Core Aff A irs - f L A nders, Be Core affairs L gium Flanders, Belgium ISBN 978 90 329 2306 8 Case studies basic education in Europe SLO • national institute for curriculum development SLO Piet Heinstraat 12 7511 JE Enschede Postbus 2041 7500 CA Enschede A comparative study into the motives, functions, T 053 484 08 40 resources, design and implementation of common F 053 430 76 92 aims and contents of basic education in Europe E [email protected] www.slo.nl Colophon SLO Contents Author: SLO is the National institute for 1. Introduction: objectives of the study and research methods used 5 Christine De Coninck curriculum development in the 1.1 Research question 6 Netherlands. SLO was founded 1.2 Research design 7 Adviser: thirty years ago by the Dutch Roger Standaert government to give independent, 2. Research questions, the general questions aggravated to professional advice on, and the specific case 9 Editor: support for, curriculum innovation, Jos Letschert development, and implementation. 3. Survey of researchers and respondents involved in the case 11 In performing our tasks, we take 3.1 Researchers 11 Design and Production: into account the developments in AXIS Media-ontwerpers, Enschede society in general, both nationally 4. Context/Country/Features 13 and internationally, and in 4.1 Education as community matter 13 Order address: education in particular. SLO operates 4.2 Compulsory education 17 SLO in virtually all sectors of education, 4.3 Quality assurance 18 P.O.Box 2041 including primary education, 4.3.1 The Education Inspectorate 18 7500 Enschede secondary education, special 4.3.2 Attainment Levels 19 education, vocational education 4.3.3 Support 20 ISBN 978 90 329 2306 8 and teacher education, and covers 4.4 Primary Education 21 AN 7.4086.0054 all subject areas. Our central task 4.5 Secondary Education 24 is to advise the government on important education reforms 5. State of the Art 31 and new curricula. SLO supports 5.1 Primary Education 32 and coordinates curriculum 5.2 Secondary Education 33 development in collaboration 5.3 European developments 35 with schools and universities, 5.4 Flemish policy document and letter for education 36 carries out curriculum evaluations, and provides information about 6. Historical background, genesis and design features of the teaching materials. core curriculum in Flanders 39 6.1 History 39 6.2 Principles 40 6.2.1 Principle of the consecutive buildup 41 6.2.2 Harmonic education 42 6.2.3 Relationship trans-subject and subject-oriented 42 6.2.4 Horizontal and vertical correlation 42 6.2.5 Innovative principles 43 Core AffAirs - fLAnders, BeLgium Core AffAirs - fLAnders, BeLgium 6.3 Functions of attainment levels 43 1. Introduction: objectives of the study and 6.3.1 Criterion function 44 6.3.2 Attunement function 44 research methods used 6.3.3 Image function 45 6.3.4 Emancipatory function 45 Within the context of our constitutional task, the national Institute for Curriculum 6.3.5 Guiding function 45 Development in the Netherlands (SLO) carries out a comparative research 6.4 Features of attainment levels in primary education 46 project regarding the motives, functions, resources, design and implementation 6.4.1 Broad education 46 of common aims and contents of basic education in Europe. Basic education is 6.4.2 Active learning 46 understood to be primary education and the first phase of secondary education. 6.4.3 Broad care 47 Depending on specific national and system conditions, it concerns the age group 6.4.4 Cohesion 47 between approximately 3/4 and 14/15 years old. The research is carried out by an 6.5 Features of attainment levels in secondary education 48 SLO project team, in collaboration with the University of Twente, the faculty of Curriculum Design and Innovation of Education. The research activities are based 7. Policy philosophy, steering mechanism, innovation policy 51 upon the results of a previous project, focused on curriculum development in a 7.1 Freedom of education 51 (de)centralized context in some European countries. 7.2 The school as a focus on quality 53 7.3 Professionalism of teachers 54 Curriculum and curriculum development are not just issues that concern schools 7.4 The evolution of the concept of freedom 54 and teachers; both have a broad impact on, importance for and relevance to the sustained development of communities. More than ever curriculum is, or should be, 8. Development and implementation of core objectives 57 at the centre of daily life and the responsibility of society in general. The concept 8.1 Design of attainment levels and development objectives 59 curriculum has changed over the years. Traditionally curriculum is connected to 8.2 The procedure 59 a more or less prescriptive book or syllabus, defined on a central level. Today, it is 8.3 Evaluation of attainment levels 60 increasingly interpreted according to the evocative nature of education. Curriculum provides process-oriented challenges for schools to define their own policies within 9. Implementation, activities undertaken, and their results 65 a global national framework. The national framework is the point of departure for the research project on ‘core affairs’. As the name suggests, we are particularly 10. Observations and discussion 71 looking for what determines the common core of content. Summary 75 In almost every European and western-oriented country, a debate is going on concerning the core of education and what objectives should be striven for. This Literature 79 debate is not a specific educational one. It takes place in several layers of societies, concerning a variety of stakeholders. The debate addresses the formative and Appendix 85 qualifying values of education for individuals as well as society. It relates to talent development, equal opportunities, preserving and transferring meaningful knowledge and valuable aspects of cultural heritage, social abilities and respect for and fulfilment of common values and societal standards. The debate also concerns the wish of stabilisation and reinforcement of the economic position by means of effective and useful investments in competence and knowledge development. In the debate, we sometimes see contradictions in the weighing of interests of Core AffAirs - fLAnders, BeLgium Core AffAirs - fLAnders, BeLgium distinguished stakeholders and concerning supposed functions of education. In • what are the intended and realized effects of common content and mutual this turbulent environment, governments and other authorities have to make their objectives. decisions, which should be relevant and supporting to the sustainable quality of education. Research is done by literature and internet search, by case studies and by expert questioning. The research is focused at the influence and role of three issues: policy Some elements of the common content of education are steered by mutual - research - practice, and three dimensions concerning curriculum and curriculum agreements in the European context, such as the European framework for foreign design and development: language learning, or are influenced by results of international comparative research, including PISA, TIMSS, and IGLU. Other aspects can or will be national or • main and coherent curricular components: regional. visions, aims, contents, arrangements for learning, teaching and assessment, and the environment in whichlearning and teaching takes place, Determining the core of educational content or objectives takes place particularly • relationships or gaps between systemic layers: on the basis of diverse sources and strategies of selection, designing and validation. international or federal level (supra); national level ( macro); institute or school This diversity also concerns the ways of implementation and legislation. Common level (meso); Group or class level (micro); individual level (nano), objectives and common content have distinctive profiles in a variety of countries • competences of actors in processes of curriculum development: and a variety of design features, appearances and status. Sometimes, these are selecting, (re)designing, validation, implementing, valuing. rather global, sometimes very specific. They describe expectations or demands. They vary in their names: attainment targets, core objectives, standards, canon, etc. 1.2 Research design A main part of the research takes place by case study research. A case study is a 1.1 Research question particular method of qualitative research. Rather than using large samples and following a rather fixed protocol to examine a limited number of variables, case The research project ‘Core Affairs’ investigates the development, the determination study methods involve an in-depth, longitudinal examination of a single instance and the maintenance of a common core in education, in a more or less or event: a case. They provide a systematic way of looking at events, collecting (de)centralized policy context. More specifically, the researchers in the project look data, analyzing information, and reporting the results. As a result, the researcher at: may gain a sharper understanding of why things happened as they did, and what might become important to look at in more detail in future research. • what are considered to be the common core and objectives in several European Case studies lend themselves especially to generating (rather than testing) countries, hypotheses. A case study is an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary • what sources are being used, phenomenon within its real-life context, especially when the