Abstract
For decades, research into relevant issues regarding school-based curriculum development has been neglected. This is remarkable for a country like the Netherlands, with its decentralized education policy, that gives schools extensive curricular space and responsibility. After a concise outline of the policy context and the history of Dutch curriculum research, we advocate more research attention to the challenges and issues related to three perspectives on school-based curriculum development. We argue for different forms of curriculum research: systematic research into (growing) practices of school-based curriculum development, international comparative studies and historical studies into curriculum policy and practice and what seems to work and what doesn’t seem to work. School-based curriculum development can also be further enhanced by integrating research activities, such as: monitoring and analysis, design research and summative evaluation. Explicit attention to curriculum research aimed at the meso level undeniably increases the chance of a transparent substantiation of choices in curricular decision-making within schools, the professional actions of teachers, school leadership and actors in the educational infrastructure, and contributes to the expansion of the knowledge base and development of a common curriculum language in terms of school-based curriculum development. With this contribution we hope to give an impetus to the curriculum research agenda.
Translated title of the contribution | School-based curriculum development as a research focus |
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Original language | Dutch |
Pages (from-to) | 486-500 |
Number of pages | 15 |
Journal | Pedagogische Studien |
Volume | 100 |
Issue number | 4 |
Early online date | 21 Dec 2023 |
DOIs |
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Publication status | Published - 2023 |
Keywords
- Curriculum policy
- Curriculum research
- School-based curriculum development