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EDUC 5220: Curriculum Design and Instructional Decision Making

Written Assignment

By UoPeople Student
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Introduction:

Elliot W. Eisner (2016) raise pertinent rhetorical questions in his piece entitled What

Does It Mean to Say a School Is Doing Well?

The first question is “Do students participate in the assessment of their own work? If

so, how? (Eisner, 2001). There are several reasons why students should be involved in the

assessment of their own work or assessment of their learning. First and foremost is that

students can pinpoint strengths and weaknesses in their own learning (Andrade & Valtcheva,

2009) leading to increased self-regulation (Irving 2007). Butler and Winne (1995), define

self-regulated learning as “a style of engaging with tasks in which students exercise a suite of

powerful skills: setting goals for upgrading knowledge; deliberating about strategies to select

those that balance progress toward goals against unwanted costs; and, as steps are taken and

the task evolves, monitoring the accumulating effects of their engagement” (p. 245).

The second question is, are parents helped to understand what their child has

accomplished in class? Deep reflections on the journey of learning have helped our parents

move away from being only focused on grades and understand the trials and tribulations that

their child has encountered in the classroom. Parents are guided in conferences to understand

that our school’s Confucian based shared values are at the forefront of what we regard as a

successful student (compassion, respect, justice, wisdom and honesty). In addition to these

values, our reports evaluate a student concerning the IBDP Learner Profile (“Learner profile

for IB students | International Baccalaureate® – International Baccalaureate®,” n.d.) and the

IBMYP Approaches to Learning. (Approaches to learning (ATL) across the IB continuum, 4

n.d.). Parents come to understand that by teachers placing emphasis on these values, profiles

and attitudes towards learning they can have a better holistic view of their child’s

development as individual and learner, irrespective of the grade they have achieved in a
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specific subject. Sharing of this information could take place through regular feedback

through SeeSaw (https://web.seesaw.me/) where parents are also able to receive daily updates

of work that their child is doing by accessing tasks and reflections that have been uploaded.

Regular student-led conferences are also held where students share with parents their

artefacts that they found most challenging and then engage their parents in conversations of

how they approached the particular challenge and how they overcame it or how they plan to

overcome it.

Lastly, Eisner (2016) raises a pertinent question about professional development in the

second paragraph of page 303, where he asks “To what degree is professional discourse an

important aspect of what being a teacher means in the school?”. He further argues that it is

important to address the “real needs of teachers”. UNESCO (2016) also emphasizes that the

quality of student learning depends to a great extent on the quality of teaching. The reality

remains that there is disparity in the ways education systems view teaching and learning.

Although many teachers in many parts of the world – especially the developing world- feel

alienated from their fruits of labor because of lack of opportunities for continuous

professional development; there are examples of well-funded private schools that give utmost

importance to the empowerment of teachers through in-school Master Classes, Professional

Learning Networks (PLN) or Pineapple Chart practices[2]. Teachers world over have been

receptive especially in the current scenario of the pandemic, where they have had to move

their teaching online thus enabling Blended Learning[3]. This has resulted in teachers all

across the world share best practices and strategies with each other across platforms to ensure

the effective learning of students.

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References

Andrade, H., & Valtcheva, A. (2009). Promoting Learning and Achievement Through Self-

Assessment. Theory Into Practice, 48(1), 12–19.

https://doi.org/10.1080/00405840802577544

Approaches to learning (ATL) across the IB continuum. (n.d.). Retrieved

from https://les.psdschools.org/webfm/296

Butler, D. L., & Winne, P. H. (1995). Feedback and self-regulated learning: a theoretical

synthesis. Review of Educational Research, 65(3), 245-281.

Eisner, E (2016). What does it mean to say a school is doing well?. In Flinders, D. J., &

Thornton, S. J. (Eds.), The Curriculum Studies Reader, Fourth Edition (pp.297-305).

New York, NY: Routledge.

Iborganization. (n.d.). MYP curriculum. Retrieved from

https://www.ibo.org/programmes/middle-years-programme/curriculum/

Learner profile for IB students | International Baccalaureate® – International

Baccalaureate®. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.ibo.org/benefits/learner-profile/

UNESCO International Bureau of Education (UNESCO-IBE). (2016). What makes a quality

curriculum? Current and Critical Issues in Curriculum and Learning (2), pp.1-41.