Same but different: competence-based curricula on display in Covid-19 times in Kosovo and Albania

• In Event: Lessons from COVID -19 in Lifelong Education

Proposal

Abstract

Introduction
With publication of The European Reference Framework of Key Competences (OJEU, 2006), primarily intended for the European Union (EU) member states, competence-based curriculum approach attracted interest of countries outside the EU. Kosovo and Albania, the two developing countries in the Balkans region in Southern Europe, adopted the competence-based curricula promoting key competences as drivers of teaching, learning, and assessment in pre-university education in respective countries as a next approach to depart from prior content-based curricula. Kosovo embarked first on the process adopting a competence-based national curriculum framework first in 2011 (MEST, 2011) and then revised in 2016 (MEST, 2016), while Albania adopted it in 2014 (MES, 2014a), a process that was meant to eventually lead towards developing a ‘European Education Space’ (Grek et al., 2009) at the southern edge of Europe.

Given this brief background and the disruption that Covid-19 pandemic caused throughout the world, this article addresses three main questions to gain a better understanding of curriculum policy reform and follow-up implementation in Kosovo and Albania: first, how do the two competence-based curriculum frameworks in Kosovo and Albania compare to one another, and to the European Reference Framework of key competences; second, how do learning outcomes defined for each of the key competences in lower secondary education (Grades 6-9) compare in the two respective core curriculum frameworks for lower secondary education; and third, how did the competence-based curricula in a select Grade 6 subject were transformed into online teaching lessons during the early onset of Covid-19 pandemic in the two countries.

The objectives of the study primarily pertain to dissecting the curriculum policy in the two Balkans countries in the light of promoted key competences approach at the European level. The goal is to compare the two curriculum frameworks to examine to what extent they are similar or different, and also to what extent they are convergent or divergent with the global education policy focusing on learning outcomes at the European level. Lastly, another objective of the study is to examine the ‘implemented’ part of the competence curricula that goes beyond ‘intended’ curricula noted in curriculum policy document.

Theoretical Framing
Two theoretical underpinnings guide the study in addressing research questions and discussing the findings. First, the study borrows from the global policy flows in education to discuss the factors that contributed to adoption of competence-based curricula in Kosovo and Albania. Overall, two dominant research paradigms have been at the core of global education policy transfer, one that highlights the convergence of education policies (Anderson-Levitt, 2003), and the other that highlights divergence (Steiner-Khamsi, 2004). Second, the study relies on curriculum and didaktik education traditions as per Deng and Luke (2008) to discuss the competence-based curriculum approach and its role on the education goals that an education system aims to pursue. Curriculum tradition rests on four main overarching perspectives, namely academic rationalism, social efficiency, humanism, and social resconstructionism, while didaktik is the European-based framework for curriculum making at the classroom level (Deng & Luke, 2008). In the study, the first strand of theoretical framing assists in explaining the policy process, while the second the content of the curriculum reform, both as ‘intended’ in curriculum policy documents and ‘implemented’ in online teaching lessons offered during Covid-19 pandemic in Kosovo and Albania.

Methodology and Data Sources
The article relies on document analysis as a qualitative research method to address the main research questions of the study. “Document analysis is a systematic procedure for reviewing or evaluating documents—both printed and electronic (computer-based and Internet-transmitted) material” (Bowen, 2009, p. 27). To undertake the research, the study relies on ‘primary documents’ (Cohen, Manion, & Morrison, 2011) produced by respective governmental authorities in Kosovo and Albania. The documents are in the public domain and accessible online. For the purposes of the study, the focus is on four key documents – two each from Kosovo and Albania – the latest competency-based curriculum frameworks, and core curriculum for lower secondary education. For the needs of the study, only select topics developed for Albanian language course in Grade 6 are included in the content analysis, which were developed and made available through Youtube channels of main public TV broadcasters of Kosovo and Albania respectively. To this end, the results of the study highlight potential effectiveness of online education as a response to Covid-19 pandemic in Kosovo and Albania, and whether those video-based lessons rely on competence-based curriculum approach or not.

Initial Findings
While analysis is still ongoing, preliminary findings related to the process of curriculum reform in Kosovo and Albania indicate that in Kosovo’s case the change in political situation after Kosovo’s independence in 2008, and political leadership change of education sector in 2007 contributed to the shift from content- to competence-based curriculum policy. Specifically, the solution provided by competence-based framework marked the break of Kosovo’s education tradition from being European Didaktik-based towards curriculum tradition based on social efficiency ideology. Albania’s case of adopting competence-based curriculum reform is potentially most astonishing case in the global policy flow. With the goal of “[…] standardization of Albanian education area” (MES, 2014b), Albania has almost literally copy pasted the Kosovo’s curriculum framework adopted in 2011, making the two frameworks almost converging to the dot. Interestingly, the document itself is presented as one produced by Albania’s Ministry of Education and Sports, even though the structure of the document, starting from the table of contents, is almost identical to the Kosovo’s curriculum framework adopted in 2011, as well as to the revised version of it in 2016. While the curriculum reform in Kosovo was locally driven but heavily shaped by the international expertise available to assist Kosovo in its path towards a democratic society, the introduction of competence-based curriculum in Albania has primarily been a purely political rather than policy decision in the name of national rhetoric to ‘standardize education in Albanian area’. Further analysis will shed light on how education systems’ response can stay close to the curriculum policy in place when emergencies such as Covid-19 disrupt classroom-based teaching and learning.

Author

• Armend Tahirsylaj, Norwegian University of Science and Technology