Curriculum Trends
Focus
• Helpful Tips
• Assignment structure
• Recap
• Curriculum trends in Singapore
• Curriculum trends in general
• Assignment planning
Structuring your
assignment
• Title
• Introduction
– Explain the:
• area, topic and general question
• the structure of the paper
Tell me what you are going to tell me
Tell me how you are going to tell me
• Rationale
– Explain your reason for and/or interest in
Tell me why you pick this problem
undertaking this assignment
• Description
– Answer your description question
Tell me about the problem?
Who, what, where, when, why?
• Analysis
Tell me about your investigation of the problem
What did you do?
– Answer your analysis question What did you find out?
• Evaluation
− Answer your evaluation question
• Conclusion
• References
Tell me what you told me
Tell me what your analytical findings mean
Did it address the problem?
How did it address the problem?
What should we do now?
Recap
Curriculum Trends in Singapore
The call for greater creativity and innovation
• Towards student-centric, values driven education
Forces pushing curriculum trends
• People
• Technology
• Globalisation
Carrington (2006, in Churchill, et al., 2010, p. 542) tells us that the school
curriculum ‘…must prepare students for new times, times in which their lifeworlds
and future trajectories are shaped around shifting notions of identity; changes in
family structures; rapid population shifts; new economies and workplaces that
become less secure and predictable with the dismantling of industrial economies
and the rise of new knowledge economies; increases in poverty, social dislocation
and cultural diversity; and new digital and communications technologies.’
People
• Rising aspirations
– Standard of living
– Quality of education
• Demographic changes
– Immigration
– Aging
Accelerating technological changes
Globalisation
• International Competition
– Educational Standards
• Producing knowledge workers in a globalised marketplace
• International comparisons
– Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study
(TIMSS)
– Program of International Studies Assessment (PISA)
• Mandating what students must know and be able to do
– Education is crucial for:
• future economic prosperity
• developing skills young people need to operate in an informationrich world
• both understanding and addressing emerging environmental
challenges
• social cohesion and equality of opportunity
Outcomes-based Education
Change Criteria
Typical of input-driven programs
Typical of outcomes-based programs
Desired Outcomes
Not specific - lists of decontextualised
objectives
Specific – lists of observable changes in
the student
Instructional Content
Subject matter-based
Outcome-based
Time for Instruction
Fixed time units
Continues until outcome demonstrated
Mode of Instruction
Teacher as transmitter of specialised
information
Teacher as facilitator of learning
Focus of Instruction
What the teacher is able to and likes to
teach
What the learner needs to learn to
demonstrate outcomes
Instructional Material
Narrow source (texts, workbooks)
Variety of materials and experiences
based on learning styles
Feedback
Delayed feedback
Results reported after performance
Assessment
Norm-referenced
Criterion (outcomes) referenced
Exit Criteria
Final assessment in grades or
percentages
Demonstrated outcome at prespecified
level
Learning Emphasis
Acquire fixed body of knowledge
transmitted by teacher
Development of learning skills
Learner Responsibility
Follow a predetermined course
Develop independence and
responsibility for self-monitoring
Standardisation
• The trend towards outcomes-based education is
closely linked to standardisation
• Should one curriculum size fit all?
– The move for consistent curricula across all schools
– Loose-tight systems
• The increased ‘marketisation’ of education
– The argument:
• All students, regardless of where they live, should have
similar opportunities to learn the same content, at the
same depth and with the same academic rigour
• Critics worry that standardisation will downgrade
quality by narrowing learning options and lower
expectations in response to greater accountability
• Nationally consistent curricula
– Setting core standards and achievement standards
– Providing flexibility for jurisdictions and school sectors
– Establishing standards as a basis for national testing
– Ensuring achievement reported on same scale nationally
• Multiculturalism
– Dealing with greater diversity
• Arts-based curriculum
• Curriculum for thinking
Assignment Presentations