ERIC Number: EJ1021745
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2013
Pages: 24
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0022-0272
EISSN: N/A
Harmony and Disharmony in an Educational Reform Concert: Towards a Parsons' Inspired Dynamic Model of Tuning
Carpay, Thérèse; Luttenberg, Johan; Veugelers, Wiel; Pieters, Jules
Journal of Curriculum Studies, v45 n6 p814-837 2013
In large-scale educational reforms, many actors play their roles. The diversity of contributions and lack of harmonization prove to be frequently found to cause educational reform failures. Many explanations for these failures focus on differences between the actors and on differences in their contributions to the reform process. In this article, we examine the effects of these differences and emphasize on the need to harmonize these contributions to the reform process. Contributions by several actors to a large-scale curriculum reform undertaken in the Netherlands in the 1990s are mapped for this purpose. This curriculum reform is part of a larger educational reform aimed to introduce a constructivist approach. Education is conceptualised as a social system, and educational reform as the manner in which this social system adapts to immanent and emmanent changes. The actors in the education system are distributed across functional subsystems. In the present analyses, teacher acting within a particular subsystem stands central. The results show adequate exchange and harmonization of the contributions from the different subsystems to be a necessary condition for successful educational reform. To achieve a good exchange and harmonization, the use of an Educational Impact Assessment is recommended.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Educational Change, Differences, Curriculum Development, Secondary Education, Social Systems, Interaction, Models, Constructivism (Learning), Interviews, Qualitative Research, Content Analysis, Socialization, Power Structure, School Organization
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Netherlands
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A