and needs, creating curriculum goals and objectives, organizi...

Strong Content, Weak Tools Twenty-First-Century Competencies in the Chilean Educational Reform

In this chapter we investigate how twenty-first-century competencies (21CC) have been incorporated into Chilean primary and secondary education since the mid 1990s, when these skills were introduced into the national curriculum within the context of a broader educational reform. 1 In addition, we analyze the interplay between the relevance assigned to these new competencies and the goals of the educational policies and programs designed to implement them in the actual educational system. Our approach to twenty-first-century competencies has been framed by international literature. 2 The study uses three types of sources (see the chapter appendix for details): a detailed review of the national curriculum for secondary education, using content analysis techniques; interviews with four key policy makers and academic experts; and an analysis of official documents (such as laws, policy papers of the Ministry of Education, and ministers' speeches) as well as specialized literature on the Chilean educational reform. The policy of introducing the 21CC approach to Chilean education has faced two main difficulties. First, curriculum reforms have to overcome several hurdles in order to transform the students' experiences at the school level; these challenges range from reaching consensus among policy makers to adopting appropriate teacher training and teaching materials for the implementation of new ideas. And second, the market-oriented Chilean educational system imposes additional difficulties, since educational authorities have weak institutional links to schools' management. 3 Our main findings indicate that, in terms of content, the introduction of the 21CC to the Chilean national curriculum is consistent with international guidelines: it covers the system as a whole, considers 21CC both as principles and as content, remains open to the redefinition of subject matter and knowledge areas, and combines higher order thinking and interpersonal and intrapersonal skills. However, the actual adoption of 21CC by the Chilean schools has been inconsistent. For example, while the more concrete aspects, such as digital literacy and ITCs are well established, those related to the development of higher order cognitive skills or citizenship education are not. This seems to be related to a weakness in the implementation devices (teaching materials, teacher training, school improvement programs, student assessment) designed to incorporate 21CC into learning experiences at the school and classroom level. This weakness is also associated with the increasing relevance of test-based accountability policies in Chile.

Organizing curriculum reform in secondary education: Clues from Latin America

Washington, DC: World Bank. Retrieved from …, 2004

Throughout the 1990s and into the present decade, Chile's educational system has undergone major changes. Coinciding with a transition to democracy process, after a prolonged authoritarian military regime, three successive governments and the country's economic and political ...

Effective Pedagogy in the Context of a Competency-Based Curriculum Reform: Perceptions of Teachers in the Dominican Republic

RECIE. Revista Caribeña de Investigación Educativa, 2021

In 2016, the Dominican Republic Ministry of Education launched a competency-based curriculum, thus promoting a constructivist and learner-centered pedagogy. However, two years later, a national study found that several obstacles impede the implementation of this curriculum, specifically teachers’ lack of appropriation which resulted in the use of traditional instructional methods such as copying. By further exploring the culture of copying in Dominican public schools, this study contributes to the literature on effective pedagogy at the primary level. Using an ethnographic lens, the research explores the perceptions of four teachers in two schools in order to provide a more nuanced understanding of what it means to be effective in the context of the Dominican Republic. Drawing on data from interviews and observations, the study seeks to address the following questions: How do teachers conceptualize effective teaching and learning? In what ways do these perceptions reveal themselves in the classroom? What facilitators or inhibitors to effectiveness exist? The findings demonstrate that teachers construct practical knowledge that allows them to tend to the culture of copying in a more reflexive manner. They reject copying as an effective teaching strategy and demonstrate evidence of a paradigm shift towards constructivism. However, they still resort to using copying as a pedagogical activity due to several reasons: their perceptions of students, of curricular content, and of the political and material conditions in which they work. This study thus argues for more research that explores teachers’ voices and sense-making processes in order to understand not just what teachers do, but why they do it.

Implementing a Standards-Based English Curriculum: The Case of Public Secondary Schools in Medellin

Revista Folios, 2019

This case study explored Medellín’s secondary English teachers’ perspectives, practices, and experiences related to English curriculum design and implementation in public schools. Data were collected using a survey sent to all secondary schools’ English teachers, analysis of school curriculum documents, and focus group interviews at five purposefully selected schools. Data indicate that there is a gap between the teachers’ preconceived notions of curriculum as holistic and integrative, and the notion of curriculum implied in the curriculum development process they implement (a more technical one). This gap is also evident in the schools’ general curriculum documents (that state the institution’s educational, holistic goals), and the English syllabus, (that tend to focus on language structures or communicative functions). Data also revealed the many challenges teachers face when designing and implementing the curriculum, including lack of preparation on curriculum development, collaborative work among teachers, and time to develop the contents. In conclusion, English teachers in public secondary schools need more significant and sustainable support in the analysis of contexts, as well as in the adaptation of curriculum guidelines. Este estudio de caso exploró las ideas, prácticas y experiencias de los maestros de inglés de secundaria, de la ciudad de Medellín, en relación con el diseño y la implementación del currículo de inglés en las instituciones educativas públicas. Los datos se recolectaron a través de una encuesta enviada a los profesores de inglés de los colegios de secundaria, del análisis de los documentos curriculares de los colegios y grupos focales en cinco instituciones seleccionadas con propósitos específicos. Los datos indican que hay una brecha entre las nociones de currículo en las que creen los maestros, más integrales e integradoras, y la noción de currículo que está implícita en el proceso de desarrollo curricular que ellos implementan (una visión más técnica del currículo). Esta brecha también es evidente en los documentos curriculares de los colegios (que establecen los objetivos educativos) y los programas de curso de inglés (que tienden a enfocarse en estructuras lingüísticas y funciones comunicativas). Los datos también muestran que los maestros enfrentan muchos desafíos en el diseño e implementación del currículo, incluyendo la falta de preparación en desarrollo curricular, falta de trabajo colaborativo entre los maestros y falta de tiempo para desarrollar los contenidos. En conclusión, los maestros de inglés de las instituciones públicas de secundaria necesitan un apoyo más significativo y sostenible en el análisis de los contextos, así como para la adaptación de las pautas curriculares.

From Problematization to Reconfiguration of Curricular Design and Evaluation in Mexico (Postgraduate Courses in Education in Mexico: Case of ISCEEM

The article analyzes the way in which the creation of new categories such as of Significance Notions and the Fields of Curricular Structuring, for the design and the curricular evaluation, allowed generating alternative proposals to those based on empirical analytical perspectives, which during several decades had over-determined these professional practices; the use of these categories also allowed transition from the problematization to the intervention and reconfiguration of the curriculum field in Mexico. The postgraduate programs in education taught at the Higher Institute of Educational Sciences of the State of Mexico, at the same time, the article identify the problems that were faced are pointed out together with the conflicts derived from the demands for the certification of such programs, framed by the modern educational policies and the context of globalization, neoliberalism and scientific development of these days.

Design an Action Plan to Structure a Competency-Based Curriculum: a Study in Spanish University System

With the aim of optimizing and improving the design of curriculum in the field of official postgraduate university education, a modular curriculum protocol was designed and implemented to establish an agile and efficient procedure leading to the resolution of required claims during the processes (verification or modification) generated by the evaluation agencies, to which the different titles must be submitted. For its validation, the expert judgment technique and the implementation of an "ad hoc" rubric were used to verify its design and curriculum utility. Among the most important conclusions is that it is a relevant, agile and effective didactic tool for the different agents of educational action: those responsible for drafting new proposals, the body or internal commission of the university that supervises the process and the members that are part of the external evaluation committee. Lastly, this action protocol guarantees a homogenization of criteria, both with the professionals of education who prepare the proposals of official titles, and the experts who evaluate them.