The aim of this article is to provide an analysis and synthesis of how the policy trend of competence-based education (CBE) has been transforming curriculum policy into competence-based curricula (CBC) in pre-university education in different parts of the world for the last three decades. Based on a systematic research review covering 1997-2022, the analysis and synthesis present how the policy movement is not reducible to any singular account but rather is to be understood as a dynamic interplay of transnational and national adaptations, which also have changed in character over time. The recontextualization of CBE-reforms has changed as the 'social imaginary' of the challenges facing education and clusters of ideas with different underpinnings has evolved. In addition to the thematic analysis of how research on the CBE/CBC policy and implementation of (key) competences has altered public outlooks on the future of schooling, five visions of CBE/CBC - 'as a curriculum policy discourse', 'as a curriculum policy recommendation', 'as curriculum add-on', 'as operationalized into learning outcomes', and 'as curriculum-transformative' - are identified and outlined. It is concluded that the future-oriented competence education approaches promoted transnationally became socially performative through adoption of CBC reforms nationally.

Ebba Christina Blåvarg’s dissertation Psychology on the Schedule (Psykologi på schemat) is the first comprehensive analysis of the psychology school subject in Swedish upper secondary schools. Today, psychology is the largest non-compulsory school subject at the upper secondary level in Sweden, measured by the number of students who receive grades in the subject. Although the subject has been part of the national upper secondary school (gymnasieskolan) since 1965 and has continued to be part of it through various reforms, a historical review of the psychology subject has been lacking until now.Blåvarg’s dissertation fills this gap by offering an in-depth analysis of how the psychology subject has developed and been shaped over time. By examining three different discursive practices where the discourse about the psychology subject has been present, the dissertation provides a comprehensive picture of the subject’s history and its role in Swedish upper secondary schools.

For more than sixty years, curriculum theory has been a central part of pedagogy, Didaktik and educators’ professional work, providing concepts and perspectives that elucidate and connect theory, practice and teachers’ proven experiences in teaching and schooling in the Nordic countries. Pressing challenges raised by issues of world health, climate and environmental sustainability, democracy and welfare, cultural and individual diversity, digitalisation, and new circuits of information flow in academia and society address foundational curriculum questions, such as what to teach, how and why, and call for new research approaches. 

The potential of powerful curriculum theorising to inform and improve education policy and practice – between hope and happening – is still, to a large extent, remains underexploited. Aiming to explore these issues and challenges in greater depth the presentation examine what might constitute ‘powerful’ curriculum theorising, that is, not only commenting on but critically and constructively engaging in and exploring forms of inquiry that can contribute to the advancement of Nordic education in times when pressing challenges are faced. 

Med præsentationen inviterer vi til en ny tilgang til udvikling og formidling af viden om læreplaner i Norden. Udgangspunktet er digitaliseringen af alle læreplaner til den danske grundskole samt det tilhørende lovværk. Materialet er tilgængeligt på en hjemmeside, som vi i regi af Center for Anvendt Skoleforskning ved UCL Erhvervsakademi har udviklet, og som vi fra sommeren 2024 har afsat ressourcer til at forfine og videreudvikle. Alle dokumenter er lagt i en søgbar database.

Målet med hjemmesiden er at samle læreplaner fra hele verden og relevante policydokumenter og forskningstekster samt at udvikle og præsentere didaktiske værktøjer til læreplansanalyse, som kan anvendes både i uddannelsen af lærere og i skolens praksis. Denne udvidelse vil ske under tilføjelsen af tre nye menupunkter (ud over Fag og Jura): Verden, Viden og Værktøj. Verden og Viden kræver en indsats fra forskere, der ved noget om curricula i forskellige lande, og som har et forskningsmæssigt overblik. Værktøj kræver et samarbejde med flere læreruddannelser i Norden.

Hjemmesiden er i udgangspunktet et dansk initiativ, men vi har et ønske om at gøre det fællessnordisk og lave søstersider på svensk og norsk ud fra den samme platform, men med disse landes læreplaner som afsæt. Den danske hjemmeside er forberedt til denne udvidelse, de relevante domænenavne er købt, og Linnéuniversitetet i Växjö har afsat ressourcer til at påbegynde udviklingen af en svensk variant i efteråret 2024, ligesom der er tilkendegivet en lignende interesse fra både NTNU og Universitetet i Oslo.

På konferencen ønsker vi at fremlægge vores ideer med hjemmesiden både i forhold til tekster og funktionalitet. Vi vil også komme med forslag til, hvordan det tilgængeliggjorte materiale kan nære komparativ læreplansforskning og skabe nye forskningsfællesskaber i Norden, og hvordan vi i fællesskab kan bruge (forhåbentligvis) tre sammenhængende hjemmesider som formidlingsfora.

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

School leadership plays a pivotal role as the bridge between the classroom, the school, and the broader education system. This conference paper contributes both theoretically and empirically to the field of curriculum theory. By examining how curriculum leadership has been framed in Swedish curricula from the 1960s to the present (including Lgr 62-69, Lgy70, Lgr 80, Lpo94, Lpf 94, Lgr2011, and Lgr2022), the paper shed light on the often-overlooked relationship between principals and the curriculum.

Through the lens of the “three domains of curriculum leadership,” the paper explore how leadership is connected to the societal context and the purpose of education (the “where” and “why” of educational leadership), as well as its impact at the school and teaching levels. The first domain that is investigated in the curriculum policy texts contains defining the school’s mission statement.  Principals play a crucial role in framing the school’s goals and communicating them. They provide direction, shaping the school’s trajectory based on defined role descriptions in policy texts. The second concerns leadership interactions at school and teaching levels. This domain focuses the instructional organization and on how principals is supposed to coordinate the curriculum, supervise instruction, evaluate teaching quality, and monitor student progress (the “how” of educational leadership). The third domain investigated deals with functions of educational leadership (the “what” of educational leadership), i.e. how principals are expected to engage with curriculum goals and topics in their practices. 

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.