Do UNESCO Schools in Finland Prepare Their Students for the Future? : A Study of Their School-based Curriculums

The purpose of the research was to study how Finnish lower-stage schools participating in the international network of UNESCO schools, also called the Associated Schools Project (ASP), prepare their students for the future at the level of their school-based curriculums. In the research, the future trends were discussed, and the importance of their consideration in educational practice was explained from a global viewpoint: Based on the examination of today's problematic world state, and development trends characterized by globalization, the challenges and demands set for schooling and education in the future were discussed. Understanding the significance of an individual's action and responsibility was considered to be the central resource for building a more just and sustainable future. The study was grounded on a theoretical model developed by the researcher, which combined the models of Dalin & Rust (1996) and UNESCO (Delors et al. 1996) about future-oriented learning. The model consists of four basic elements of curriculum; "Nature", "Culture", "Myself", and "Others", and four dimension of learning; "Learning to know", "Learning to do", "Learning to live together" and "Learning to be". The model represents the holistic aspect of educational theory, and its aim is to maintain a balance between its different components. The research material composed of ten lower-stage UNESCO schools' school-based curriculums. They were analyzed using the theoretical model by the methology of content analysis. The research results were notably consistent between the different schools. They showed cultural learning and learning concerned with "myself" to be clearly more emphasized than learning referring to nature and other people. In addition, they reflected the central position of subjects, knowledge and skills, thus leaving the development of the pupils' personalities, and particularly learning concerned with living with other people, in a marginal role. The question about whether the schools prepare for the future interms of their curriculums, was discussed in the light of the results. The research offered a way and a model to approach the relationship between education and the future, and to evaluate schools' future-orientation. Based on the results, the schools are suggested to lay more stress on learning concerned with nature and other people, and focus more on developing the mental capasities of their pupils and competencies they need for living with other people. Above all, what the present societies require of schools is education which produces balanced and broadly aware human beings who have the mental strength to face the challenges of the future and abilities to direct it along the lines they desire. Keywords: future, curriculum, content analysis

Planen, Lehren und Lernen in der Krankenpflegeausbildung : Begründungsrahmen und Entwicklung eines offenen, fächerintegrativen Curriculums für die theoretische Ausbildung. Teil 2: Ein offenes, fächerintegratives Curriculum für die theoretische Ausbildung

In Teil I der Arbeit wird im ersten Kapitel eine Analyse der krankenpflegerischen Ausbildungssituation vorgenommen, der dann eine Konkretisierung der didaktisch-curriculumtheoretischen Standortbestimmung des Projekts folgt (zweites Kapitel. Im Begründungszusammenhang dieser Erörterungen werden im dritten Kapitel die grundlegenden Ziel- und Inhaltsentscheidungen, die in Zusammenarbeit mit den Praktikern entstanden sind, dargestellt. Das vierte Kapitel enthält einen Rückblick über den curricularen Entwicklungsprozeß und leitet daraus Schlußfolgerungen ab. Teil II besteht im wesentlichen aus dem "offenen, fächerintegrativen Curriculum für die theoretische Krankenpflegeausbildung", in dessen Anwendung vorher kurz eingeführt wird und dessen Umsetzung am Beispiel der Krankenpflegeschule, an der es entwickelt worden ist, im Anhang verdeutlicht wird.

Planen, Lehren und Lernen in der Krankenpflegeausbildung : Begründungsrahmen und Entwicklung eines offenen, fächerintegrativen Curriculums für die theoretische Ausbildung

In Teil I der Arbeit wird im ersten Kapitel eine Analyse der krankenpflegerischen Ausbildungssituation vorgenommen, der dann eine Konkretisierung der didaktisch-curriculumtheoretischen Standortbestimmung des Projekts folgt (zweites Kapitel. Im Begründungszusammenhang dieser Erörterungen werden im dritten Kapitel die grundlegenden Ziel- und Inhaltsentscheidungen, die in Zusammenarbeit mit den Praktikern entstanden sind, dargestellt. Das vierte Kapitel enthält einen Rückblick über den curricularen Entwicklungsprozeß und leitet daraus Schlußfolgerungen ab. Teil II besteht im wesentlichen aus dem "offenen, fächerintegrativen Curriculum für die theoretische Krankenpflegeausbildung", in dessen Anwendung vorher kurz eingeführt wird und dessen Umsetzung am Beispiel der Krankenpflegeschule, an der es entwickelt worden ist, im Anhang verdeutlicht wird.

Programes d'Ensenyament dels USA i de Catalunya. Traducció i anàlisi comparativa entre els curriculums de Matemàtiques i Llengua de les Escoles pùbliques de la Ciutat de Nova York i de la Generalitat de Catalunya. 'Programas de Enseñanza de los USA y de Cataluña : traducción y análisis comparativo de los currículums de Matemáticas y Lengua de las Escuelas públicas de la Ciudad de Nueva York y de la Generalitat de Cataluña'.

Conocer los programas de Enseñanza considerados básicos en las Escuelas públicas en USA y ver las diferencias que hay respecto a los programas de la Generalitat de Cataluña. Programas de las Escuelas públicas de la Ciudad de Nueva York desde parvulario a quinto grado. Programas de Matemáticas y Lengua de la Generalitat de Catalunya. Traduce los programas Educativos de las Escuelas públicas de la Ciudad de Nueva York de todas las asignaturas, compara los contenidos presentados de las asignaturas de Lengua y Matemáticas de los programas de la Generalitat y de Nueva York. Programas oficiales. Análisis del contenido de los programas para compararlos. En referencia a las Matemáticas: los programas de Nueva York son muy directos, no trabajan la lógica, dan una base de contenidos para su cotidianeidad, en cambio el programa de la Generalitat es completo, coherente y lógico. Sus contenidos están bien relacionados. En referencia al Lenguaje: el programa de Nueva York da más importancia a la discusión, hablar en grupo, escuchar, que a los conocimientos teóricos; es un poco incompleto; los aspectos de biblioteca, en Catalunya se incorporan a la asignatura de Lengua, la cual está muy pensada pero tiene demasiados contenidos teóricos y poca relación con el mundo actual.

El Batxillerat : Currículums i materials de suport. 'El Bachillerato : Curriculums y materiales de soporte'.

El cd recoge ejemplos de segundo nivel de concreción, de unidades didácticas para el desarrollo de las materias del bachillerato. El Departament d'ensenyament ha editado los curriculums y materiales de soporte del bachillerato en este cd disponible en los centros (septiembre 1999); la información también se puede consultar por internet (.

Education futures : transforming teacher education in the middle years

The young people who populate our classrooms live in a changed and rapidly changing society: a society where information is the most valued commodity and where traditional ‘truth’s such as nation and family are increasingly destabilized and fragmented. Educators at primary, secondary and tertiary level must, with some urgency, address issues relating the emergence of new citizenships and identities, the impact of new technologies and new economies. Our pedagogy and curriculums must be relevant to the need of students now and in the future. The School of Education, The University of Queensland is addressing issues of change, new technologies, new work places, critical citizenry and the need for pedagogical and curriculum innovation through the development of a new Middle Years of Schooling Dual Degree program. This program is designed to equip pre-service teachers to approach pedagogy and curriculum in innovative ways and to challenge them to embrace diversity and change. This paper outlines the key features of the Middle Years of Schooling Dual Degree, identifying a number of innovative approaches to pre-service teacher education.

History in the Australian Curriculum F-10 : providing answers without asking questions

This paper examines the most recent version of the Australian Curriculum: History F-10. It does so in two ways. First, it explores some of the strengths and weaknesses of this curriculum with reference to the decision to frame aspects of Australian history within the context of a world history approach. Whilst the positioning of Indigenous Histories is applauded, the curriculum’s lack of attention to the significance of the recent history of Australia’s Asian neighbours, and Australia’s relationship with them, is critiqued. This part of the paper also emphasises the need for comparative approaches and calls for greater emphasis on providing students with opportunities to critique and contest the construction of narratives about the past. Second, the paper introduces four invited articles that examine different aspects of the Australian Curriculum: History. Collectively these papers reiterate the significance of the richness of integrated and child-centred approaches and the importance of developing historical thinking, empathy and the historical imagination in the classroom.

Teachers’ work in curricular markets : conditions of design and relations between the International Baccalaureate Diploma and the local curriculum

School level strategy enabled by neoliberal choice policies can produce internal curricular markets whereby branded curricula such as the International Baccalaureate are offered alongside the local government curriculum in the same school. This project investigated how such curricular markets operating in Australian schools impacted on teachers’ work. This paper reports on teachers work in three case study schools that offered both the International Baccalaureate Diploma program and the local senior schooling curriculum, then draws on an online survey of 225 teachers in 26 such schools across Australia. The analysis reveals the impact of curricular markets along two dimensions: the curriculum’s internal design; and the relational aspects of how schools manage to deliver tandem offerings within institutional constraints. Teachers working in the IBD Diploma program were shown to relish its design, despite additional demands, while teachers working in just the local curriculum reported more relational issues. The paper argues that these trends suggest that there are winners and losers emerging in the work conditions produced by curricular markets.  

A situated approach to historical thinking in the Australian Curriculum : History

This paper focuses on the importance of foregrounding an emphasis on the development of historical thinking in the implementation of the Australian Curriculum: History as a way of making the study of history meaningful for their students. In doing so, it argues that teachers need to take up the opportunity to situate the study of Asia as a significant component of the curriculum’s ‘Australia in a world history approach’. In the discussion on the significance of historical thinking, the paper specifically addresses those seven historical concepts articulated in the new history curriculum by drawing from the international scholarship in the field of history education on the ways in which children and adolescents think about historical content and concepts.

History in the Australian Curriculum F-10: Providing answers without asking questions

Thi paper writer examines the most recent version of the Australian Curriculum: History F-10. It does so in two ways. First, it explores some of the strengths and weaknesses of this curriculum with reference to the decision to frame aspects of Australian history within the context of a world history approach. Whilst the positioning of Indigenous Histories is applauded, the curriculum’s lack of attention to the significance of the recent history of Australia’s Asian neighbours, and Australia’s relationship with them, is critiqued. This part of the paper also emphasises the need for comparative approaches and calls for greater emphasis on providing students with opportunities to critique and contest the construction of narratives about the past. Second, the paper introduces four invited articles that examine different aspects of the Australian Curriculum: History. Collectively these papers reiterate the significance of the richness of integrated and child-centred approaches and the importance of developing historical thinking, empathy and the historical imagination in the classroom.

Using information communication technologies to develop dynamic curriculum frameworks for diverse cohorts: a case study from event management

This article investigates the role of information communication technologies (ICTs) in establishing a well-aligned, authentic learning environment for a diverse cohort of non-cognate and cognate students studying event management in a higher education context. Based on a case study which examined the way ICTs assisted in accommodating diverse learning needs, styles and stages in an event management subject offered in the Creative Industries Faculty at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, the article uses an action research approach to generate grounded, empirical data on the effectiveness of the dynamic, individualised curriculum frameworks that the use of ICTs makes possible. The study provides insights into the way non-cognate and cognate students respond to different learning tools. It finds that whilst non-cognate and cognate students do respond to learning tools differently, due to a differing degree of emphasis on technical, task or theoretical competencies, the use of ICTs allows all students to improve their performance by providing multiple points of entry into the content. In this respect, whilst the article focuses on the way ICTs can be used to develop an authentic, well-aligned curriculum model that meets the needs of event management students in a higher education context, with findings relevant for event educators in Business, Hospitality, Tourism and Creative Industries, the strategies outlined may also be useful for educators in other fields who are faced with similar challenges when designing and developing curriculum for diverse cohorts.

Core competencies required for managing occupational road risks

To provide valuable industry information with human resource applications, this study aimed to identify the minimum level of competency required within organisations to manage occupational road risk. Senior managers from four Australian organisations participated in individual semi-structured interviews. These senior managers were responsible for a combined workforce of approximately 46,000 and a combined fleet of approximately 20,000. The managers assessed a list of 39 safety management tasks that had previously been identified as critical to the management of Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) performance within the construction industry. From this list the managers perceived that organisational personnel required competency in at least 14 of the safety tasks to meet a minimum standard of road risk management. Managers perceived that a full understanding of at least six of these tasks was critical. These six tasks comprised: hazard identification and control; providing OHS information and instruction; incident investigations; inspections of workplace and work tasks; researching and reporting on OHS issues and strategies; and applying legislative OHS requirements. It is hoped that the core competencies identified in this study may assist in the development of an internationally accepted competency framework for managing occupational road risks. This proposed competency framework could have many applications including guiding the design of job descriptions, training curriculums, and employee performance assessments. To build upon this study, the authors recommend future research be conducted to identify the key competencies required to manage occupational road safety across a broad range of organisational contexts.