Perceived impacts on schools, students, school heads, KLA/subject
heads and teachers
The following sections outline the findings
on the impact of the curriculum reform, as perceived by different
groups. The scope examined includes the impact on the school
as a whole, the benefits to students, and the professional
development of the respondents.
Impact on Schools
School heads were asked whether they had found
changes in a give list of areas since the implementation of
the curriculum reform in their schools on a 5-point scale from
¡V2 (undermined) to +2 (improved). In general, the majority
of school heads reported improvement in these seven areas:
|
school as a learning community
(83% for primary, 75% for secondary) |
|
relationship between school and parents
(71% for primary, 45% for secondary) |
|
team culture among teaching staff (77%
for primary, 62% for secondary) |
|
teachers¡¦ enthusiasm in teaching (72% for primary, 47%
for secondary) |
|
relationship between teachers and students (76% for primary,
61% for secondary); |
|
deployment of school resources (73% for primary, 56%
for secondary); |
|
parents¡¦ recognition of curriculum reform in their schools
(82% for primary, 55% for secondary). |
As shown by the data, more primary than secondary school heads
found improvement in the above areas.
However, the heads also raised a number of problems.
Over 60% of school heads perceived ¡§teacher workload¡¨ as having
changed somewhat for the worse in their schools. In addition,
around 20% of school heads,
some primary, some secondary, felt that ¡§morale of teaching staff¡¨
and ¡§conflicts among the staff¡¨ had worsened slightly. In their
open-ended comments, respondents mentioned that providing additional
manpower resources and small class teaching would facilitate
the implementation of curriculum reform.
Impact on School Heads
When asked what changes they had noticed, since introducing
curriculum reform in their schools, over 60% of primary and secondary
heads indicated that they had noticed slight improvements or
improvements in the following aspects:
|
leadership competence (72% for primary,
62% for secondary) |
|
professional development (86% for primary,
81% for secondary) |
|
collaboration with teachers (83% for primary,
76% for secondary) |
|
confidence in leading the school curriculum
development (82% for primary, 73% for secondary) |
|
Competence in leading the school curriculum
development (81% for primary, 68% for secondary) |
Interestingly, the primary school group indicated
a substantially higher level of improvement than the secondary
school group in all five aspects.
Impact on Teachers
KLA/Subject heads and teachers were asked to indicate the extent
of benefit they felt in their own professional development from
implementing the relevant KLA/subject curriculum reform in their
schools on a 5-point scale from 0 (not significant) to 4 (very
significant). Apart from the secondary school English Language
Education and Mathematics Education groups, the majority of KLA
heads and teachers (around 80%) reported ¡§2¡¨ or ¡§3¡¨ in the following
areas:
|
subject knowledge |
|
teaching strategies |
|
knowledge about curriculum development |
|
skills for developing and evaluating the
school-based curriculum |
|
skills for developing assessment strategies |
Again the primary school groups perceived a slightly higher
level of benefit than the corresponding secondary school groups.
Overall results suggested that both KLA/subject heads and teachers
perceived that they had derived personal / professional growth
from the reform. It can be argued that this might in turn reinforce
their future commitment and contribution to the reform.
It is worth noting that the four variables, namely: confidence
in implementing curriculum reform strategies in school, perceived
competence in implementing curriculum reform strategies, whether
the respondents had read the curriculum reform documents, and
the stage reached in school-based curriculum planning, were positively
correlated with the perceived benefit felt by teachers. This
indicates that the more teachers are involved in curriculum reform,
the more they feel they benefit professionally from the process.
Impact on Students
As emphasised in the curriculum documents, generic skills are
essential elements of learning and are to be developed through
learning and teaching in the context of the various KLAs/subject.
The nine generic skills are: collaboration skills, communication
skills, creativity, critical thinking skills, information technology
skills, numerical skills, problem-solving skills, self-management
skills and study skills. For 2001-2006, priority is to be placed
on the development of the ¡¥3Cs¡¦, i.e. communication skills, critical
thinking skills and creativity. In addition, there are five priority
values including responsibility, commitment, respect for others,
perseverance, and national identity.
According to the responses from primary school heads, students improved in all eleven areas. Most school heads (about 90%) reported that their students showed slight improvement or improvement in communication skills, learning interest and overall learning performance. In contrast, fewer school heads (about 55%) reported that their students improved in perseverance and national identity. For secondary schools, over half of the school heads reported that their students showed slight improvement or improvement in most areas except national identity (38.5%) and perseverance (30.8%). Over 70% of respondents reported that their students showed slight improvement or improvement in the 3Cs. As reflected in table 29, the primary school heads indicated a substantially higher level of perceived improvement than secondary school heads in the eleven aspects, especially in the areas of learning motivation, learning interest, and overall performance of students.
Table 29:
Percentage of school heads perceiving improvement in
student learning since the implementation of the curriculum
reform |
Areas
of possible improvement |
Slightly
Improved / Improved |
Primary
School Head (%) |
Secondary
School Head (%) |
Communication skills |
92.9 |
79.8 |
Critical thinking
skills |
79.2 |
69.1 |
Creativity |
84.6 |
74.0 |
Learning Motivation |
84.6 |
50.6 |
Learning Interest |
92.1 |
62.0 |
National Identity
|
55.0 |
38.5 |
Responsibility |
73.8 |
50.6 |
Perseverance |
55.4 |
30.8 |
Respecting Others |
81.6 |
60.0 |
Commitment |
73.9 |
51.8 |
Overall Learning
Performance |
89.6 |
60.8 |
On a 5-point scale from 0 (not significant) to
4 (very significant), the majority of KLA/subject heads and teachers
felt that students had benefited from the implementation of KLA
curriculum reforms in most areas. Except in Mathematics Education,
the majority of KLA/subject heads and teachers (over 80% for
primary, 70% - 80% for secondary) felt that students had benefited
in terms of student motivation and interest in learning and in
the three priority generic skills of communication, creativity,
and critical thinking.
For both primary and secondary school groups, those who felt
confident and competent in implementing the curriculum reform
in their schools tended to see significant benefits among their
students. It can be argued that this shows that KLA heads and
teachers who feel confident and competent in implementing curriculum
reform are more likely to put reform strategies into practice
and to recognise their benefits.
Among secondary school teachers in Chinese Language Education,
English Language Education, Mathematics Education, Technology
Education, and Arts Education, those who had read the curriculum
documents reported significantly higher levels of perceived student
benefit than those who had not. Among primary school teachers,
the same result applied to all six KLAs/subject. Again, the findings
show that if respondents read the documents, they are more likely
to perceive benefits among students.
Schools that had reached the stage of school-based curriculum
planning seemed to feel that students were benefiting from the
curriculum reform. Among secondary schools, in Chinese Language
Education, English Language Education, and Arts Education, the
benefit to students perceived by the KLA groups was in proportion
to the level of maturity reached in school-based curriculum implementation.
The more mature the school-based nature of the work, the higher
the perceived level of benefit to students. This relationship
was also evident in primary schools.
Interestingly, the perception of benefit to students from curriculum reform was inversely associated with the respondents¡¦ year of experience. Among secondary school respondents, the Chinese Language Education and Personal, Social & Humanities Education groups with longer years of teaching experience tended to report lower levels of perceived student benefits. Among primary school respondents, the English Language Education, Mathematics Education, and Arts Education groups with longer years of teaching experience also tended to report lower levels of perceived benefit to students. Whether this reflects that the more experienced respondents generally saw little or no improvement in student performance, or simply that they were more sceptical about the benefits of curriculum reform would need to be further explored.
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