SZ6644 Theory and Practice of Curriculum

Faculty of Education
Spring 2025

The course is not taught in Spring 2025

Extent and Intensity
0/1/0. 2 credit(s). Type of Completion: z (credit).
In-person direct teaching
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Karolína Dundálková, Ph.D. (lecturer)
doc. Mgr. Petr Knecht, Ph.D. (lecturer)
doc. Mgr. Kateřina Lojdová, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. Mgr. Petr Knecht, Ph.D.
Department of Education – Faculty of Education
Supplier department: Inst.for Research in School and Health – Faculty of Education
Prerequisites
NOW( SZ6642 School Education )
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The course deepens and systematises the knowledge gained in the course school didactics. The course is an introduction to curriculum study, it describes its theoretical base and deals with the problematics of the practical implementation of the curricular reforms. It focuses on the development of the Czech school curriculum in the context of educational transformation and the changes of curricular policy after 1989. The objective is to provide the students with deeper understanding of the theory and practice of the curriculum, its implementation and revision.
Learning outcomes
Outcomes: After the course the student is able to: • • understand and use the basic professional curricular concepts. • apply the concepts to describe, analyze, interpret and evaluate selected curricular documents. • identify, characterize and explain the process of creating the curriculum in practice on model examples. • describe and critically reflect the work of mentor teacher with curricular documents. • characterize selected quality criteria of the curriculum and explain their importance for the teacher´s every day work.
Syllabus
  • Outline: • 1.-2. Basic curricular sources and concepts, curricular policy, curricular documents Content: Curriculum, curricular processes, the forms of curriculum (designed, implemented, realized, attained curriculum), two-level curriculum, the function of curricular documents, current Czech curricular documents. Outcomes: The student is able to (a) critically analyze and compare different concepts of curriculum, (b) describe curricular processes and forms of curriculum, (c) according to valid curricular documents critically evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of the two- level curriculum and their influence on the teacher´s work. • 3.-4. From professional knowledge to curricular knowledge. Or didactic transformation? Content: canon of knowledge, the curriculum designer, selection of the educational content, the structure of the educational content, the concept of curriculum. Outcomes: The student is able to (a) explain where does the educational content come from, (b) give reasons for the theoretical criteria of the educational content selection, (c) assign the selected objectives and contents of school education to the basic concepts of the curriculum (material vs. formal education etc.). • 5.-6. Defining school subjects – their past, present and future. Content: disciplinarity, interdisciplinarity, school subjects, the fields of education. Outcomes: The student is able to (a) name the positives and the negatives of the (inter)disciplinarity in the curriculum and the impacts on the curriculum design, (b) compare the historical development of three chosen school subjects and explain their educational benefit in the past, present and future, (c) explain in a discussion why is a specific school subject part of the national or school curriculum. • 7.-8. Curricular reforms and curriculum implementation. Content: Types of curricular reforms, the process of curriculum implementation, factors influencing the curriculum implementation, the teacher´s position in the process of the implementation/acceptance of curricular reform. Outcomes: The student is able to (a) find the difference between various types of curricular reforms and compare them, (b) explain the teacher´s position in the process of the curriculum implementation, (c) discuss possible barriers in the process of the curriculum implementation. • 9.-10. Planning and designing of school curriculum, quality of curriculum, the teacher´s work with curriculum. Content: Text books and official knowledge, educational standards and knowledge testing, quality of curriculum, teacher as a designer and user of the curriculum. Outcomes: The student is able to: (a) explain why the teachers should/shouldn´t use the text books while planning the teaching lessons and during them, (b) describe the relationship between the educational standards and knowledge testing and explain the positives and negatives connected with the educational standards and knowledge testing in pedagogical practice, (c) apply some of the curriculum quality indicators by analyzing selected curricular documents, (d) describe the work of the mentor teacher with the curricular documents and in case of need suggest the innovations (on the basis of student´s own teaching practice). • 11.-12. Hidden curriculum Content: Formal and hidden curriculum. Hidden curriculum and social reproduction. Racial, class and gender reproduction through hidden curriculum. Example of a hidden curriculum research. Student´s own experience with hidden curriculum. Outcomes: The student is able to characterize the hidden curriculum in relation with the formal curriculum. The student is able to provide examples of hidden curriculum and describe the importance of the hidden curriculum in the educational and social practice. The student reflects critically his/her own experience with hidden curriculum.
Literature
    recommended literature
  • The SAGE handbook of curriculum and instruction. Edited by F. Michael Connelly - Ming Fang He - JoAnn Phillion. Los Angeles: Sage Publications, 2008, xv, 604. ISBN 9781412909907. info
  • GOODSON, Ivor and Colin J. MARSH. Studying school subjects. 1st ed. London: Routledge, 1996, viii, 190. ISBN 0750705892. info
Teaching methods
Expected learning activities and teaching methods used at seminars:
group discussion, problem solving, independent study of professional (research-based) literature, processing and presentation of theses; the performance of ongoing tasks.
Expected outcomes:
The student will be capable (a) to analyze, critically reflect and work with specialized texts in order to support their professional arguments, (b) to systematize, understand, and use basic concepts and terminology of the study of curriculum (on worked examples ).
Because the course is integrative in its nature, it is assumed that students prepare for the oral exam globally. The exam is not based only on knowledge gained during lectures and self-study, it focuses also on experience of teaching practice and reflective seminars and the knowledge of educational psychology.
Assessment methods
The course ended with a credit. Credit is given for systematic and regular work in the seminar lessons and coninuous preparation of essays   based on studying professional literature given by the teacher.
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
General note: Předmět se bude realizovat pouze v případě, když si jej zapíše alespoň 10 studentů.
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