This study sought to determine the beliefs of curriculum directors within the public school districts of Indiana with regard to the purpose of education and to the impact of high-stakes testing. The six cultures of curriculum described by Joseph et al. (2000) were utilized to provide the lens through which curriculum directors could view the overall curriculum of their individual districts. For the purpose of this study, the curriculum director was defined as the person at the district level most responsible for the organization and implementation of the curriculum. The researcher first sought to determine the culture supported personally by curriculum directors and the culture believed to be most prevalent within their districts. In relation, the researcher further wished to learn if directors believed high-stakes testing served a valid purpose within the context of their personally supported culture or the one perceived to be most prevalent. Finally, the researcher sought to determine if directors believed the pressure to perform well on high-stakes tests had an influence upon their decision-making in relation to curricular changes. Data from 136 (46.6%) of Indiana’s 292 public school districts showed Constructing Understanding, defined as “Developing in students the ability to think independently and to build knowledge from the information they gather through observation and collaboration” (Appendix E), was selected by 64.4% of the respondents as the curriculum culture most in agreement with their personal beliefs. When asked to identify the curriculum culture perceived to be most prevalent within their school districts, Training for Work and Survival, defined as “Providing students the necessary skills to allow them to be both effective and adaptive in the workplace and in society” (Appendix E), was selected by 66.9% of respondents. With respect to perceived pressure related to high-stakes testing, 73.5% indicated the pressure significantly impacts or has the greatest impact on my decision-making; 73.7% felt significant to extreme pressure for their students to perform well on ISTEP+ and the ECAs; and, 63.6% reported feeling moderate to extreme pressure to encourage teachers to teach to the test. / Department of Educational Leadership

This study is undertaken to investigate the students’ learning experiences in second year Augmented Economics tutorials. Augmented Economics tutorials is a second year academic development (AD) programme for students in the extended Bachelor of Commerce degree. The investigation into the students’ learning experiences is done by interrogating the causal relationship between the learning environment at a higher education institution on the one hand and the student learning approaches and the students’ performance outcomes on the other. The study focuses on the students in the AD programme who are enrolled in the extended Bachelor of Commerce degree. The rationale for the study stems from the non-existence of research data on the effectiveness or lack thereof in the extended Bachelor of Commerce since the programme started in 2004. The study is intended to identify possible areas of strength and weaknesses in all the Augmented Economics modules. The study uses Biggs’ 3P theory of students’ approaches to learning to explain the interrelationship between the presage, process and product vriables. The Course Experience Questionnaire is used as an instrument with which to gather data from the second year Augmented Economics students. A questionnaire with 29 items was used, of which data from 26 of these items was used. The study found strong positive linear correlations between the institutional factors but very weak positive and negative correlations between grade 12 and institutional factors. Significant gender difference in the deep learning approach but no gender difference in the surface learning approach was found. This study found that the second year Augmented Modules are perceived by the students as positively empowering them with generic skills. The study recommends a relook at the curriculum structure and the workload as well as the assessment models being used in second year Augmented Economics. Further research is also recommended over a longer period and a bigger sample to establish the generalizability of this study’s findings. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2013.

This study examines how changing notions of literacy are translating to curricula in the teaching of English. Two tasks are undertaken: the first is to survey the literature that has informed the ongoing evolution of the concept literacy with the specific goal of highlighting recurring themes in an effort to determine what a New Literacy curriculum would look like in practice. The second part of this study is a document analysis of the Secondary English Language Arts (SELA2) Program for Cycle Two students. The analysis attempts to determine the degree to which the SELA2 document has been informed by new theories of literacy stemming from social theory, critical theory, and New Literacy Theory. Special attention is given to the ways in which the document politicizes the teaching of English, shifting the learning of literacy from an individual skill to a social endeavor that has as one of its tenets a societal move toward greater democracy.

In this study I challenge the uncritical use of the long held dictum of the development discourse that education empowers women. From a post-structuralist feminist position I show that in its current state the educational discourse in Pakistan actually disempowers women. This discourse constitutes gendered identities and positions them in a way that exacerbates and intensifies inequalities between men and women. Gendered constitution and positioning of subjects also regulates the relationship between the subjects and the state in such a way that women and minorities are excluded from the citizenship realm. / Educational discourse in Pakistan is the premier site where meanings of signs such as woman, man, mother, father, patriot, nationalist, etc., are gendered and fixed. It also provides the techniques of discipline and surveillance for naturalization of meaning and normalization of subjects. Urdu and social studies curricula and textbooks for classes 1-8 and 3-8 respectively constitute subjects and subjectivities and relations among them by means such as inclusion and exclusion from the text, hierarchization of the meanings ascribed to the subjects, normalization of the ascribed meanings (so that subjects stop questioning the meaning fixation), totalization (where all theoretical and explanatory differences are obfuscated), and classification of subjects in terms of binary opposites where one is superior to the other. / As a result of such gendered subjectivity constitution and subject positioning, women in Pakistan have been subjected to the worst kind of social, political, economic and juridical discrimination. However, Pakistani women have refused to be passive victims. They have used their agency to put up a spirited resistance against the unequal citizenship status and rights resulting from the gendered subjectivity constitution and subject positioning. In order to make education more meaningful and empowering for the women of Pakistan it is imperative that both women's groups as well as the educational policy makers understand the working and dynamics of the educational discourse in conjunction with the judicial and economic discourses and those of the state and the media. It is only from within the discourses that a change can be brought about.

This case study describes the development and trial use of the Hadeda Island Big Book. Developed within a transforming South African curriculum framework, the study recognises that current educational practices are shaped and steered by historical, cultural, political and economic realities. This perspective guides the research design, which considers each of the three participating schools as contextually unique. The Hadeda Island Big Book was developed in response to the 1st Principle of the Revised National Curriculum Statement (RNCS). This calls for all curriculum activities to develop learners' understandings of the relationship between social justice, a healthy environment, human rights and inclusivity. The study probes ways in which learning support materials might respond in line with the vision of the RNCS 1st Principle. Associated challenges, tensions and opportunities are discussed in relation to schools' interactions with the Hadeda Island Big Book. The diverse and creative responses to the book lead this study to foreground generative approaches to curriculum work. Emphasis is thus redirected from hierarchical, stipulative views of curriculum to more dynamic, responsive views of curriculum as a guiding framework. This is regarded as a valuable orientation to the development of future learning support materials. The study comments on the challenge of supporting teachers to develop curriculum activities that reflect a view of 'environment' as socially shaped and multi-dimensional. Tendencies to focus on either the 'ecological' or the 'social' dimensions of environmental issues rather than on the interacting socio-ecological dimensions are recognised as limiting the material's potential to strengthen environmental learning in schools. The study recommends that greater attention be paid to the environmentally-oriented Learning Outcomes and Assessment Standards of all Learning Areas in the RNCS. In so doing, socio-ecological learning processes may be strengthened through curriculum work.

This study aimed to investigate if there are any possible gaps in the offering Vocational Curriculum Report 191, in terms of knowledge, skills and link to the world of work. This study was a case study of three Technical and Vocational Education and Training Colleges that offer Vocational Curriculum Report 191, and it was geographically limited to the province of the Eastern Cape. The five main findings from this study were that firstly, the curriculum offers theory without practice. Secondly, there is a mismatch between what is offered as curriculum at Technical and Vocational Education and Training Colleges and what the labour market wants. Thirdly, lecturers do not have the practical exposure that relates to their fields of study. Fourthly, Vocational Curriculum Report 191 does not promote self-employment of its students and lastly, the curriculum is outdated and does not comply with the criteria of current employment opportunities. The study recommends that the curriculum be reviewed and revised. Technical and Vocational Education and Training colleges need to have in site practice facilities to cater for the practical application of theoretical knowledge of students. Partnerships between Technical and Vocational Education and Training Colleges, the labour market and Sector Education and Training Authorities are strongly recommended in this study.

This study explores the extent to which the ethos and the basic approach to education taken by three Eastern Cape private schools influences the practice of environmental education within these schools. Their environmental education programmes are evaluated in terms of the guiding principles adopted by the international community in the 'Tbilisi Principles of Environmental Education'. An ethnographic approach was adopted for this research and findings are essentially descriptive and qualitative, with special regard to social structures and the attitudes of individuals within these structures.

Orientador: Roberto Nardi / Banca: Maria Lúcia Vital dos Santos Abib / Banca: Eduardo Adolfo Terrazzan / Banca: Sérgio Camargo / Banca: Beatriz Salemme Corrêa Cortela / Resumo: Este estudo tem o objetivo de investigar possíveis relações entre configurações curriculares e potencial formativo de licenciaturas em Física do Estado de Minas Gerais. Suas origens remetem a um estudo mais abrangente, longitudinal, que se iniciou ainda em 2002 quando foram analisados discursos de docentes iniversitários que atuavam em um curso de licenciatura em Física de uma universidade pública, prestes a sofrer um processo de reestruturação curricular. Em pesquisas subsequentes foram desenvolvidas ações de investigação atreladas aos processos de elaboração e execução de configurações curriculares nesta universidade pública mencionada. A presente pesquisa embasa-se nesses estudos e apresenta como tema, portanto, a formação inicial de professores, discutido as estruturas curriculares de licenciaturas em Física do Estado de Minas Gerais, buscando evidenciar relações entre configurações curriculares e potencial formativo. São apresentados e discutidos documentos e diretrizes propostas pela legislação em vigor e seus reflexos nos processos de formação de professores. A investigação foi embasada em aportes teóricos que nos permitiram aprofundar em diversos conhecimentos necessários para uma análise bem fundamentada e consciente de configurações curriculares destinadas à formação de professores. Para constituição de dados foram analisados projetos pedagógicos e matrizes curriculares de quatorze licenciaturas em Física distribuídas em nove instituições, a partir de referências teóricas sobre teoria do currículo, elaboração de projetos pedagógicos, saberes docentes e noções de análise de discurso de linha francesa. Foram entrevistados coordenadores de curso de Física e membros de colegiados de oito instituições sendo utilizados trechos de suas falas, nos quais foram levantados aspectos e dimensões de entendimento... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: This study aims to investigate possible relationship between curricular configurations and formative potentials of undergraduate programs designed to form high school physics teachers (called licenciatura in Brazil) from the State of Minas Gerais. Its origins date back to a broader and longitudinal study, which began back in 2002, when were analyzed discourses of professors who worked in a licenciatura of a public university, about to undergo a process curricular restructuring. In a subsequent research it was developed actions of a research linked to the processes of development and implementation of curricular settings in this mentioned public university. This research is based on these former studies and is focused, so, in the initial formation of physics teachers, discussing curricular structures of licenciaturas from the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil, seeking to understand possible relationships between curricular configurations and formative potential of these programs. We present and discuss documents and guidelines proposed by the legislation about high school teachers formation and its impacts on the processes of teacher training. The research was based on theoretical contributions that allowed us to define different skills required for a well-reasoned and conscious analysis of curricular settings aimed at training teachers. To constitute data, it were analyzed pedagocical projects and curricular configurations of fourteen physics licenciaturas distributed in nine institutions, taking into consideration theoretical referencial on curriculum theory, development of educational projects, teacher' knowledge, and notions of French discourse analysis. Coordinators of physics licenciaturas and members of boards of eight of these institutions were interviewed and analyzed excepts of their speeches, from which raise aspects... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Doutor

This dissertation describes an action research case study carried out at a sub-village school at Nyamakurukuru, Utete, Rufiji District, Tanzania. The study was a fully independent research activity funded and led by a female Irish environmental and community specialist who has fifteen years experience of working in rural Tanzania, five of which were in Rufiji District. The aim of the action research was to engage a community of villagers, teachers, students and district officers in a participatory process to adapt a module of a school curriculum to the local context, and teach it in order to describe one way in which contextualization, using local and indigenous knowledge and active discovery teaching-learning processes, can be done. The major research question, which I wished to answer for one specific case, was: Does integrating local environmental cultural knowledge into formal schooling contribute to curriculum relevance? If so, in what way? This document describes the background and context of the research, the motivation and the theoretical basis for the work, the methodology and methods, and the action research process itself. The results are interpreted and discussed in the light of current theoretical perspectives on education and environmental education. The main findings within the case are that: Contextualization improved relevance of education and thus its quality by: • breaking through traditional frames/barriers between teachers and students, students and elders and community and teachers, • allowing formal education to take place outside of the school, • necessitating a change in pedagogy1 to more learner-centered, discovery methods, • allowing indigenous knowledge to come into the classroom, • stimulating creativity and increased confidence, and • bringing local socio-political environmental issues into the classroom. This study provides a case example of how education processes, when engaging local cultural knowledge, can improve the relevance, and thus an aspect of the quality of teaching and learning in school-community contexts, while providing a conduit for integrating environmental education into the formal school curriculum. It provides insights into the key issue of relevance which currently faces educators of children in wetlands in Tanzania. Recommendations were made for the case studied and may be useful beyond the boundaries of the case: • Give more explicit government policy and strategic support for community involvement in educational content–epistemologies and pedagogies. • Weaken framing (hierarchical power positions) to encourage greater partnership between school, home and community to improve relevance. • Investigate the provision of education beyond schools. • Provide practical teacher and community training on use of learner-centered, discovery and active pedagogies. • Provide teacher and community education on biodiversity and the environment. • Provide relevant reference texts and research data on the ecology, biodiversity, vegetation, hydrology, agriculture, sociology, history and other relevant subjects. • Officially nurture a culture that learning should be enjoyable. • Allow the curriculum freedom, in these times of increasing risk for rural tropical wetland communities, to make the curriculum fit the local issues rather than vice versa. • Nurture critical analysis of the curriculum in local pedagogic discourse i.e., at the local contextualization level of the home, community and school.

The new democratic government came to power in 1994 and one of its major missions was to change the system of education inherited from the apartheid regime by laying a foundation for a single national core syllabus to replace the erstwhile multi-tier system, which discriminated among racial groups. Under the apartheid regime, the curriculum was flawed by ‘racially, offensive and outdated content’ and the government embarked on a bold programme to cleanse it of these elements. The democratic government went about this through curriculum reforms. In 1997, it introduced Curriculum 2005 fondly called “C2005”, with the Outcome-based Education (OBE) principles. Despite the initial overwhelming support for C2005, it soon ran into trouble. In 2000, the Minister appointed a committee that reviewed the curriculum and in 2002, the Revised National Curriculum Statement (RNCS) was born. These curriculum reforms have been met with a lot of criticism and the government felt it was not serving its purpose. Some key stakeholders still felt that their non-involvement, non-participation and the lack of proper consultation in the curriculum process were partly responsible for teachers and subject advisers misinterpreting the curriculum and implementing it from their own perspectives. Subsequently, another review was done and the National Curriculum Statement (NCS) was launched in 2002. But the complaints did not cease, probably due to continuing poor performance at the Matric Examination which continues to feature low pass rates for many provinces, especially the Eastern Cape. Against this backdrop, the government streamlined the NCS curriculum yield, and an amended Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) emerged. The key issue raised by critics is the lack of sufficient involvement of stakeholders in the curriculum review processes. At the same time, government continues to insist that it has been consulting adequately with all relevant stakeholders. There are iii obviously different interpretations of stakeholder involvement and participation and there is urgent need to reconcile whatever differences of opinion and definition exist, in order to gain common understanding, which is the first step in reaching a solution. For instance, how are the stakeholders involved? More importantly, what is meant by “involvement”? Even if there is no disagreement about the meaning of “involvement”, is the stage in the process at which the stakeholders are involved an important element in whether or not the process is an inclusive and participatory one?.