Department of Education, Unit Catalogue 2011/12 |
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 Credits:
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| Level:
| Doctoral (FHEQ level 8) |
| Period: |
Modular (no specific semester) |
| Assessment:
| CW 100% |
| Supplementary Assessment: | Like-for-like reassessment (where allowed by programme regulations) |
| Requisites:
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| Description:
| This unit is intended for senior managers, educators and researchers working in institutional settings or local, regional or national administration. The unit will enable participants to study contemporary curriculum issues from a theoretical and philosophical perspective. This will be achieved through taught sessions based upon prescribed reading, tutor input, seminars and critical discussion, and case studies where tutors will be invited to contribute sessions based upon personal and current research interests with a view to informing students of the latest developments and thinking in that particular field. Aims: This unit aims to provide a critical understanding of: * The debate about the nature and origin of the school curriculum. * Aspects of the historical and philosophical background to curriculum evolution. * The developmental and innovative processes which are likely to shape curriculum developments, internationally, in the future. Learning Outcomes: As a result of the development of this critical understanding, participants will be better able to: * Identify the historical and philosophical processes that have been brought to bear on the development of the contemporary curriculum. * Understand and evaluate theories of the nature of learning (and by extension, of teaching) with reference to the development of a sociology of knowledge. * Critically evaluate curriculum development and innovation processes. * Understand international perspectives on desirable curriculum change in the medium term. Assignment: Students will be expected to complete one written assignment of 8,000 words. The assignment topic will be negotiated between the student and the unit tutor. Content: Section 1: History and philosophy of curriculum * Ancient and medieval views of the curriculum. * Education, Renaissance Humanism and the Enlightenment. * Education and Modernism. Section 2: Learning and teaching and the sociology of knowledge * Alternative curriculum frameworks and the classification of knowledge. * Alternative approaches to curriculum planning and organisation. * Teaching and learning styles, the learning environment and learning outcomes. * Sociology of knowledge. Forms, models and perceived values. Section 3: Curriculum development and innovation processes * Needs assessment and cultural analysis. * Policy making and curriculum development. * Curriculum implementation and the management of curriculum change. * Examinations, testing and accountability. Section 4: Curriculum futures: an international and comparative perspective * Curriculum for high skill economies and vocational competencies. * Planning models, subject roles, coherence, relevance, integration. * Innovation. Contexts and strategies. Models of change. * Curriculum futures. The post-modern curriculum. Case Studies: The four sections above will be complemented by case studies drawn from: * Student perspectives on curriculum * Curriculum for a high skills economy * Environmental education * Arts education * Developments in the international curriculum * Cross-cultural curriculum transfer * Mathematics and assessment * Equalising opportunities in the curriculum * The question of "Integrated Science" * Literacy across the curriculum * National curriculum and the Primary School * The changing role of the humanities. |
| Programme availability: |
ED60276 is Optional on the following programmes:Department of Education
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