Session Information
03 SES 07, Textbooks in School Practice (part 1)
Symposium. Continued in 03 SES 09 A
Time:
2009-09-29
15:30-17:00
Room:
JUR, HS 13
Chair:
Jan van den Akker
Discussant:
Jan van den Akker
Contribution
European countries vary in the extent to which schools and teachers have authority and possibility to shape their curriculum. (Kuiper, Van den Akker, Letschert and Hooghoff, 2008). While practice shows that teachers makes use of textbooks and other, externally developed, prepackaged learning materials to design their curriculum and classroom practice, it is not clear to what extent these materials are dominant and how the curricular authority of the school influences on their use.
Comparison between different countries is interesting as research showed that while for example the Netherlands and Sweden have a more decentralised educational policy (allowing more curricular decisions on the local school level), the UK and parts of Germany have a more centralised policy (Kuiper et al, 2008). As teachers in these countries enjoy different levels of curricula autonomy, they possibly display varying patterns of use of prepackaged made curriculum materials in their daily practice. Next to the possible effect of curricular policy, other factors as culture, teacher training traditions, school organization might play a role this aspect of teachers’ work.
Method
The symposium will include six presentations in two sessions. The first session is about conceptual issues and subject matter perspectives. The symposium will start with a discussion of a conceptual framework for the research of the use of curricular materials in schools. Additionally situation in germany and the UK will be discussed. The second session will discuss patterns and the active role of teachers in design . It starts with a brief recapitulation of the first session, where after two illustrations based on research data from The Netherlands and Sweden will be given. The last presentation in the second session will share findings on how arranging educational materials is organised in teachers teams. As part of the symposium, patterns found in several countries will be compared and discussed in light of the conceptual framework introduced in the start of the symposium.
Expected Outcomes
This symposium aims at developing this issue conceptually and trying to compare dominant patterns (if there are any) from different European countries. Additionally, the discussion will focus on those factors that seem to contribute to the patterns of textbook use.
References
Kuiper, W., Akker, J. van den, Letschert, J., & Hooghoff, H. (submitted 2008). Curriculum policy and practices in an international comparative perspective: Finding a balance between prescription and profession. Journal of Curriculum Studies.
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