Teachers, resources, assessment practices: role and impact on the curricular implementation process

Abstract

A broad perspective must be taken while discussing teachers, resources and assess- ment practices in relation to reform and this is what we have attempted in the pres- ent chapter. We consider factors in curriculum implementation including physical materials, technologies, but also processes such as classroom and system assess- ment practices and, in a privileged way, the role of teachers. Curricular change can become just a proposal printed on an official paper if it does not actively involve teachers and their practices, and if it does not secure the needed resources for teachers. In focusing in this chapter on the implementation of curriculum reform, we have the classroom firmly in focus. We begin considering issues around the intended curriculum, including the preparation and professional development of teachers and then consider what is attained, which takes us into issues around assessment. The chapter suggests different roles played by teachers, resources and assess- ment in helping and/or restraining success in curriculum reforms, so that a reader can identify common elements relating to their own context and, we hope, take forward ideas about how to act and/or not to act when implementing a curriculum reform. The distinction between the breadth of reform and its depth is particularly significant when it comes to considering teachers, resources and assessments. By breadth we mean the number of schools or teachers affected, which could range from all the teachers in a country, or all the teachers in publicly-funded schools in a country, to more regional or local innovations. Depth of reform is concerned with the extent to which teachers are brought into the reform process, for instance whether pedagogical innovation is envisaged as part of reform and, if so, whether there is any theory of change driving what takes place and the extent to which changes are harmonious. To draw on the issue of assessment raised at the start of this chapter, for instance, depth of reform will concern the extent to which assessment practices fit with the new curriculum innovation or not. A deep reform will bring assessment innovation with it, alongside opportunities for teachers to develop and learn in relation to inno- vation. A shallow reform might be a change in curriculum documentation with little else by way of changes to assessment structures and little consideration given to supporting the envisaged pedagogy. In this chapter, we have largely drawn from contributions to the ICMI Study 24 Conference that took place in Japan in November 2018. The rationale here is that the Study Conference was the result of a global call and all contributions were peer- reviewed. However, we have supplemented our review with other publications where, as authors, we felt that some important perspective was not represented. We end the chapter by bringing into focus an issue which was not represented at the ICMI Study 24 Conference, which we feel is nonetheless vital to consider, and this is the extent to which curriculum reform pays attention to local or global concerns and challenges.