16 Implications of content reform

for the other components

of the education system
G. Vaideanu

The interdependence of the

various components of the education system
One of the most useful contributions made by the education sciences to
educational reform has been to identify the relations between the various
components of the education system. As G. de Landsheere (1976, p. 48)
remarks: 'Modern pedagogy has drawn attention to the complexity of any
educational situation.' All writers on the curriculum stress the importance,
as well as the elusive and ambiguous character, of these relations, and,
by implication, the need for a coherent, overall approach when reforming
objectives, content, methods and examinations. Decision-makers, too, after
a certain amount of trial and error and partial and isolated attempts at
reform with necessarily unstable results, are increasingly recognizing the
need for changes to be interrelated, in such a way as to take into account
educational realities.
The aims and objectives of education are the logical point at which
to introduce reform, and a logically consistent transformation should
always begin by defining the objectives in the light of the needs and
resources of the society in question. 'Content, training methods and assess-
ment procedures', says B. Schwartz, 'must be mutually consistent. If the
objective is expressed in terms of ability, the assessment procedure is
then quite naturally integrated with the method itself ... It should be
noted that we are thus firmly opposed to a form of teaching that employs
a particular set of methods for the course of instruction and then-simply
in order to make a selection-resorts to examination procedures that have
no relation to these methods' (Schwartz, 1973, p. 123-5). Where political,
social or economic considerations so determine, it is possible to begin an
educational reform with examinations, teacher training or educational
structures, provided one does not lose sight of the new objectives and
identifies the implications of the changes introduced, in regard to the
other components of the education system. At all events, changing the
teacher training system or launching a school building campaign before
elaborating, even in outline, course content, methods of teaching and
 G. Vaideanu

learning, examinations or assessment procedures, and the various types

of formal and non-formal educational activities, is inevitably to court
failure or sow the seeds of conflict within the system or between it and
the various other systems or sectors it concerns.

The implications of a reform of content in regard

to other components of the education system
Once again we must emphasize the fundamental idea that curriculum
reform must transform the way teaching is carried out, with its principles
and objectives manifest in the activities, attitudes and general line of
teachers and learners alike. In the first place it is necessary, as Wheeler
remarks, to take into account the relationship between the various com-
ponents or phases of curriculum planning:

The curriculum process consists of five phases: (1) The selection of aims, goals
and objectives; (2) The selection of learning experiences calculated to help in
the attainment of these aims, goals and objectives; (3) The selection of content
through which certain types of experience may be offered; (4) The organization
and integration of learning experiences and content; (5) Evaluation of the effec-
tiveness of all aspects of phases 2,3 and 4 in attaining the goals detailed in phase 1.
These phases may be discussed separately and considered as sequential, from
the point of view both of time and of the operations involved. They are, however,
related and interdependent and combine to form a cyclical process so that over
time the final phase affects the initial one. (Wheeler, 1974, p. 30).

Secondly, it is essential to bear in mind the implications of new objectives

and content for all other components of the education system. As Figure I
makes clear, a reform of this kind necessarily involves or has an impact
upon the following: educational structures (primary schools, secondary
schools, special education, etc.); formal and non-formal educational activ-
ities; educational and vocational guidance; examinations and the various
methods of assessing what has been learned; methods of learning and
teaching; audio-visual methods and teaching materials; the atmosphere at
school and the style of teaching; school architecture; and teacher training.
When devising objectives, content and curricula, a specialist or specia-
lized institution has, in theory, to work out the implications for other
components of the system and decide between certain alternatives, i.e.
choose or envisage certain structures or methods, certain types of exami-
nation or audio-visual technique, etc. In practice, however, as we have
already noted, incongruities may persist. The fact remains that, whether
one adopts a synchronic strategy, which sets out to change all components
of the education system by means of a single set of measures, or a diachronic,
 Implications of content reform for the other
components of the education system

Teacher
training

Examinations School
and assessment

/=""'" '"'="\
Educational School
technology architecture

Educational -'---+~--'---'--

(:_:_,) \_=) ~\
Objectives Educational

__]'""
and content and vocational

""'"~"\__
Sources \ _____________
/ Working
of reform life

FIG. I.

gradualist strategy, a reform cannot succeed without unity at the conceptual

level. And this conceptual unity is particularly important for ensuring
the transition from the past to the future. In the last ten years or so, for
example, national traditions and cultural values have been restored to
their rightful place as indispensable sources of an educational content that
is relevant to the needs cf the society. Forms of content that were impro-
vised, borrowed or inherited from the colonial period created tension and
worked against social integration. A curriculum that is not rooted in the
socio-cultural realities ·-f the country leads nowhere; local traditions are
indisoensable f0r buil 'ing the future and mobilizing people's energy. To
achieve its aims, eiuc1fr1'l, however much it aspires to be up to date,
330 G. Vaideanu

must always continue to look to the past as well as to the present and the
future. The assimilation of national traditions and cultural values,moreover,
opens the way to other cultures and other moral and political value systems.
There is no incompatibility between national cultures and a universal
culture, or between the past and the future.
The only additional comment called for in regard to the foregoing
diagram is to emphasize the importance of certain relationships that should
also be borne in mind during the preparation and, above all, the imple-
mentation of a reform of educational objectives and content. The particular
criteria and techniques employed in competitive or non-competitive exami-
nations and other methods of assessment exert a major influence on guid-
ance activities and on the efficiency of the learning process. Competitive
examinations are particularly important for moving up from one level to
another, and they have as much influence on parents as on their children.
If schooling is to be viewed in the context of lifelong education, the demo-
cratization of competitive and other examinations, so as to make them
more flexible and more relevant to learners' real interests and capabilities,
is accordingly essential.
The style of teaching and the atmosphere in the school are aspects
that often escape the attention of decision-makers, planners and evaluators.
Style frequently changes with the times, as we are reminded by the authors
of an interesting OECD publication (OECD, 1972, p. 13). But the style
of an educational process not infrequently depends on the place, or on
the socio-economic and psychological circumstances, and also on the tra-
dition within which teachers have been trained, as well as their personality
and views. Seen in this light, the style of teaching and the moral climate
of the school constitute the most important psychological condition gov-
erning the success of a reform of educational content at classroom level.

Conclusions
If the relationships that exist between the various components of an edu-
cation system are to be borne in mind and respected when a reform is
being prepared and generally applied, steps must be taken to ensure that
there is a free flow of information between all sectors concerned by edu-
cation and continuous appraisal of the results obtained and the obstacles
still to be overcome. Two extremes should be avoided: on the one hand,
oversophisticated procedures which place too much importance on the
role of instruments, techniques and flow-charts and often overlook the
philosophical and human aspects of a reform; and, on the other, facile
solutions or procedures which rely too much on the virtues of common-
sense.