1.     Research topic/aim

This paper relies on a systematic review of peer reviewed scholarship concerning competence-based education (CBE) approaches, specifically focusing on competence-based curriculum (CBC) visions and implications for schooling. It addresses to overarching research questions: 1. What visions and corresponding features of CBC can[PfS1]  be observed transnationally and who are the main actors[PfS2]  behind each vision? And 2. What are the main implications and implementation challenges of CBC visions for formal schooling.

2.     Theoretical framework

Theoretically, the study adopts from the curriculum-didaktik approaches as two main education traditions in the Western world that shape to a large extent, for example, what education policies are implemented in[PfS3]  school systems, and what is the main focus during curriculum implementation at the classroom level (Tahirsylaj, Niebert, & Duschl, 2015). 

3.     Methodological design 

This study is a systematic review, and more specifically it falls within ‘narrative reviews’ category as the goal is not to seek generalizations but to identify and analyze key issues related to CBE from educational research perspective (Educational Research Review, n.d). The search strategy relied on Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) framework (Page et al., 2021). We used the following 4 search terms: ‘competence-based education’, ‘competence-based curriculum’, ‘key competences’, and ‘key competencies’. This study reports from 160 articles included in the final sample based on searches conducted in December 2016 (Tahirsylaj & Sundberg, 2020) and January 2023.

4.     Expected conclusions/findings

The comprehensive analaysis of educational research related to competence-based curricula (CBC) reveals five main CBC visions for the concept of competence in relation to the national curriculum, namely: competence as a policy discourse, competence as a policy recommendation, competence as an add-on to existing curriculum, competence as learning outcomes, and competence as curriculum-transformative.

5.     Relevance to Nordic educational research 

The contribution to NERA 2024 conference will be relevant for the conference participants since CBE approaches to education have permeated most national education systems internationally as well as Nordic countries, and it can be described as one of the ‘adventures of education’ at global scale over the past 30 years.  

References 

Education Research Review [ERR]. (n.d.). A guide for writing scholarly articles or reviews for the Educational Research Review. Retrieved from: https://www.elsevier.com/__data/promis_misc/edurevReviewPaperWriting.pdf

Page, M. J., McKenzie, J. E., Bossuyt, P. M., Boutron, I., Hoffmann, T. C., Mulrow, C. D., ... & Moher, D. (2021). The PRISMA 2020 statement: an updated guideline for reporting systematic reviews. Systematic reviews, 10(89), https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-021-01626-4 

Tahirsylaj, A., Niebert, K. & Duschl, R. (2015). Curriculum and didaktik in 21st century: Still divergent or converging? European Journal of Curriculum Studies. 2(2), pp. 262-281.  

Tahirsylaj, A., & Sundberg, D. (2020). The unfinished business of defining competences for 21st century curricula—a systematic research review. Curriculum Perspectives, 40(2), 131-145. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41297-020-00112-6

This chapter adress the question of knowledge in curricula and introduces theories, concepts and research on how different orientations of the view of knowledge and their respective foundations in different traditions, have consequences for the school's knowledge content and the organisation of teaching in schools. Drawing on research on how the view of knowledge can be related to different curriculum models over time and to how different countries today relate to different forms of knowledge in their curricula, for example knowledge and generic competences (such as 21st century skills), with exmples from case of Sweden. Three dimensions structure the chapter, the institutional, the programmatic and the textual curriculum. Conclusions are drawn concerning how current changes as emerging societal challenges re-configure the content and structures of knowledge in curricula and teacing practices. 

I denna artikel riktas fokus mot vilka läroplansversioner som erbjuds i undervisningen i olika skolkontexter, i skolor (n = 4) med högre respektive lägre måluppfyllelse (75:e respektive 25:e percentilen). Genom lärar- och elevintervjuer (n = 37), rektorsintervjuer (n = 4) samt lokala läroplansdokument (n = 35) i fyra skolor under ett läsår undersöks läroplansmönster i den omsatta läroplanen (jfr eng. ’the enacted curriculum’) i skilda skol- och klassrumskontexter. Utifrån ett läroplansteoretiskt perspektiv studeras olika aspekter av samstämmighet mellan läroplanens mål, innehåll och kunskapskrav i undervisningen. Utifrån tre nivåer av läroplanskoherens identifieras sex olika aspekter av läroplansmönster, nämligen vertikal, substantiell, konceptuell, horisontell, longitudinell och kontextuell koherens som resultat. Vidare visar undersökningen att läroplansmönster i hög- respektive lågpresterande undervisningskontexter skiljer sig åt avseende dessa delaspekter av koherens, det vill säga hur det omsatta lokala läroplansarbetet hänger samman i skolans planerade, genomförda och utvärderade undervisning. Avslutningsvis diskuteras två olika läroplansversioner, en mål- och processorienterad samt en aktivitets- och resultatorienterad, av hur en standards-baserad läroplan, såsom den svenska, översätts och omsätts givet olika lokala förutsättningar.

Denna rapport analyserar svenska läroplaner som styrdokument utifrån ett läroplansteoretiskt perspektiv. Utifrån begreppet läroplanskoherens studeras olika aspekter av samstämmighet mellan läroplanens övergripande mål, innehåll och betygskriterier i Lgr22 och Gy2011 rev2021. Syftet är att undersöka hur generella läroplanselement (ämnesövergripande perspektiv och mål) i del 1 och 2 förhåller sig till specifika (ämnes- och kursplaner, betygskriterier). Ett analytiskt ramverk för att kategorisera och klassificera sådana element presenteras och baserat på detta identifieras olika logiker i hur de länkas till varandra alternativt till mål, organisering, innehåll eller bedömningselement i läro-, ämnes- och kursplaner (s.k. ”länkningslogiker”). Utöver undersökningar av läroplanstexternas interna koherens undersöks även i tidigare forskning/utvärdering identifierade problem kring hur de gällande läroplanernas generella mål omsätts i skol- och undervisningsverksamhet, s.k. extern läroplanskoherens. Baserat på resultaten av analyserna identifieras slutligen utvecklingsområden kring läroplanernas styreffekt och hur ökad samstämmighet i läroplansramverk skulle kunna stärkas framgent.

Research Aim

This paper presents an analysis of curricula as governing documents from a curriculum theory perspective. Aspects of consistency between the overall goals, content, and grading criteria of the new Swedish curricula Lgr22 and Gy2011 (rev2021) are studied, based on the concept of curriculum coherence, in order to determine how general curriculum elements in parts 1 and 2 in the curriculum text relate to specific elements like grading criteria and subject and course plans (Sundberg, 2022).

Theoretical Framework

The question of the coherence of a curriculum becomes particularly relevant in the context of curriculum development that features repeated revisions and additional reforms that change parts of the curriculum framework based on varying intentions, views of knowledge, or approaches to learning and assessment—usually referred to as a “patchwork” curriculum.

In this paper, the focus is on the actual curriculum design, composition, and structure.

Curriculum researchers (Luke et al., 2012) refer to the textual construction of a curriculum governing document as its “technical form,” which can, to varying degrees, support or contradict the intentions or content. For example, a detailed curriculum that is prescribed centrally may still claim to advocate local interpretation.

It is argued in the paper that an analysis of curriculum coherence will inevitably touch on issues related to the governing effect that curricula have and how curriculum construction also guides the actual translation and use of the curriculum and of the subject and course plans in teaching (i.e., external coherence).

Research Design

An analytical framework for categorizing and classifying curriculum elements is presented, based on which different logics are identified for how they are linked to each other or to the goals, organization, content, or assessment elements of curricula, subject plans, and course syllabuses (so-called logics of alignment).

Expected Results

Curriculum-making is a complex interaction between different driving forces, with top-down, short-term, ad-hoc political ideas and initiatives; culvert organizations; bureaucratic docility; and the absence of interaction and trust between different levels and actors—among other factors—risking the creation of fragmented steering documents that lack coherence. Here, making different logics of alignment visible can be a tool for exposing gaps and contradictions that hinder the control power and the realization of the curricula. Comparative perspectives on other Nordic countries provide important points of reference for the analysis.

The paper strives to make a theoretical, conceptual, and methodological contribution to further develop research on the technical form of curricula in Nordic educational and curriculum theory research.

References

Luke, A., Woods, A., & Weir, K. (2012). Curriculum design, equity and the technical form of the curriculum. In A. Luke, A. Woods, & K. Weir (Eds.), Curriculum, syllabus design, and equity: A primer and model (pp. 6–39). Routledge.

Sundberg, D. (2022). Curriculum coherence: Exploring the intended and enacted curriculum in different schools. In N. Wahlström (Ed.), Equity, teaching practice and the curriculum: Exploring differences in access to knowledge (pp. 76–89). Routledge.

Competence-based approaches (CBAs) in education have becomean internationally important educational policy concept in recentdecades. However, a substantial body of research has suggestedthat in order to understand and explain the evolution of CBAs,there is a need to analyse curriculum-making as a complex andmulti-layered practice. To contribute to this research field, thispaper makes use of Vivien Schmidt’s concept of discursiveinstitutionalism(DI), which focuses on ideas and discourse. First,we compare ideas of competences as expressed in four influentialCBA frameworks, and second, we exemplify how these ideas, withspecial reference to the Organisation for Economic Co-operationand Development, have been translated when re-contextualisedwithin Swedish curriculum policy-making. The results show thatwhen re-contextualised within national borders, transnationalideas of competences are reconfigured. In the case of Sweden,this process has led to a national interpretation of CBAs,discussed in this paper as ‘hybrid competences.’

Vad utmärker skickliga lärare? Går det verkligen att objektivt bedöma frågan utan att hamna i subjektiva värderingar och preferenser? Hur ser vägarna till lärarskicklighet ut och vad kan forskningen bidra med för svar?

Då lärarskicklighet är den enskilt mest betydelsefulla faktorn för att nå goda elevresultat är frågan om vad som kännetecknar en utmärkt lärare central. Utmärkt lärare bygger på författarnas genomgång av de senaste tjugo årens svenska och internationella forskning om såväl yrkesutveckling som lärarkompetens och visar vilka kvaliteter som kännetecknar lärarskicklighet.

Genom olika perspektiv och exempel utreds även forskningens svar på vad som bör göras för att tillgodose behovet av lärare och skapa förutsättningar för en ständigt pågående yrkesutveckling. De sammantagna resultaten ger forskningsgrundade målbilder och stakar ut vägen för att få fler att utvecklas till skickliga lärare genom lärarutbildning, kollegialt lärande, kompetensutveckling och professionsprogram. Fem slutsatser ger riktningen för framtiden.

Utmärkt lärare ingår i den så kallade Utmärktserien och vänder sig till blivande och verksamma lärare, men också till rektorer, skolchefer, skolutvecklare, politiker, beslutsfattare och andra med intresse för att utveckla skolans kvalitet och måluppfyllelse.

Tidigare utgivna böcker i serien är: Utmärkt undervisning (2020), Utmärkt skolutveckling (2016), samt Utmärkt ledarskap i skolan (2018).

This chapter provides a critical examination of curriculum coherence as a policy idea, with examples from different classroom contexts. Curriculum coherence has been considered a major driver of standardisation in education and a lever for improved knowledge achievements in terms of international large-scale testing in education. A core assumption has been that a strengthened coupling of curriculum elements – goals, content, assessment criteria, textbooks, teachers’ professional development and so forth – according to set standards will improve goal attainment and student performance. A second core assumption has been that clear, precise and detailed achievement standards will benefit equality and equity and have a levelling effect on differences in student achievement in high- versus low-performing schools. However, as will be shown in this chapter, these assumptions ignore some critical factors identified from educational research, as well as basic sociopolitical conditions for curriculum enactment in different schools and classrooms. The chapter discusses crucial aspects for achieving curriculum coherence and ends with a discussion on the concept and its potential and pitfalls in addressing the challenges of the elusive teaching gap and the increasing knowledge segregation in policy-making and teaching practices.

Theoretically based conversations are not sufficient to closing the elusive performance gap between different education environments, but we believe they are a necessary part, and our hope is that the content of this book can contribute to worthwhile dialogues. A conclusion from this study is that the encounter between the teaching content, the social learning environment and the student is central to a student’s opportunity to develop new knowledge, develop a sense of citizenship and develop individual potential. The teacher’s democratic stance in the authoring of teaching content in the classroom makes a difference for what the student gets the opportunity to co-author and learn. We argue that the much-debated concept of powerful in connection with knowledge might be misleading as a basis for curricula and teaching and suggest a shift from matters of facts to matters of concern, as well as a shift from powerful knowledge to meaningful knowledge, if we really want different groups of students to direct their interest towards the teaching content and become involved in their own education.