Highlighted Session: Re-conceptualizing and repositioning curriculum in the 21st century

Session Submission Type: Group Panel

Description of Session

A considerable number of factors place unprecedented pressure on education systems to change swiftly and profoundly. They include rapid advances in communications and information technology, growing urbanization, concerns for environmental sustainability, shifts in geopolitics, demographic patterns and labor markets, increasing unemployment, especially of young people, and the growing divide between rich and poor.

Students need new and complex skills and competences, not only to lead economically productive lives but also to transform themselves into “self-directed learners who can address their own wants and concerns and can advocate for their goals and aspirations” (UNESCO and UNICEF 2013, p. 24). Given unpredictable changes in products, technologies, work organization, international trade patterns, etc., no one can easily anticipate the kinds of skills workers will require later in the 21st century.

Therefore, it is important to consider how education systems prepare students who can adapt to and even influence the work demands they will face. Critical and creative thinking, as well as digital and technological skills, communication skills, and the ability to acquire and apply knowledge to problems and real-life contexts are as important as the cognitive skills required for productive work.

Education systems are also expected to convey values that will help develop more just and inclusive societies; they must also provide a variety of learning experiences to train a competent and active citizenship, and ensure quality and equity in learning outcomes. Thus, questions related to the relevance and quality of learning are now more pertinent than ever. There is an urgent need to return to fundamental questions about the aims and purposes of education and to a more holistic, integrated and humanistic vision of learning.

It is largely for the reasons articulated above that the place and role of curriculum deserve increased attention in both educational and international development. For some years now, the work of the UNESCO International Bureau of Education (IBE) has maintained that “curriculum matters” more than is often realized by education policy-makers, planners and many researchers. But given all the changes and challenges that lie ahead in the 21st century, this message is increasingly pertinent—and justifiably deserves reiteration. Indeed, concern for the quality and relevance of the curriculum penetrates to the heart of any education and development discussion, demonstrating why this must be highly emphasized in our complex, ever-changing and rapidly globalizing world.

The panel revisits the place and significance of the concept of curriculum within, and beyond, the field of comparative and international education. It argues for repositioning curriculum in current education debates and for ensuring a wider policy dialogue around curriculum design and development.

It also argues for an urgent need to re-conceptualize curriculum, as emerging from a societal agreement about what sort of education is likely to respond properly to the needs and challenges of our society in the foreseeable future (Tedesco, Opertti and Amadio 2014). The panel discussion starts with the assumption that curriculum is not static, but a social, cultural and political process, in continuous transformation and evolution.

The panel draws on extensive personal and professional experience of leading scholars in the field, and their substantial contributions to thinking and writing about curriculum in various contexts worldwide. Their analyses bridge theoretical scholarship and applied work relating to matters of curriculum policy and practice. Their dialogue, steered by the UNESCO IBE, a global center of excellence in curriculum, is meant to stimulate ongoing debate about the crucial role and potential of curriculum in the 21st century.

Tedesco, J.C., Opertti, R., & Amadio, M. (2014). The curriculum debate: Why it is important today. Prospects, 44(4).

UNESCO & UNICEF (2013). Making education a priority in the post-2015 development agenda. Report of the Global Thematic Consultation on Education in the Post-2015 Development Agenda. Paris; New York: UNESCO and UNICEF.

Sub Unit

• General Pool

Organizer

• Simona Popa, UNESCO International Bureau of Education

Chair

• Mark Mason, UNESCO International Bureau of Education

Individual Presentations

• Education for worker adaptability in the 21st century - Henry Levin, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Relevance as the essential criterion for quality of education, also in the 21st century - Jan van den Akker, Netherlands Institute for Curriculum Development

Discussants

• Aaron Benavot, Education for All Global Monitoring Report

• Linda Darling-Hammond, Stanford University