Faculty of Science, Junior College Utrecht © design Communicatie & Vormgeving
Junior College Utrecht
Florine Meijer ([email protected]), Ton van der ValkJunior College Utrecht, Utrecht University. http://uu.nl/jcu
Involving all stakeholdersin the implementation ofa science curriculum
Research Question
How can a development and implementation programme effectively involve all stakeholders in supporting teachers to implement the science curriculum innovation?
Context
Nature, Life and Technology (NLT)• AdvancedScienceforuppersecondaryschool(grades10-12)
• Introducedinschoolsin2007
• Modularstructure
• Modulesdevelopedatschools,universities;certificationbynationalcommittee
Junior College Utrecht (JCU)
• CollaborationbetweenUtrechtUniversityand26secondaryschools
• Provideschallengingscienceprogrammeforexcellingstudents(grades11–12)
• Workplacefordevelopingsciencecurriculuminnovations,includingNLT
Theoretical framework
Teachersplayacentralpartintheimplementationofanycurriculuminnovation.
JCUcreatedaprogrammefordevelopmentandimplementationthataimstocreatetheconditions
forsuccessfulprofessionaldevelopmentofteachers.
I interactionwitheachotherandwithotherstakeholders
II astrongcommunity,collaborationwithhighinterdependence
IIIaclearconnectionwithclassroompractice
IVpossibilitytocontributetodevelopmentofteachingmaterials
V organisedreflectionontheexperiences
(Borko,H.(2004),Deketelaere,A.etal(1996),Imants,J.(2003),Stolk,M.J.,etal(2009a,b))
The interventionStakeholders
JCU
Students
Lecturers
Developers
Schoolboard
Partner schools Students
Teachers
Schoolboards
External parties Policymakers
Schoolsnation-wide
Activities in the programme
o developingmodules
o testingatJCU+revisions
o experimentgroups
o testingatpartnerschools+revisions
o financialsupportforteachersdeveloping&testingmaterial
o conference
o certificationofmodules
o disseminationofcertifiedmodules
o trainingofteachersnation-wide
Conclusion
In the JCU development and implementation programme all stakeholders are involved in the implementation process. The interaction with colleagues, lecturers and
students during the programme activities helps the teachers with implementing the curriculum innovations.
Questions Methods
Areallstakeholders
involved?
Istheprogramme
effective?
Aretheteachers
supported?
observations
interviews
questionnaires
Analysis
Criteria:operationalisedconditionsI-V
1. teachersinteractwithotherstakeholders
2. teacherscollaboratecloselywithcolleagues
3. teachers(intendto)usethemoduleinclass
4. teacherscontributetothedevelopmentofthemodule
5. teachersreflectontheirexperienceswiththemodule
Measurements
Stakeholders Activity Effects
100 teachers
+allgroupsexcept
non-partnerschools
conference
(workshopsaboutstudents’andteachers’
experienceswithmodulesatJCUandat
partnerschools)
Allgroupsofstakeholdersexchangeideas,experiences,plans,etc.(crit.1)
Q: The conference gave me new ideas for improving science education in the long run (crit. 3)Q: The conference gave me new ideas that I can use right away (crit. 3)
“It’sgoodthatJCUstudentsareinvolvedintheconference:veryusefultoheartheirperspective.”(crit.1)
50 teachers
+developers,lecturers
experimentgroups
(teachersanddevelopersmeetfourtimes
ayeartoexchangetheirplans,ideasand
experienceswiththemodule)
Exchangeofplans,ideas,problemswiththematerial,tipsandtricks…
-helpsothergroupmemberswiththeirpreparation(crit.2)
-leadstochanges/additionstothemodule,bydeveloperand/orteachers(crit.4)
-encouragesteacherstoreflectontheirexperienceswiththemodule(crit.5)
Q: The contribution of the lecturer was valuable (crit. 1)Q: The experiment group helped me prepare and teach the module (crit. 3)
40 teachers
+developers,students
testingatpartnerschools Modulesare(usually)taughtbytwoteachersinclosecollaboration(crit.2)
Theteacherstestthemoduleintheirownclass(crit.3)
Experiencesinclassleadtorevisionsofthemodule(crit.4)
Teachers’experienceswiththemodulesareusedincertificationprocedure(crit.5)
external teachers,developers,schoolboardJCU,policymakers
certificationanddissemination 6modulesarecertifiedforNLT;theycanbeusedthroughoutthecountry(crit.3)60schools(~15%oftotal)nation-widewilluseoneormoreJCUmodules(crit.3)
stronglydisagree
disagree stronglyagree
agree
stronglydisagree
disagree stronglyagree
agree
