Monitoring the implementation of the new science curricula in the Netherlands: results from questionnaires, school visits and analyses of exams
Author(s):
Elvira Folmer (presenting / submitting) Wout Ottevanger Wilmad Kuiper
Conference:
ECER 2016
Network:
03. Curriculum Innovation
Format:
Paper

Session Information

03 SES 10, Curriculum Implementation in Science and Math Education

Paper Session

Time:
2016-08-25
15:30-17:00
Room:
NM-A106
Chair:
Wilmad Kuiper

Contribution

New examination programs for Biology, Chemistry and Physics are being implemented in Dutch secondary education nationwide since school year 2013-2014. Starting point for the renewal was the fact that these subjects contended with poor coherence within and across subjects, and with a lack of relevance for students. In addition, most programs were overloaded. As a result, most students showed low interest in science, few students chose these subjects as part of their program in senior secondary education, and a few students enrolled in science-oriented studies at post-secondary level (cf. CRCE, 2003). In an attempt to address these problems, in the period 2002-2010 Committees for the reform of senior secondary Biology, Chemistry and Physics developed new examination programs based on a so-called 'context-based approach'. In this approach students master concepts 'in context' (CRCE, 2003; Goedhart, 2004). Evaluation of the nationwide implementation of these programs is one of the tasks mentioned in the implementation plan (Michels, 2010). The evaluation has both a formative and a summative purpose. The results are meant to make a contribution to further improvement of various implementation activities. It also has the purpose of showing to what extent educational practice succeeds in implementing the intended renewal.

 

The theoretical background of this study is the typology of curriculum representations

(van den Akker, 2003; see table 1).  The distinction in representations underlines the stratification of the curriculum. Often considerable discrepancies exist between these representations.

 

Table 1: Typology of curriculum representations (van den Akker, 2003)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Intended   curriculum

Ideal: Rationale of basic philosophy underlying the   curriculum

Formal/written: Intentions as specified in curriculum   documents

Implemented   curriculum

Perceived: Curriculum as interpreted by its users

Operational: Actual process of teaching and learning

Attained   curriculum

Experiential: Learning experiences as perceived by learners

Learned: Resulting learning outcomes of learners

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The main question that guides the evaluation is:  

 

To what extent is the intended science renewal (as outlined at the level of the formal/written curriculum) implemented and realized in educational practice?

 

This main research questions can be divided into the following five sub-questions:

  1. What are interpretations and perceptions of teachers concerning the intended curriculum renewal? [perceived]
  2. Which measures do schools undertake to facilitate the implementation of the intended curriculum renewal? [operational]
  3. How do teachers, examination developers and textbook publishers translate the renewal to educational practice? [operational]
  4. What are learning experiences and opinions of students concerning the intended curriculum renewal? [experiential]
  5. What are student outcomes with respect to the new examination programs? [learned]

Method

To get insight in the extent to which educational practice changes as a consequence of the renewal the evaluation started in the school year 2012-2013 with a questionnaire for teachers and students to gather information about the school practice before the implementation. Next, at the end of school year 2014-2015 teachers were asked to fill in a questionnaire concerning the situation after one year of experience working with the new programs. A final questionnaire will be administered in the 2016-2017 school year. Each one of these questionnaires is supported by school visits during which teachers and students are interviewed. The teacher questionnaire focuses on classroom practice, teachers' opinions about the new programs in terms of feasibility and practicability, as well as teacher's expectations and experiences about the renewal (focus on costs and benefits, clarity, complexity, need for support, amongst others). The student questionnaires focus on learning content, learning activities, the teacher role, materials and resources, and assessment. in addition to the questionnaires and school visits the study includes the analysis of the first new exams for biology, chemistry and physics to answer the question to what extent these new exams mirror the intended renewal. To be able to do this an analysis framework was developed defining the renewal in measurable characteristics. The exams were analyzed using this framework. First analyses are currently being checked by subject matter experts, after which a wider group of experts will be addressed to answer the question whether the characteristics of the renewal are sufficiently visible in the exams or not.

Expected Outcomes

New programs overloaded After one year of implementation teachers believe the new programs are still overloaded. A majority of teachers find the central examined part not possible in 60% of the study time and about half of them feels the school examination part does not fit in 40%. Teachers biology and chemistry feel the overload is mainly caused by working with contexts. To cope with this problem teachers skip practicals and sections of textbooks, and spend less time on contexts. Although only a small proportion of teachers indicate to skip sections of school examination, a situation emerges in which an overfull central examination program is executed at the expense of school examination. Teachers use contexts Teachers feel it is clear to them what is meant by the concept-context approach. One group of teachers sees the use of contexts as an application of learned concepts, another group as the use of a context as a guide for concepts. Teachers regularly use contexts, especially to introduce or illustrate concepts. 80% of physics teachers use contexts (a quarter of the lessons or more) compared to half of the biology and chemistry teachers. Interdisciplinarity not (yet) important. During school visits, it appears teachers pay little attention to interdisciplinarity. Students, however, do see the connection between subjects. The renewal committees certainly had an eye for subject integration (Boersma et al., 2011, in which the coherence between the subjects is described), but this has not (yet) led to concrete forms of integration in practice. Teachers first focus on new aspects of their own subject, and look at integration with other subjects later. Perhaps a next curriculum renewal could include one single renewal committee for the renewal of several subjects. During the ECER first results from the analyses of first exams will also be available.

References

Committee for the Renewal of Chemistry Education in upper secondary education in the Netherlands (CRCE) (2003). Chemistry between context and concept. Designing for renewal. Enschede: SLO. Folmer, E., Ottevanger, W., & Kuiper, W. (2015). Monitoring en evaluatie invoering bètavernieuwing. Tussenmeting docenten 2014-2015. Enschede: SLO. Goedhart, M. (2004). Contexten en concepten: een nadere analyse. NVOX. Tijdschrift voor Natuurwetenschap op School, 29(4), 186-190. Michels, B. (2010). Van pilot naar praktijk. Invoeringsplan nieuwe bèta-examenprogramma's. Enschede: SLO. Michels, B., Bruning, L. Folmer, E., & Ottevanger, W. (2014). Monitoring en evaluatie invoering bètavernieuwing. Nulmeting docenten en leerlingen 2012-2013. Enschede: SLO. van den Akker, J. (2003). Curriculum perspectives: An introduction. In J. van den Akker, W. Kuiper & U. Hameyer (Eds.), Curriculum landscapes and trends (pp. 1-10). Dordrecht: Kluwer Acaddemic Publishers.

Author Information

Elvira Folmer (presenting / submitting)
SLO
O&A
Enschede
Wout Ottevanger
SLO, Netherlands, The
Wilmad Kuiper
SLO, Netherlands, The; Utrecht University, Netherlands, The

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