Reforming the Basic Education Curriculum in Surinam: a collaborative learning process

Author(s):

Wout Ottevanger(presenting / submitting)Jan Berkvens(presenting)

Conference:

ECER 2011

Network:

3. Curriculum Innovation by Schools and Teachers

Format:

Paper

Session Information

03 SES 02, Partnership in Curriculum Change

Paper Session

Time:

2011-09-13

15:15-16:45

Room:

JK 31/227,1 FL., 30

Chair:

Moira Hulme

Contribution

Since 2004, Suriname (a small country in South America), has been working towards a high-quality basic education curriculum. Inspired by the Education for All goals, Suriname has decided to offer compulsory education for all children between the age of 4 and 15. The content and pedagogy are outdated and elementary math has been neglected. Education is envisaged to become more explorative and activating. This choice has curricular consequences that need to be addressed. In addition, migration from rural towards urban areas in Suriname is increasing. This migration has additional consequences for education in urban classrooms. For example, language and cultural issues intensify, and pedagogical approaches need to be adjusted.

The Netherlands Institute for Curriculum Development (SLO) has been involved since 2009, supporting the development of the new basic education curriculum, and providing capacity building support to all levels of the education system. The compact size and controllable setting of Suriname provides the opportunity to develop insight in the complex process of curriculum development, which is often more complicated in bigger and more complex societies, masking the original curricular processes. Therefore, SLO conducted research, according to the following research questions:

1. What are main contextual issues and design challenges that need to be taken into account before and while working towards a new curriculum, seen from substantive, technical-professional and socio-political perspectives?

2. How could these design challenges be addressed: what design principles can be characterized favoring the development, testing and implementation of such a curriculum?

2. Theoretical framework

The Surinamese education sector can be described from three perspectives: 1) the substantive perspective; 2) technical-professional perspective and 3) socio-political perspective.

The substantive perspective

The current Surinamese curriculum is outdated. Much of the content has not been revised for decennia, teaching methodology is mainly based on rote learning and teaching materials are old, and as a result, often lacking. Pedagogy taught at the teacher education institutes is also outdated, although the institutions do their best to introduce more recent approaches. Curriculum redesign was informed by the components of the curriculum spider web of Van den Akker (2003).

The technical-professional perspective

Being such a small country, the government is not able to attract enough local qualified staff for all the activities that need to be carried out. There is a shortage of Ministerial staff and curriculum developers for all subjects and grades. Available staff has received some additional formal and informal training, but application of what was learned remains weak.

The curriculum was developed in ‘co-authorship’ (Merriam, Courtenay, & Cervero, 2006) with a community of learners, while SLO supported the learners with contemporary academic input. Thorough contextual understanding was expected to be important (Berkvens, 2009). The incorporation of Joyce and Showers’ (2002) model for effective training consists of five components (theory, modeling, practice, field practice and follow-up support) was expected to improve learning outcomes.

The socio-political perspective

A strong acceptance base was thought to be important, including a variety of stakeholders.

Method

The research was carried out as an exploratory and reflective study. The needs and wishes of the wide array of stakeholders were investigated. Based on a literature analysis, a set of design principles was identified, forming the basis of the intervention. The intervention consisted of the community of learners that worked on the revision of the curriculum and the capacity building activities carried out to support the development and implementation of the curriculum. The aforementioned curricular spider web of Van den Akker(2003), and the four criteria for high-quality curriculum as described by Thijs and van den Akker (2009) – relevance, consistency, practicality and effectiveness –were used to evaluate the developed curriculum. Guskey’s (2000) first four of the five critical levels of professional development evaluation were used to analyse the capacity building activities and curriculum development processes involved. The critical levels involve participants’ reactions, participants’ learning, organization support and change, participants’ use of acquired knowledge and skills. All participants and facilitators were offered questionnaires, and a selection of participants was interviewed, at the beginning, during and at the end of the intervention. Furthermore, other stakeholders were interviewed as well. Local and international experts were consulted, as a form of ‘expert appraisal’.

Expected Outcomes

Preliminary results Surinamese educational issues are complex. Thorough contextual understanding is required to arrive at relevant, consistent, practical and effective curricular solutions for improving education for all children offering equal opportunities: children in the cities, those migrating to the urban areas and those remaining in rural areas. Language issues and approaches to address problems could only be identified after extensive discussions within the community of learners. The same applies to strategies for improvement of math education. Analysis shows the importance of continuous and multidimensional capacity building of the people and organizations we work with, i.e. in the community of learners, in the Ministry of Education. The project provides opportunities to combine contemporary curriculum theory, within local context, leading to a high-quality curriculum and improved basic education. The preliminary analysis shows the extensive need for supportive capacity building to the different actors in the Surinamese education system in order to implement the basic education curriculum as successfully as possible. Incorporation of Joyce and Showers’ model for effective training shows positive results. The community of learners and concentric approach contributed to a broader acceptance base, and to the quality of the curriculum.

References

Berkvens, J.B.Y. (2009). Developing effective professional learning in Cambodia. Enschede: University of Twente. PhD dissertation. Joyce, B., & Showers, B. (2002). Student achievement through staff development. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. Merriam, S. B., Courtenay, B. C., & Cervero, R. M. (2006). Global issues and adult education. Perspectives from Latin America, Southern Africa and the United States. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Thijs, A., & van den Akker, J. (2009). Curriculum in development. Enschede: SLO, Netherlands Institute for Curriculum Development. Unicef (2008). http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/suriname.html#68 Van den Akker, J. (2003). Curriculum perspectives: an introduction. In J. van den Akker, W. Kuiper & U Hameyer (Eds.), Curriculum landscapes and trends (pp. 16-29). Enschede: SLO.

Author Information

Wout Ottevanger (presenting / submitting)

SLO

Research and Consultancy

Bergen

Jan Berkvens (presenting)

SLO, Netherlands, The

Search the ECER Programme

Search for keywords and phrases in "Text Search"
Restrict in which part of the abstracts to search in "Where to search"
Search for authors and in the respective field.
For planning your conference attendance you may want to use the conference app, which will be issued some weeks before the conference
If you are a session chair, best look up your chairing duties in the conference system (Conftool) or the app.