SCHOOL BASED CURRICULUM AND TEACHER INNOVATION CAPACITY

TOWARDS QUALITY TEACHING

A Presentation
At
An International Seminar and Workshop on “school –based curriculum and
the teachers’ innovation capacity towards quality teaching”
(karawang, Indonesia, 30-May 2010)

BY
Musa muwaga (Mr.)
musamuwaga@yahoo.com
+6281519141328

Introduction
‘Quality education is a prerequisite for education for sustainable development. Both
Education for All and Millennium Development Goals introduced the concept of quality
education into their goals and international development targets. Quality has become a
dynamic concept that has constantly adapted to a world whose societies are undergoing
profound social and economic transformation’.
School based curriculum and teacher education have increasingly been recognized as the
most crucial factor of quality in education. In achieving the inclusive goal of ‘over-all
improvement of quality in education at all levels’, diversified innovations in teacher
education have been promoted in developed and developing countries, for better pre-service
preparation and in-service professional development. The dissemination and adaptation of
evidence-based successful teacher education innovations in country-specific contexts have
been applied as an effective strategy for quality Education for All.
The Curriculum Planning Guidelines are a key part of the Government's agenda for
education reform as outlined in the Blueprint for private and government Schools. The
Blueprint recognises the most effective way to respond to diverse student needs is by

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extending the skills of the education workforce in schools to improve learning-teaching
relationships.
The Curriculum Planning Guidelines assist schools to strengthen current practice and
provide a tool to reduce the crowded curriculum experienced by some schools. The
Guidelines reflect what is valued in society as the essential knowledge, skills and
behaviours our young people need to enable them to become life-long learners achieve their
ambitions and contribute to the community development.
"Curriculum" refers to everything a school does to support student learning and includes
policies and practices about content offered, as well as ways in which the content can be
taught and learned. It takes into account student backgrounds, organisational arrangements,
assessment processes and reporting practices.
Purpose
The school based Curriculum Planning Guidelines are designed to assist both private and
government schools to make decisions about what their students learn, ways in which they
can learn, how learning is assessed, and how student progress and achievement is reported.
It is expected that use of the Guidelines will lead to greater consistency in how schools and
teachers make decisions about curriculum.
The Guidelines will assist teachers and school communities to audit and evaluate current
practice and to plan future curriculum in line with Essential Learning Standards, the
Principles of Learning and advice about Assessment and Reporting. School communities
and teachers are encouraged to use the Guidelines as a platform for discussion about
curriculum issues and as a basis for curriculum planning.
Planning
Effective curriculum planning occurs when teachers and school leaders work together with
students and other members of the school community. Schools should create regular
opportunities for this to occur. A school's curriculum plan should be underpinned by the
agreed values and beliefs of each community. The plan should describe the scope and
sequences of knowledge, skills and behaviours students will be expected to develop at
particular stages of learning, understanding that students in any given year can be at very

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different points in their learning. Overlaps will occur between stages.

A school based curriculum plan is different to a Charter which is more like a school's
strategic plan. Most schools already have a process for planning and recording their
curriculum provision and will continue to devise their own methods to suit their own needs.
The Curriculum Planning Guidelines provide a model for consistency of planning. To
ensure consistency and coherence, planning should be conceived on a whole- school,
student grouping, program and individual student basis. The curriculum plan should be
organised in identified periods of time such as term, semester, yearly or longer intervals.
The whole-school curriculum plan should include:
• The school's mission statement or a statement of values and beliefs about what
students should learn.
• The school's goals and targets including identification of new patterns, trends or
changes in trends emerging from the summary of data.
• The school's curriculum priorities about what is taught, the expected standards and
how learning will occur at each stage of learning.
• Assessment processes indicating their nature, their relationship with what is being
learnt and when they occur.
• Processes for reporting to parents.
• Allocation of school and non-school resources to programs.
• A timetable showing how students are organised for learning, allocation of staff,
curriculum content and allocation of learning spaces at each stage of learning.
• Dates for evaluation measures of programs including data collection.
Teachers should develop their own scope and sequence of knowledge, skills, behaviours
their students will learn, the teaching and learning strategies, assessment measures and their
resource requirements in line with the whole-school plan. Their planning should be
developed in professional learning teams.

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Planning- a whole-school model
A whole-school approach to curriculum planning involves a continuous cycle of analysis,
planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
Model for curriculum planning comprises five phases:
Phase 1: Understanding the context Questions for consideration:
What are our shared values, beliefs and understandings about how students learn?
What successes can we identify in the school?
Why are they successful and what is their relevance to other areas in the school?
Phase 2: Planning and resourcing.
What priorities do we need to make in deciding what our students will learn?
How will we make use of the flexibility and interdisciplinary potential of the Framework of
Essential Learning?
Phase 3 : Implementation.
How can we improve the learning experiences of our students through the organisation
time, learning spaces and student groupings?
How can this organisation be supported?
How does the school support students to negotiate how they learn and how they are
assessed?
Phase 4: Continuous monitoring.
To what extent are the goals and targets for student performance being met?
How are students engaged in specific curriculum programs and why?
Phase 5 : Evaluation and review of outcomes
what trends in student outcomes are emerging and how do they compare with other years?
How will our evaluation processes inform learning and teaching across the school?

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Phases in Building School based curriculum

Curriculum content
The Blueprint for private and government Schools recognises the importance of a rigorous,
flexible curriculum which provides students with the essential learning they will need for
their future lives. To avoid 'crowding' the curriculum with content and 'outcomes', schools
should prioritise student learning needs at each year level. Planning should consider how
new knowledge and skills can be applied across disciplines.
Teaching
Teachers have a professional responsibility to continually improve their knowledge and
understanding of the craft of teaching and translate that knowledge into practice. The most
powerful level for reform is the transformation of teachers' practice. Teachers learn in a

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range of ways, including focused discussion on quality teaching practice, embedded in a
program of shared innovation. The Principles of Learning and Teaching have been
developed as part of a new initiative designed to support teachers in their classroom
practice and provide opportunities for professional growth.
Assessment
Assessment is the process of gathering and analysing evidence to make informed judgments
about how well students are progressing in their learning. The primary purpose of
assessment is to improve student learning.
Reporting
Reporting is the process by which assessment information is communicated in ways that
assist students, parents, teachers and the system in making decisions about what students
know and can do, along with recommendations for their future learning.
Context
Students in the twenty first century live in a world characterised by constant and rapid
changes together with an array of complex pressures and influences. It is a world that is
international in outlook, enabling global access to a vast suite of knowledge and skills and
establishes new expectations.
This world presents new challenges about choices for career and educational pathways and
less straight-forward economic and employment certainties. It also provides new
opportunities, generated by technological advances, for making connections through self-
expression, creativity and innovation. Young people are being required to learn, work and
play in contexts that require inter-disciplinary thinking, creative problem solving and
complex social interaction. Students in schools come from diverse backgrounds bringing
with them a range of values, talents, attitudes, skills, aspirations and needs.
Influences on curriculum planning
In order to develop a curriculum plan that is relevant and effective, schools should consider
these influences when planning.
Globalisation
The result of the revolution in information and communications technology (ICT),

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globalisation has itself become a driving force of change. Rapid and continuous change is
now a hallmark of the post-industrial or knowledge society, as are complexity and
ambiguity of ideas and skills resulting in many new opportunities and challenges. Young
people have truly global options that include travel, education and work in other countries,
inter-cultural exchange and expanded business opportunities.
Futures
Young people are particularly alert to the future because they have a natural interest in the
unfolding of their own lives. Integrating a futures orientation into the curriculum helps offer
direction and purpose to students. It also offers greater relevance to what is being studied.
These elements are important as students develop greater competencies in dealing with long
range planning, managing an exponential growth of information and in becoming more
insightful in sorting out social priorities and moral issues.
Information and Communication Technology
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is a powerful driver for transforming
our education system for all participants. Students in private and government schools are
already immersed in the use of digital technologies as essential tools for living in the 21st
century. In addition, our schools have access to a wide range of resources including a secure
wide area network, computers and teacher notebooks.

Skills for a challenging future

In a world characterised by rapid change and uncertainty, students need to be equipped with
a broad range of knowledge, skills and behaviours, with particular focus on learning how to
learn, communication, thinking, problem solving, defining values, creativity and being
adaptable.
With this repertoire of knowledge, skills and behaviours young people will be well placed
to succeed in any aspect of their life, in employment, in personal and social situations and
in creative and recreational pursuits.
Research shows that being creative, innovative and adaptable is more likely when particular

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conditions are in place. When teachers and students set up these conditions, they increase
the chance of creative outcomes
Our Learners.
The following issues should be considered when developing a curriculum.

Catering for diversity.

Every student in school is unique and brings with them a wealth of values, talents, attitudes,
abilities, aspirations and needs. Catering for this diversity require knowledge of the student
characteristics of a school population. In order to ensure that students reach their full
potential, schools will need to;
• Consider student diversity while planning curriculum.
• Develop a rich learning community.
• Identify and cater to the unique needs of particular cohorts of students.
• Ensure that multiple learning preferences are addressed in each classroom.
Overall, schools contain a diverse population of students. This may include students from
indigenous backgrounds, a range of cultural and linguistic backgrounds, students learning
English as a second language, high potential and gifted students, students with disabilities
and impairments, students with a variety of gender understandings as well as students from
different socio- and economic backgrounds.
Building Capacity in learners
The Curriculum Planning Guidelines are based on an understanding that to meet the
challenges of the twenty-first century students should work towards building the following
behaviours and dispositions:
• Community building with opportunities to develop functional social competencies
and resilience, an appreciation of diversity, positive valuing of self and conscious
personal and social values.
• Working in teams with an ability to co-operate, communicate and negotiate.
• Managing information to find select, structure and evaluate information.
• Enquiry, intellectual and creative curiosity and a willingness to learn.
• Problem solving and risk taking, creative thinking and decision making.

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 • Independence of mind, perseverance, tenacity, self regulating and self- evaluating.
• Flexibility and multi-literacy with ability to change through knowledge and skills
acquisition.

Valuing in-depth learning

Depth of learning is characterised by intellectually rigorous interaction with what is being
learned and is achieved by enabling students to focus their attention in a concentrated way.
When in depth of learning is emphasised, students closely examine and interact with
specific studies and contexts. This requires that students draw on an increasingly broad
scope of knowledge and skills. The end result is that students become capable of using a
variety of skills while drawing on multiple sources of knowledge to complete complex
tasks.
Authentic learning
To further develop effective learning skills, students need to be able to make strong
connections between their experiences at school and the wider community. This forms the
basis of authentic learning.
Ways of learning
Understanding that students learn in different ways has transformed approaches to learning
and teaching in many schools. This understanding has become a useful tool for schools as
they modify their curriculum to incorporate in-depth, authentic learning. Working with
students to identify their own ways of learning is important because it can increase their
understanding of the learning process and potentially their learning capability. It is equally
important that students are challenged and encouraged to develop their capacity across the
broad range of learning styles, to increase their repertoire of skills and understanding as
well as improve retention of knowledge.
Stages of learning
lf schools are to help students to make a smooth transition from one stage of learning to
another, all teachers will need to understand the characteristics of each stage know about
their students' prior learning experiences and plan appropriate curriculum provision.

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School organisation
Curriculum planning should include making decisions about how best to organise learning
time, groupings of students, staff and resources. Planning should draw on research findings
which indicate that learning is maximized when:
• Students interact positively with small numbers of teachers

• Students have extended periods of uninterrupted time to explore and practice

new learning
• Students are grouped using different criteria at appropriate times

• Teachers are grouped in teams to work with students over time and for

professional learning
• A variety of resources internal and external to the school are utilized

• Learning spaces are safe, flexible, well resourced and age appropriate.
Partnerships
An increasing body of practice and research demonstrates that close communities help to
build the social capital that contributes to prosperity, growth and social cohesiveness.
Early adolescence, in particular, is a time when young people increasingly need to make use
of the opportunities for learning with the wider community in structured ways. Authentic
learning requires schools to enter into strategic partnerships. Business, industry, cultural
and scientific community organisations, local learning and employment networks and
government agencies should be approached to provide learning experiences, resources and
ideas for school programs, especially for students in Years 5 to 9.(role models).
Globally, UNESCO has been mobilizing Member States to design and implement viable
national teacher education policies within the framework of international normative
instruments. It also assists Member States in capacity building to address teacher
professional development and promote the exchange of knowledge, innovative practices
and lessons learned.
Education and professional development of teachers has been emphasized as a highest
priority in national agenda for educational development. Over-all innovation of teacher
education in its structure, system, model, content and methods/technologies is promoted at
national and local levels. For the country’s educational development in 11th Five-Year

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period (2006-2010), “competency-based qualities education” should be made the “central
theme” while “strengthening the development of the teaching force” and regarded as “the
key”. Teacher training should be enhanced and professional competencies of teachers both
in urban and rural schools should be upgraded.
Both globally and nationally, teacher education is increasingly seen to be “the continuum of
teacher professional learning”, a conceptual framework which calls for integrated holistic
approaches to meeting teachers’ learning needs throughout initial and in-service processes.
There are multiple policy implications of teacher professional learning for teacher
education system and educational leadership.
The new approach to teacher professional development requires a transformation of policies
that support teachers, their education and growth in the profession; it requires establishment
of “a culture of support” by school and educational leaders, the creation of an enabling
policy environment; and it requires development of teacher/teaching professional standards
in alignment with learning standards, for developmental as well as evaluative purposes.
Teacher education innovation and teacher professional learning has to be taken as an
integral part of system-wise education reforms under way in many Member States and
placed in broader context of and United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable
Development in social, economic, environmental and cultural dimensions.
It is in this context that the UNESCO’s high-level, ten-year Teacher Training Initiative for
teachers (2006-2015), UNICEF-UNESCO joint Child-Friendly Schools (CFS) project, the
UNESCO-UNEVOC Joint Innovation Project on Teacher Training, the flagship programme
on “Educating Rural People” as well as the UNESCO-ILO EFA flagship programme on
“Teacher and Quality of Education for All” have all gained their inter-relation and
particular relevance and significance. In an endeavor to promote teacher education
innovation and teacher professional learning for quality Education for All, National
Commission for Education with support from UNESCO and other partners, are organizing
International Forum of Teacher Education as a platform for policy dialogue and sharing
knowledge and innovative practices for which teacher must attend .

Conclusion

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Changing the philosophical and pedagogical assumptions of education systems require
time, effort and strong political and social will. Curriculum development needs to be
evaluated thoroughly to determine its effectiveness in preparing teachers to teach with
technology. Skilled personnel are needed to develop, implement and evaluate educational
technology programmes in schools. There is also a need for increased funding and strong
determination of all parties involved; state of. Officials, administrators, teachers and parents
should unite their efforts for the development of serious curriculum that will support
education reform. There are always obstacles to attempts for educational reform: the
resistance to change that is deeply rooted in education systems and the fear of technology
dominating our lives – forces that can withhold change.
However, curriculum school based and teacher designed, can help reform education and the
education system needs to be reformed for successful technology integration. If we believe
that teachers are the primary agents of change, then a good place to start is by reforming
our teacher education programmes to better prepare teachers take advantage of the
affordances of the various technologies and successfully integrate them in their practice.

References
1. Chen De-Hua (2000). The View of New Century in Technological and Vocational
Education, Bilingual Journal Technological and Vocational Education, 60, pages 62-
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2. Marsh, C., Day, C., hannay, L.,& Mc Cutcheon, G. (1990). Reconceptualizing
School-based curriculum development. London: The Falmler Press.
3. Ministry of Education (1997). The Idea and Principle of Vocational High Schools
Curriculum Revision, Taipei: Ministry of Education Curriculum Revision Group.
4. Ministry of Education (2000). The Basic Ideas and Strategy of School-Based
Curriculum Development. Ministry of Education.
5. Nichols, L. (2002). Participatory program planning: including program participants
and evaluators. Evaluation and Program Planning, 25, 1-14.
6. Sabar, N. (1985). School-based curriculum development: Reflections form an

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