The impact of neo-liberalism on education policy and practice in England means that assessment at GCSE is higher stakes than ever, not just for the students, for whom it determines access to courses and jobs, but for teachers and schools under ever-increasing pressure to meet performance targets. Given the published evidence regarding the strong relationship between family background, academic achievement and future income, this research considers how the GCSE English assessment contributes to the maintenance of the status quo with regards to advantage and disadvantage. The details of the assessments, the structures of the assessment systems as well as the impact of those systems on schools, teachers and students are matters of policy, hence this research is within the tradition of policy scholarship. In it I set out to engage with and understand policy, and to reveal its impacts through the lens of Bourdieusian thinking. I use interview data from students, teachers and examiners as well as documentary analysis of examination papers and mark schemes in order to give voice to those with lived experiences of the assessment and to explore the case of GCSE English assessment from multiple perspectives. I use the data to examine the ways in which the assessment privileges a culturally specific form of English in a way that necessarily includes and excludes particular groups of students. I reveal how the assessment advantages students with wide world knowledge and privileges the ability to instinctively access formal discourse. Through examining the ways in which teachers, students and examiners conceptualise English GCSE I reveal the relationships between assessment, curriculum and classroom practice and thus uncover the impacts that policy is having on teaching and learning and on teachers and students. As a result I recommend changes in policy as well as in teaching and assessment practices: I recommend that awarding organisations review their procedures to ensure that a greater range of voices informs assessment procedures; I recommend a shift in emphasis in the GCSE English assessment to focus on an understanding of language and the relationships between discourse and power; I recommend that teachers find ways within the classroom to enable students to use their funds of knowledge; and finally, regarding policy, I recommend an open conversation about what is taught, assessed and measured and for what purposes.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Esta dissertação investiga os movimentos interelacionados da política de avaliação e da política curricular na Secretaria Municipal de Educação do Rio de Janeiro (SME/RJ), problematizando a introdução de estratégias como provas bimestrais, produção de material pedagógico, entre outras avaliações na rede que trazem novos sentidos para a produção curricular. A partir de análise de documentos curriculares que orientam essa política quanto aos procedimentos e concepções de avaliação, esse estudo visou melhor compreender os deslocamentos de sentido para a avaliação, como estratégia de legitimação de conhecimentos e práticas, bem como a análise dos sentidos do projeto educativo que foi assumido pelo município do Rio de Janeiro. Apoiada nas discussões de Ball (1992), recorro ao Ciclo de Políticas como modelo analítico para entender o processo de articulação entre esferas políticas. Concebo essa relação entre currículo e avaliação como lugar de negociação, embates e disputas, no qual analiso os sentidos de uma prática avaliativa padronizada vinculada a produção curricular. Argumento que está política criou um consenso hegemônico quanto a avaliação como competência técnica, a partir da inversão do sentido de qualidade, traduzido no discurso do texto político. Portanto, se estabelece um contexto avaliador para a escola, baseada numa política curricular que cria uma centralidade na avaliação como dispositivo de regulação do aluno e do trabalho docente, no qual o currículo e avaliação representam o exato local de disputa

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Esta dissertação investiga os movimentos interelacionados da política de avaliação e da política curricular na Secretaria Municipal de Educação do Rio de Janeiro (SME/RJ), problematizando a introdução de estratégias como provas bimestrais, produção de material pedagógico, entre outras avaliações na rede que trazem novos sentidos para a produção curricular. A partir de análise de documentos curriculares que orientam essa política quanto aos procedimentos e concepções de avaliação, esse estudo visou melhor compreender os deslocamentos de sentido para a avaliação, como estratégia de legitimação de conhecimentos e práticas, bem como a análise dos sentidos do projeto educativo que foi assumido pelo município do Rio de Janeiro. Apoiada nas discussões de Ball (1992), recorro ao Ciclo de Políticas como modelo analítico para entender o processo de articulação entre esferas políticas. Concebo essa relação entre currículo e avaliação como lugar de negociação, embates e disputas, no qual analiso os sentidos de uma prática avaliativa padronizada vinculada a produção curricular. Argumento que está política criou um consenso hegemônico quanto a avaliação como competência técnica, a partir da inversão do sentido de qualidade, traduzido no discurso do texto político. Portanto, se estabelece um contexto avaliador para a escola, baseada numa política curricular que cria uma centralidade na avaliação como dispositivo de regulação do aluno e do trabalho docente, no qual o currículo e avaliação representam o exato local de disputa

Este estudio se circunscribe en el área de Pedagogía Comparada. Se trata de un estudio comparado de reformas curriculares de educación secundaria entre los países occidentales y Bulgaria. Como reza el titulo, la primera parte del estudio ofrece una panorámica de tendencias globales en materia de políticas curriculares de secundaria que se están produciendo en todo el mundo. Se presenta la situación general de revisión, reorganización y reestructuración de los contenidos de las enseñanzas secundarias ilustrando ejemplos de países más representativos.La segunda parte de la investigación se enfoca en el caso particular de Bulgaria. En concreto, se analiza el proceso de la reforma curricular en este país poscomunista fijándose en las tres áreas siguientes: 1. Los contenidos de enseñanza y su organización. Se presume que una reforma curricular cambiará por un lado los contenidos de enseñanza (incrementando su relevancia, incluyendo nuevos elementos, eliminando tópicos arcaicos, etc.) y por otro lado, revisará la organización de los contenidos (creando amplias áreas curriculares, mejorando la interconexión entre asignaturas individuales, etc.), así como el tiempo específico asignado a cada materia del currículo. 2. Las competencias que necesita el profesorado para poder aplicar el nuevo currículo. Se supone que los maestros deberán adquirir competencias de enseñanza apropiadas y conocimientos específicos de su materia de especialización para poder trabajar con éxito los nuevos contenidos con sus estudiantes. Las nuevas competencias necesarias nos permitieron ver hasta qué punto se hizo un cambio esencial en el contenido educativo y su práctica de enseñanza. Esto a su vez, nos permitió estimar los efectos de la reforma curricular sobre el proceso educativo global en el país. 3. La opinión y el comportamiento de los diferentes estamentos y actores involucrados en el proceso educativo. Los diferentes estamentos y la sociedad civil siempre manifiestan una determinada posición respecto de la reforma curricular, la cual nos ha permitido establecer el grado de su satisfacción con los cambios implícitos de la reforma, su implicación y compromiso con la implantación de la reforma y, en definitiva, el éxito potencial de dicha reforma. El análisis de estas tres áreas servio para obtener conclusiones sobre las siguientes preguntas de investigación:1. Si la reforma se estaba efectivamente llevando a cabo y en qué medida.2. Si esta reforma responde a las expectativas y necesidades de la sociedad Búlgara y muy especialmente de los actores concernidos. 3. Si la reforma curricular en Bulgaria llevará a un mayor grado de convergencia con los sistemas educativos de los países de la OCDE. 4. Si la reforma educativa no sólo incide en la adquisición de saberes o competencias, sino en la formación ética y ciudadana de los estudiantes.5. Si existen obstáculos y problemas en el proceso de implantación de la reforma que podrían incluso condicionar de modo negativo el planteamiento de futuras reformas en el sector. Para la recogida de datos acerca las áreas arriba mencionadas hemos realizado 96 entrevistas en Sofía entre 2003 y 2007 y hemos distribuido 201 cuestionarios por toda Bulgaria. Nuestra selección de informantes se hizo en función de tres grandes categorías:- la sociedad civil incluyendo representantes de organizaciones no gubernamentales, asociaciones de padres y estudiantes de escuelas secundarias y de la Universidad; - los educadores incluyendo los maestros de escuelas secundarias, los profesores universitarios y los formadores de maestros; - los administradores y gestores incluyendo los responsables de la política educativa, los directores de las escuelas secundarias, los inspectores, y los dirigentes de las centrales sindicales de profesorado. Las conclusiones de la investigación llevada a cabo, pueden ser de utilidad tanto para aportar información sobre el actual proceso de reformas de Bulgaria, como para orientar otros futuros procesos que se puedan dar en el resto de los países Balcánicos en transición y del Este de Europa. Palabras clave: Política de curriculum, Bulgaria, Educación secundaria / The present study belongs in the areas of Comparative Pedagogy. It is a comparative study of secondary education curriculum reforms between the occidental countries and Bulgaria. As the title suggests, the first part of the study offers a panorama of global trends of secondary curriculum reforms. It presents common trends on renewing, reorganizing and restructuring secondary education content, illustrating examples of representative countries.The second part of the study focuses on the case of Bulgaria. In concrete, it analyzes the process of curriculum reform in this post-communism country, focusing on the three following areas: 1. The educational content and its organization. It is expected that a foreseen curriculum reform will change on the one hand, the content delivered to students (by increasing its relevance, including new elements, eliminating outdated topics, etc.) and on the other, will alternate the organization of the content (by creating broader curriculum areas, improving the linkage among individual subjects), as well as the specific time allocated to each curriculum subject. 2. The competences required for the teachers to apply the new curriculum. It is expected that teachers will need to posses adequate teaching competences and specific subject knowledge to be able to work successfully with their students the new educational content. The emerging specific competences required allowed us to see up to what extend there has been an essential change in the educational content and its teaching/learning practice. This in its turn permitted us to evaluate the effects of the curriculum reform on the global educational process in the country. 3. The attitude and the opinion of the different stakeholders and actors involved in the educational process. The different stakeholders and the civil society take a certain position on the curriculum reform, which allowed us to measure the degree of their satisfaction with the implicit changes of the reform and the potential success of this reform.The analysis of these three areas allowed us to draw conclusions on and reply to the questions of our investigation concerning:1. whether the curriculum reform was being actually implemented and up to what extend;2. if this reform responds to the expectations and needs of the Bulgarian society and particularly of the actors concerned; 3. if the curriculum reform in Bulgaria leads to a greater degree of alignment and convergence with the educational systems in the OECD countries; 4. if the educational reform not only facilitates the acquisition of knowledge and competences, but also the ethic and citizenship formation of students;5. if in the implementation process of the curriculum reform exist obstacles and problems which could condition in a negative way the implementation of future reforms in the sector. For the collection of the data on the areas mentioned above we carried out 96 interviews in Sofia between 2003 and 2007, and we administered 201 questionnaires across Bulgaria. The selection of the informants was based on three main categories:a) the social category comprising representatives from non-governmental organizations, parents' associations, and students from secondary education and higher education; b) the category of educators including teachers in secondary education schools, professors in higher education (universities) and trainers in in-service training for teachers; and c) the category of administrative staff comprising Ministry officials responsible for educational policy development, secondary school directors, unions' directors and inspectors from the regional inspectorates.The conclusions of this investigation may be useful both for bringing information on the current process of reforms in Bulgaria as well as for guiding other future processes that take place in the rest of the transitional Balkan countries and East Europe. Key words: Curriculum policy, Bulgaria, Secondary education

Not having accurate contemporary, historical and place-based curriculum drafted in consultation with tribes is a huge disservice and a violation of the trust agreements the United States government entered into with its sovereign nations. Through a single state case study, this research explores how a tribally written curriculum attempts to address this violation by examining the state context of the Native American education landscape and state policy. This research utilizes the theoretical frameworks of Red Pedagogy, Tribal Critical Theory and Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy to explore the intentions of the tribal curriculum writers and the professional development provider of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Tribal History curriculum unit; Oregon’s American Indian/Alaska Native Education State Plan, and the legislative policy of Senate Bill 13. The study concluded with the following implications for policy, theory, and practice: Indigenous curricular endeavors that center indigenous values, incorporate local context are important, and acknowledge the role of colonialism and are just part of the larger systemic response of decolonization; Implementation challenges are rooted in a colonized paradigm and expanding reform to the educator preparation and policy realm is critical so that all educators (Native and non-Native benefit); Addressing power and hegemonic structures in contexts outside of education (with the local indigenous communities) create a larger and necessary accountability scope; Indigenous knowledge is nuanced, varied, and evolving and thus, needs robust professional development that incorporates best and promising practices in concert with local indigenous communities for both inservice and preservice fields; And without policy and state incentives, the implementation challenges will continue. / 10000-01-01

Since 1921 England’s governments have commissioned enquiries into English and literacy teaching, leading towards published recommendations and requirements for English grammar teaching. Governments’ officially sanctioned publications represent their policy aspirations for English and literacy. Research studies have explored the subsequent challenge for schools and teachers who must integrate grammar into a subject whose wider philosophies may conflict with an explicit grammar element. My study draws on critical theory to analyse the ideological discourses of English grammar these official policy documents reveal, and how they conflict or coincide with wider ideologies of English and literacy in schools. My study uses a two-stage analysis. First is an intertextual analysis using a corpus approach to identify the data’s grammar topics through its keywords and argumentation types. Second is a qualitative critical discourse analysis (CDA) of the documents’ main ideas and ideological discourses. The CDA analysis reveals three main ideological discourses of grammar, namely of ‘heritage and authority’, ‘standards and control’, and ‘life chances and skills’. These discourses are constructed from both prescriptive and descriptive traditions of linguistic thinking, and draw on ideological perspectives of teaching and teachers, learning and learners, and changing philosophies of English over time. The findings show no direct connection between the topic keywords policy authors use and the ideological positions they adopt. But there is a clear trend in argumentation approaches used to make hoped-for claims for grammar’s place and benefits in subject English. The discourses found question whether teachers are sufficiently prepared for grammar teaching and whether learners are sufficiently prepared for communicating in the workplace. The policy ideologies of grammar found in the qualitative analysis are finally re-mapped against wider philosophies of subject English to identify the broad policy trends.

Submitted by Cássia Santos (cassia.bcufg@gmail.com) on 2014-08-22T14:23:31Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) DISSERTAÇÃO REVISADA EM DOCX 2109.pdf: 1841575 bytes, checksum: 55b1a9eff7f6aa116ee9cb5257631066 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-08-22T14:23:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 23148 bytes, checksum: 9da0b6dfac957114c6a7714714b86306 (MD5) DISSERTAÇÃO REVISADA EM DOCX 2109.pdf: 1841575 bytes, checksum: 55b1a9eff7f6aa116ee9cb5257631066 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-08-30 / This research was conducted in medical school of Federal University of Goiás. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this research is to identify the ideal, in terms of professional practice, of the internship students in the Medical School of the Federal University of Goiás – UFG − and to observe possible dissonances with the profile of the graduates, as advocated by the National Curriculum Guidelines and by the Political Pedagogic Project of this institution. METHODS: In 2012, two hundred and twenty-two medical internship students of the institution received a survey questionnaire. The sample of this research consisted of one hundred and ninety research subjects, representing 85% of the sample universe. The statistical significance was calculated using a non-parametric test (Sign Test). RESULTS: The sociodemographic profile characterizes the students with an average age of 23,8 years old, unmarried, 65,8% of whom belong to social classes A and B. The ideal of the profile of professional practice shows that 83,7% want to become specialists, whereas 96,3% want medical residency, which is statistically significant (p=0,0001), and 71,6% do not intend to work with Family Health Strategy Programs (p=0,005). CONCLUSION: This study shows that students with high socio-economic profile, who want to become specialists, undergo a medical residency program and do not see the Family Health Strategy as a professional goal. / Estudo realizado com discentes do internato da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade Federal de Goiás. OBJETIVOS: A proposta desta pesquisa é conhecer as expectativas de prática profissional de discentes do internato do Curso de Medicina da Universidade Federal de Goiás e observar possíveis dissonâncias com o perfil do discente preconizado pelas Diretrizes Curriculares Nacionais e pelo Projeto Político-Pedagógico da instituição. MÉTODOS: Estudo quantitativo descritivo. O instrumento utilizado para a pesquisa foi um questionário distribuído aos 222 discentes do internato, no ano de 2012, da referida instituição. A amostra consta de 190 sujeitos de pesquisa, correspondendo a 85% do universo de análise. A significância estatística foi avaliada por um teste não paramétrico (Teste do Sinal). RESULTADOS: O perfil sociodemográfico caracteriza discentes com idade média de 23,8 anos, solteiros, sendo que 65,8% pertencem às classes sociais A e B. O ideal do perfil de prática profissional demonstra que 83,7% pretendem ser especialistas, 96,3% desejam cursar residência médica, sendo estatisticamente significante (p=0,0001), e 71,6% não pretendem prioritariamente trabalhar na Estratégia Saúde da Família (p=0,005). CONCLUSÃO: O estudo demonstra discentes com perfil socioeconômico elevado, que pretendem ser especialistas, cursar residência médica e não veem a Estratégia Saúde da Família como uma meta fim.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the implementation of curriculum policy regarding eight key learning areas in ACT government high schools with particular analysis concerning the Arts. The study sought to identify the discrepance between school curriculum policy and timetable allocation to the mandated curriculum areas. Analysis of time allocation to learning areas as defined by the timetable allocation of time was considered to be an appropriate method of examining curriculum practice in ACT government high schools. Fifteen ACT government high school timetables were analysed in conjunction with school curriculum documentation. Mandatory time requirements for the eight key learning areas was identified. Timetable structures were analysed in terms of allocation of time to key learning areas, pastoral care, assemblies, activities and electives. Formulae were developed in order to make comparisons between schools possible. Results indicated that disparities existed between time allocation to key learning areas within key learning areas and mandatory time (i.e. minimum guaranteed access time) requirements for key learning areas.

This article opens up a discussion on the power that teachers have in mathematics curriculum at the Further Education and Training level. It is related to the general question: who holds the power in school mathematics education in South Africa? To what extent is the teacher given an opportunity to exercise their power in mathematics assessment? If the teacher is given power, what does that power allow teachers to do, and under what conditions does this happen? The case of mathematics is presented here to illustrate the above complex questions of teacher power in new forms of assessment in the curriculum.

No description available.