The document discusses various topics related to curriculum, including how educators conceptualize curriculum and their role, the importance of considering curriculum contextually rather than as a rigid object, and reflecting on curriculum aims and practices. It also addresses factors for successful curriculum change, comparing university and school curriculum contexts, the development of an Australian Languages Curriculum, and implications for curriculum scoping and sequencing.

2. Today‟s journey
 Thinking about curriculum
 You, me and curriculum
 Curriculum in context
 Where are we and where are we going?
 Over to you
 Back to me

3. … educators must abandon the conviction
that curriculum is an object – explicit,
proscribed, and given …
… can lead teachers to think of themselves
as technicians whose realm only includes
lesson plans, curriculum guides,
outcomes and tests but excludes their
own artistry and their students‟ curiosity
…

4. … when educators focus on discrete parts of
curriculum and do not see the big
picture, they may view themselves as
employees … not empowered professionals
…
… For curriculum to be understood as process
for transforming educational aims and
practices, it must be conceptualized as an
undertaking that encompasses inquiry and
introspection …

5. … the concept of curriculum should include
in-depth examination of
practices, interactions, values and visions as
well as “an inward journey” of personal
reflection …
… consider ultimate aims for students and
society …
… reflect on our beliefs and actions and […]
engage in a vigorous discourse about
moral and social visions for education…
From Pamela Bolotin Joseph (2011) Cultures of curriculum

6.  Success factors
› Leadership/Political will
› Agreement on desirability of the change
› Availability of staff development
› Clarity about the nature and extent of
changes
› Institutional/community support
From Susan Toohey (1999) Designing Courses for Higher Education

7.  What do we want for our students?
 This is what I want:
› No freaks
› The thrill of doing and discovering
› The adventure of it all
› A love for language
› A thirst to improve and to keep growing
› The return of reading
 Are we limited by our own
fears/flaws/insecurities?
 What do we need to do to get our students to
where we want them?

8. University School
• languages as disciplines • languages as
Comparing contexts
communication
• curriculum is institution- • curriculum is defined at the
specific/idiosyncratic system level
• educators as curriculum • educators as curriculum
designers and enactors enactors and designers
• macro/micro • micro
 We need to consider the differences
 Build capacity through sharing
 Be open
So what?
 Not hide behind excuses

9.  National Curriculum UK
 National Standards for Foreign Language
Education
 Victoria:
› Communicating in a language other than
English
› Intercultural knowledge and language
awareness
 South Australia:
› Communication
› Understanding language
› Understanding culture

10.  Update
› Shape Paper revised and released 11/11
› Test the strands (communicating,
understanding, reciprocating) through
curriculum development
› Writing teams for Italian and Chinese
 Rationale; Scope and Sequence; Exemplars
 „Unpacking‟ strands into sub-strands
› National Panel this week

11. › Three strands become two with „reciprocating‟ as a cross-
cutting idea
› Writers for ATSI languages framework due to begin work
end of March
› Achievement standards and language-specific content
descriptions are starting to be considered/developed
› All languages developed ready to go by end of 2013 (with
implementation in 2015 after trialling in 2014)
› How languages are chosen will be a mixture of
pragmatism and collaboration at Federal/State & Territory
level
› Our curriculum builds on past experience but importantly
recognises the impact of cohort by way of pathways
(building on significant work in States/Territories)

12.  Three interrelated aims
› To communicate in the target language
› To understand language, culture, and
learning, and their relationship, and thereby
develop an intercultural capability in
communication
› To understand oneself as a communicator.
 Two strands
› Communicating
› Understanding

13.  What are the pros and cons of an
Australian Curriculum: Languages?
 Nothing new under the sun?
 Chasing our tail?
 What is communication anyway?
 Are we really so special?
 How to make sure the curriculum makes
a difference?

14.  Curriculum scoping and sequencing is
about levelness
› How do we understand levelness?
› What theoretical frames do we use to
understand this?
› Or is it
anecdotal, idiosyncratic, conventionalised?
› How can we shift our perspective?

15.  Language-specific work
› Two strands (communicating; understanding)
› One text
› Consider how you would use this text with
learners (need to consider pathway)
› Imagine you are working with students you
don’t normally work with
› Reporting back at the end
 Arabic
 Chinese
 French
 German
 Greek
 Indonesian
 Italian
 Japanese
 Korean
 Spanish
 Turkish
 Vietnamese
 English text for teachers of other languages

16. Communicating Understanding
• what • what
• to whom • how
• how • why
• when
• why

17.  Make a choice:
 Be involved
 Stay informed
 Keep learning
 Reduce distraction
 Say no
 Say yes
 Love what you do, or get out…
 Now, say hi to someone you haven’t met
before!