For those on AskLive, this assigment is gearing up. There are about 70 students taking the paper. Students are required to research the history of a curriculum document.
Students will need to search Index New Zealand and the library catalogue. When searching INNZ and the catalogue, remember that the old curriculum documents are called syllabus/syllabi.For INNZ, I tend to go to advanced search and do syllab? curric? (any of these) and stick the particular subject (english, mathematics) in a second box. If you have an early childhood student, the early childhood curriculum has 2 different spellings: te whariki and te whaariki. Putting both whariki and whaariki using an ‘any of these’ search will give best results.
What you will find below:
1. a copy of the assignment
2. a part of a document Simon Burge developed for distance students (that we have mucked around with slightly) that tells students what they can/can not expect to find.
1. Assignment
Poster Presentation
Select a national curriculum document or policy and conduct historical research to answer such questions as:
How did this come about / whose idea?
When was it first mentioned / discussed?
Who was involved in developing it?
What was the timeline?
What was the process?
What was the result?
(Focus more on what happened and who was involved rather than what is in the document.)
b Select a curriculum development model that best fits the document under discussion. Describe the model and your reasons for choosing it.
c Use the model to organise the summary of your historical research in 500-750 words (not including your bibliography) Be prepared to adapt the model where necessary to tell the actual story of what happened.
d Note that it is important to incorporate the information into the model. Use arrows to link boxes and ‘tell the story’ of the development of the curriculum document you have selected. Display as a poster no larger than 60cmx 85cm. A2 orA3 is appropriate. Your poster can be folded for posting. To save expense for please avoid laminating &or sending in tubes.
(Allow yourself about 30 to 40 hours to complete the whole assignment task).
2. Assignment help document
Things you will be able to find:
– The documents themselves
– Their drafts
– Submissions on the draft (sometimes if published)
– Implementation documents (might give clues)
– Critiques of the curriculum (and its design or history if you are really lucky)
– Articles on the draft – pro and anti
– Articles before the draft (good for context – curricula don’t drop out of the sky uninformed by what has gone before)
– Later articles published looking back at the curriculum in context
– Articles / announcements etc in the Ed Gazette (good for time-lines).
Things you won’t find:– Internal ministry documents / discussion papers (unless you want to get into the whole vexed area of Official Information Act requests – and then you’re on your own as a private citizen!)
– Minutes of meetings
– Names of the designers (apart from Te Whariki and Science documents – the others were published under the anonymous imprimatur of the Ministry)
– Anything not published in the public domain.
If you strike any problems, please get in touch with us at the Education Library – Kathryn, Caroline. (Ariana will be on leave from Thursday 20th March for 1 month)