The Curriculum Design Coherence Model in the Knowledge‐Rich School Project

Abstract

This Research Report describes the trialling of the Curriculum Design Coherence (CDC) Model in the Knowledge‐Rich School Project in New Zealand. The Project’s findings suggest that a CDC Model curriculum development design programme may be of use more widely. The CDC Model achieves conceptual coherence and progression, firstly by using generalising subject concepts as the mechanism to create coherence; secondly by using connected content to materialise the subject concepts; and thirdly by employing the cohering subject concepts in competencies for real‐life application. It is argued that a curriculum designed according to a subject’s internal cohering mechanism gives rich depth and breadth to a national curriculum. It also assists students in acquiring deep understanding as their engagement with knowledge builds cognition. The sections in this report, ‘Introduction’, ‘The Knowledge‐Rich School Project’, ‘Knowledge Project Findings—Teachers’ Practice’, and ‘Knowledge Project Findings—the CDC Model’, provide accounts of the Project’s methods which have been used to create the findings. The collaborative design by researchers and teachers of ‘worked examples’ which apply the CDC Model was looked at first. Secondly, the ongoing refinement of the Model was investigated as the worked examples revealed its strengths and limitations, refinements which were fed back into the Model’s application. The sections ‘The Curriculum Design Coherence Model’, ‘Knowledge Types’, ‘Knowledge and Learning’, and ‘Knowledge and Language’ contain discussions of the realist (rational) theory of knowledge which informs the Model as well as explanations of how this knowledge theory justifies the Model’s design as a concept‐cohering tool. The CDC Model’s theoretical strength as a curriculum design tool makes it useful for professional programmes and teacher education. It avoids the limitations of both content‐list and skills‐based approaches for a concept‐cohering ‘rich’ approach to the curriculum.

The New Zealand mathematics curriculum: A critical commentary

“…The emptying out of mathematical knowledge (and of other subject knowledge) in the New Zealand Curriculum [9] is characterised by the shift from 'knowledge-that' (subject concepts and associated content) to 'know-how-to' (competencies and skills) [14,15]. This removal of knowledge itself was justified by another major changeto innatist or developmental learning [16], now seen in inquiry-based and personalised learning approaches from year one [17] to senior schooling.…”

“…Of course, these characteristics have emerged from deeper socio-political forces and the ideological and intellectual ideas associated with those forces. Unfortunately, space prevents an indepth account of the origins of each feature and the reasons for their convergence (see [14] for that discussion). However, it is essential to know about these underlying forces and influences in order to understand the extent to which mathematical knowledge, along with other academic subjects, has been affected in New Zealand education.…”

“…They are curriculum-makers, curriculum-designers, and curriculum-implementers. According to the findings from the Knowledge-Rich School Project [14] this overload leads to confusion and difficulty with both knowledge selection and design and a tendency to focus solely on the 'how' of teaching rather than the content itself.…”

“…socio-cultural knowledge and protoscience). An account of the theories and their implications for education are available in Rata [14].…”

Teacher Becoming Curriculum Designer: Professional Teaching and Learning in China’s Early Childhood Education

“…The project was mainly committed to fulfilling four tasks. First, at the level of global curriculum ideology, in response to the prevailing 21st-century educational narratives which overemphasize generic skills, such as interpersonal communication and problem-solving strategies and thus ignore the importance of knowledge ( Bolstad, 2012 ; Scott, 2015 ), this project proposed a knowledge-led approach to schooling ( Rata, 2019 , 2021b ). Second, at the level of pedagogic practices, the project took disciplinary knowledge as the core of schooling, rather than students’ subjective interests, practical needs, and future workplace expectations ( McPhail, 2016 ).…”