The curriculum is a live issue in universities across the world. Many stakeholders – governments, employers, professional and disciplinary groups and parents – express strong and often conflicting views about what higher education should achieve for its students. Many universities are reviewing their curricula at an institutional level, aware that they are in a competitive climate in which league tables encourage students to see themselves as consumers and the university as a product, or even a ‘brand’. The move has prompted renewed concern for some central educational questions, about both what is learnt and how. Strategic Curriculum Change explores the ways in which major universities across the world are reviewing their approaches to teaching and learning. It unites institution-level strategy with the underlying educational issues. The book is grounded in a major study of curriculum change in over twenty internationally-focused, research-intensive universities in the UK, US, Australia, The Netherlands, South Africa and Hong Kong. Chapters include: Achieving curriculum coherence: Curriculum design and delivery as social practice Assessment in curriculum change The whole-of-institution curriculum renewal undertaken by the University of Melbourne, 2005-2011 The physical and virtual environment for learning People and change: Academic work and leadership This book presents a theorised and contextualised approach to the study of the curriculum, and carries on much-needed research on the curriculum in higher education. It is an essential for the collection of all academics at university level, and those involved in policy making, quality assurance and enhancement.

This book explores how curriculum reform is interconnected with policy, practice and society. Curriculum reform is increasingly associated with efforts to better the lives of citizens and provide a competitive edge to national prosperity. Educational policy and practice have been the subject of unprecedented convergence worldwide in the quest for so-called 21st century skills. This book offers a case study of curriculum reform within the Republic of Ireland, focusing on antecedents, processes and outcomes of government efforts to evoke fundamental curriculum realignment at lower secondary level. Set against a backdrop of fluctuating economic fortunes and concerns about academic standards and educational equity, this volume has wider relevance beyond Ireland for any system undertaking education reform at scale.

The Evolving Curriculum in Interpreter and Translator Education: Stakeholder perspectives and voices examines forces driving curriculum design, implementation and reform in academic programs that prepare interpreters and translators for employment in the public and private sectors. The evolution of the translating and interpreting professions and changes in teaching practices in higher education have led to fundamental shifts in how translating and interpreting knowledge, skills and abilities are acquired in academic settings. Changing conceptualizations of curricula, processes of innovation and reform, technology, refinement of teaching methodologies specific to translating and interpreting, and the emergence of collaborative institutional networks are examples of developments shaping curricula. Written by noted stakeholders from both employer organizations and academic programs in many regions of the world, the timely and useful contributions in this comprehensive, international volume describe the impact of such forces on the conceptual foundations and frameworks of interpreter and translator education.

Curriculum Change and Innovation is an introductory textbook on Hong Kong’s school curriculum. Written in an approachable style using illustrative case studies, the textbook provides an introduction to the basic concepts and theories of "curriculum" as a field of study. It also discusses how sociopolitical and economic changes as well as technology advancements help transform teachers' roles and reshape curriculum policies. The chapters cover a wide range of topics, including curriculum design, planning, implementation and evaluation. These discussions are included to help readers critically reflect on their roles as change agents in curriculum development. Shirley S. Y. Yeung is an assistant professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the Hong Kong Institute of Education. John T. S. Lam is an assistant professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the Hong Kong Institute of Education. Anthony W. L. Leung is an assistant professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the Hong Kong Institute of Education. Yiu Chun Lo is an associate professor of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the Hong Kong Institute of Education.

The process of curriculum development is highly practical, as Goodson shows in this enlarged anniversary third edition of his seminal work. The position of subjects and their development within the curriculum is illustrated by looking at how school subjects, in particular, geography and biology, gained academic and intellectual respectability within the whole curriculum during the late 1960s and early 1970s. He highlights how subjects owe their formation and accreditation to competing status and their power to compete in the provision of 'worthwhile' knowledge and considers subjects as continually changing sub-groups of information. Such subjects from the framework of the society in which individuals live and over which they have influence. This volume questions the basis on which subject disciplines are developed and formulates new possibilities for curriculum development and reform in a post-modrnist age.

Biology is where many of science's most exciting and relevant advances are taking place. Yet, many students leave school without having learned basic biology principles, and few are excited enough to continue in the sciences. Why is biology education failing? How can reform be accomplished? This book presents information and expert views from curriculum developers, teachers, and others, offering suggestions about major issues in biology education: what should we teach in biology and how should it be taught? How can we measure results? How should teachers be educated and certified? What obstacles are blocking reform?

"What year are you preparing your students for? 1973? 1995? Can you honestly say that your school's curriculum and the program you use are preparing your students for 2015 or 2020? Are you even preparing them for today?" With those provocative questions, author and educator Heidi Hayes Jacobs launches a powerful case for overhauling, updating, and injecting life into the K-12 curriculum. Sharing her expertise as a world-renowned curriculum designer and calling upon the collective wisdom of 10 education thought leaders, Jacobs provides insight and inspiration in the following key areas: * Content and assessment: How to identify what to keep, what to cut, and what to create, and where portfolios and other new kinds of assessment fit into the picture. * Program structures: How to improve our use of time and space and groupings of students and staff. * Technology: How it's transforming teaching, and how to take advantage of students' natural facility with technology. * Media literacy: The essential issues to address, and the best resources for helping students become informed users of multiple forms of media. * Globalization: What steps to take to help students gain a global perspective. * Sustainability: How to instill enduring values and beliefs that will lead to healthier local, national, and global communities. * Habits of mind: The thinking habits that students, teachers, and administrators need to develop and practice to succeed in school, work, and life. The answers to these questions and many more make Curriculum 21 the ideal guide for transforming our schools into what they must become: learning organizations that match the times in which we live.