Introduction to PART 3 :
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND THE CHALLENGE OF CURRICULUM REFORM
Pressures to reform curriculum are everywhere evident. National curriculum programs focusing on "outcome-based education" are increasingly subject to comparison in international or national assessment studies. The results of these studies often have immediate political impact on policy making for school systems. How do these reform programs affect teachers‘ work and influence professional development? It is a commonplace to say that teachers play an important role in the process of school improvement. It is just as important to note that as they do that they are also engaged in professional development. As Schubert (1986) argues: "In a very real sense, professional development is curriculum development".
While educational reform requires the investment of time and resources for pre-service, in-service or professional development programs, it also depends on the will of teachers to invest their professional commitment. Teachers care about their professional reputation or the reputation of the school and their investment in school improvement is crucial. Geoffrey Roulet, in this chapter, provides us with an example of the kind of investment a teacher can make in curriculum development given the will and even though outside support is lacking. He analyses the case of a mathematics teacher whose approach to the subject involves exploring solutions to problems, rather than applying a fixed set of rules. Even though he succeeded in teaching his students to think in this way, ironically this might not immediately lead to better scores on the kinds of test prevailing. Furthermore, students in higher grades might prefer an instructional style that prepares them directly for their examinations. His commitment to this innovative approach creates a condition of conflict. Thus, part of his professional development consists in dealing with the conflict between his views about teaching mathematics - which are in line with much recent thinking in the mathematics education community - and views about mathematics which prevail in his school. Professional development in this case is an outcome of reflecting and acting on this conflict.
Recovering and representing those differing views is part of a process in which conflict is productive. One of the sources of conflict is the "habitus" teachers develop concerning the role of the subjects they teach. Henning Hansen focuses on the role teacher socialization plays in professional development in the context of curriculum reform. He notes that teachers develop a general attitude towards the science disciplines they teach based on "habitus": the set of tacit and overt dispositions science teachers acquire during their professional development. This habitus plays an important part in influencing how teachers think about reform, and is an element of practice that teachers must contend with if they are to develop the capacity for critical reflection about practice. The opportunity for such critical reflection can arise in a variety of contexts, some of which do not seem promising, on the face of it.
Manfred Lang and his co-authors have analyzed curriculum reform projects in five countries in terms of the extent to which the projects are mandated or evolve from teacher initiatives. They also looked at the effects of professional development as part of imposed change through teacher training or self-organization. A central insight from these projects is, that curriculum development can only be effective if teacher training is tuned to teachers' engagement and professionality and self-organization activities are part of a "teacher curriculum" in a system of collaboration and continuous professional development. It was found that projects which are initiated from above can offer freedom for teacher initiative while curriculum projects initiated by teachers can in the long run end up controlled by administration.
Given that teachers may experience professional development opportunities across the innovative spectrum, it is useful to find out what teachers themselves think about curriculum reform: whether they did experience professional development they valued and whether their experience makes them ready to participate in further reform. Theo Wubbels and Pam Poppleton note that in their research into what teachers say about their experiences of reform, centralized curriculum reform produces less satisfaction among teachers compared with decentralized approaches. They contend that teacher initiated curriculum reforms are a rare exception and they conclude that the likelihood of teachers participation in reform increases when the project meets immediate local needs.
The studies of curriculum change presented here indicate growing pressures for curriculum reform and assessment based on global competition. At the same time we can see the contradictions that exist between curricula based on economic imperatives, and curriculum improvements coming from the schools or teachers themselves and based on more liberal interests. Either way teachers face conflicts whose resolution will challenge their professionalism and provide the frame in which important professional development can take place. An important factor influencing the way professionalism will develop in the future is the role teachers will play in the policy processes governing reform agendas. As Ewald Terhart noted earlier, part of what might motivate teachers to take up these professional challenges is a desire to shape the direction of education and to defend its liberal quality.