Teaching for Grades or Matters of Concern? Curriculum, Concepts of Knowledge, and Classroom Teaching

• In Event: International and Comparative Education and Curriculum

Abstract

The present study aims to conceptualize the view of knowledge in standards-based curricula and empirically explore the implications of teaching based on such curricula. The data consisted of video recordings of eighth-grade lessons in natural sciences in a high-performing public school in Sweden. Using curriculum theory, we explored students’ opportunities to contribute to lesson content as co-authors and the teacher’s opportunities to act upon critical moments that arose from students’ comments during lessons. The knowledge concepts of social and transactional realism underpinned the analysis of knowledge forms in teaching. The finding shows that the use of standards-based subject curricula risks narrowing teaching content to predefined grading criteria while neglecting critical moments in teaching.

Authors

• Ninni Wahlstrom, Linnaeus University

• Catarina Schmidt, Jönköping University