A comparison of subject matter content and the semantics of new curricula for lower secondary school in Norway and Germany
Author(s):
Maike Luimes (presenting / submitting) Kirsten Sivesind (presenting)
Conference:
ECER 2014
Network:
27. Didactics - Learning and Teaching
Format:
Paper

Session Information

27 SES 05 A, Subject Contents in Curriculum and Assessment

Paper Session

Time:
2014-09-03
11:00-12:30
Room:
B015 Anfiteatro
Chair:
Kirsten Sivesind

Contribution

A formal curriculum connects to teaching by conceptualising core matters of schooling. In current policy such matters are no longer legitimized by theories of Bildung but by emphasising competencies and learning outcomes, which ignore didactical perspectives on the preparation of teaching in schools (Scholl, 2012). This paper explores this shift from teaching to learning by comparing how subject matter content is expressed and legitimized within formal curricula for vocational oriented subjects in lower secondary school across two European countries: Norway and Germany (North Rhine-Westphalia). The main purpose is to discuss how subject matter is selected, sequenced and defined in view of current educational policy which emphasises new challenges and demands of a knowledge based economy. Thereby we question how new curricula connect to teaching in schools.

We draw on conceptual frameworks deduced from comparative didactics and comparative research on European education policy (Deng, 2007; Hopmann, 2008; Steiner-Khamsi, 2013) to analyse the representation of subject matter and how it articulates changing semantics of vocational oriented subjects. We are in particular interested in the paradoxes occurring in the interference of the semantics of didactics as a field and a new expert language which focuses on learning processes and outcomes. By comparing similarities and differences of how states aim to achieve similar conditions for schooling and different outcomes or vice versa, we interpret the paradoxes as merely constructed by policy decisions, yet with direct implications for teaching in school (Steiner-Khamsi, 2013).

Method

Three curriculum frameworks provide the basis for our analysis: Knowledge Promotion LK06 for arbeidslivsfaget and the core curricula for Arbeitslehre in Hauptschule and Gesamtschule in North Rhine-Westphalia. Additionally, we analyse complementary material such as legal documents and White, Green and Grey papers, to clarify the policy context and the structural organisation of the education system. We will apply Schwab’s (Schwab, 1978) four levels of interpretation to analyse the semantics of the curriculum documents (notions of grammar, syntax, rhetoric and place), and suggest a fifth level, which implies an inquiry of how the policy space creates demands and expectations to transform the curriculum subjects which are studied. Further on, we will apply Schwab’s commonplaces: the teacher, student, curriculum and learning environment, to see whether new approaches to competences express a deliberative orientation to curriculum and teaching, reframing the space between policy and school.

Expected Outcomes

Our documentary analysis explores how vocational oriented subjects in lower secondary school are expressed through subject matter content versus different articulations of knowledge depending on the semantics constructed by the curriculum as well as the policy.

References

Deng, Zongyi. (2007). Transforming the Subject Matter: Examining the Intellectual Roots of Pedagogical Content Knowledge. Curriculum Inquiry, 37(3), 279-295. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-873X.2007.00386.x Hopmann, Stefan T. (2008). No child, no school, no state left behind: schooling in the age of accountability. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 40(4), 417-456. Scholl, Daniel (2012). Are the Traditional Curricula Dispensable? A Feature Pattern to Compare Different Types of Curriculum and a Critical View of Educational Standards and Essential Curricula in Germany. European Educational Research Journal, 11(3), 328-341. Schwab, Joseph J. (1978). Science, curriculum and liberal education. Selected essays. Chicago: The university of Chicago press. Steiner-Khamsi, Gita. (2013). What is Wrong with the ‘What-Went-Right’ Approach in Educational Policy? European Educational Research Journal, 12(1).

Author Information

Maike Luimes (presenting / submitting)
University of Oslo
Department of Education
Oslo
Kirsten Sivesind (presenting)
Department of Teacher Education and School Research, University of Oslo, Norway

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