Draft Agenda: Curriculum Development Training Workshop 1 Development of the new Education College curriculum for 4-year degree Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education supported by UNESCO Strengthening Pre-Service Teacher Education (STEM) Project and UNESCO International Bureau of Education (IBE) 19-25 June 2017, Panglong Hall, University of Yangon, Yangon Proposed Agenda Through the Strengthening Pre-Service Teacher Education in Myanmar (STEM) Project, UNESCO is supporting the Ministry of Education in developing the new curriculum for the 4-year Education College degree. This work commenced in 2015-2016, with a review of the current curriculum used in Education Colleges (ECs) and the development of a Curriculum Framework for a competency-based curriculum for a 4-year degree programme. A Curriculum Core Team (CCT) with Teacher Educators from the Education Colleges and the Universities of Education will draft the new curriculum (syllabi, textbooks, and teacher guides) with assistance from a team of international curriculum experts led by UNESCO. The key activities of this work will take place through six workshops in 2017: three workshops will focus on providing training in curriculum development skills, while another three workshops will focus on drafting. This will be the first training workshop in curriculum development skills with trainers from the UNESCO International Bureau of Education - UNESCO s global Centre for Excellence for Curriculum Development. The workshop will provide the CCT members with a shared understanding of curriculum development approaches globally, in particular competency-based approach and its application. The methodology of the workshop will be a mix of lecture-based training on conceptual understanding and practical exercises. The practical exercises will be designed to bring the CCT into the drafting process of the EC course programme and subject syllabi, flowing from the already drafted Curriculum Framework for the 4-year degree. Main expected outcomes Curriculum Core Team (CCT) members will have: a good understanding of what competency-based curriculum is versus content-based curriculum; a good overview of different components of curriculum development and examples of how a competency-based curriculum can be developed through study of other country examples; practiced skills in developing competency-based curricula; a clear guide on how to start drafting subject syllabi for the new EC 4-year degree in preparation for an intensive drafting workshop to be held in July 2017.
DAY 1: Monday 19 June 2017 09:00 09:15 Introductions and welcome remarks - Department of Higher Education, MoE - UNESCO (STEM project and IBE) 09:15 10:30 15 clues about education in the world Renato Opertti 10:30 10:50 Coffee break 10:50 12:00 Conceptual understanding: Curriculum contextualization and understanding Examples: equity, inclusion, learning, education system, curriculum, curriculum framework, course program/subject syllabi, pedagogy, teacher s role, teaching and learning resources Practical exercises Renato Opertti 13:00 15:00 Conceptual understanding: What is a competency-based curriculum? Tom Cobb, Lili Ji and Renato Opertti 15:20 17:00 Conceptual understanding: What is a competency-based curriculum? Cont d Practical exercises Tom Cobb, Lili Ji and Renato Opertti DAY 2: Tuesday 20 June 2017 09:15 10:00 Discussion of pre-assigned Homework 10:20 12:00 Aspects of competency (1): Assessment Tom Cobb 13:00 15:00 Aspects of competency (1): Assessment Cont d Tom Cobb Summative and formative assessment Lili Ji 15:20 17:00 Practical exercises: (1) Rewriting knowledge objectives as competencies (2) Rewriting knowledge tests as competency tests 2
DAY 3: Wednesday 21 June 2017 (IBE) 09:15 10:00 Aspects of competency (2): problem-solving and constructivism 10:20 12:00 Practical exercises: Rewrite knowledge tasks as problems to be solved 13:00 15:00 Aspects of competency (3): Technology and collaboration ICT as learning tool Collaboration and ZPD the zone of proximal development Flipped classrooms Aspects of competency 4: Early and second literacies Language across the curriculum Instruction in L1 or L2? When to switch to L2? What does the research say? What is the experience of other countries and regions (USA, Niger, Arabian Gulf)? A PROPOSAL: Use L2 (English) from age 12 but assure comprehension with language instruction and text simplification 15:20 17:00 Practical exercises: (1) Rewrite individual knowledge tasks as collaboration employing information technology (2) Rewrite the language of task and test question descriptors with text processing ICT Rewriting tasks and test questions in simple English Rewriting tasks and test questions in L1 DAY 4: Thursday 22 June 2017 (IBE) 09:15 10:00 Draft Myanmar EC Curriculum framework and Competency framework Presentation of the draft Curriculum framework and Competency framework (by UNESCO STEM team) How are competency concepts realized in this document? 10:20 12:00 Comparison of Myanmar curriculum framework with other frameworks (Quebec, Alberta, Kenya) Contributions from JICA and ADB 13:00 15:00 Practical exercises teams design activities in different subject areas to realize particular Myanmar competencies and objectives 3
15:20 17:00 Presentations of team products Feedback and integration DAY 5: Friday 23 June 2017 (UNESCO STEM Team) 09:00 09:15 Gender equality perspective in curriculum development UNESCO STEM team 09:15 10:00 Coffee break 10:00 12:00 Gender equality perspective in curriculum development - continued DAY 6: Saturday 24 June 2017 (IBE) 09:15 10:00 Review: Different components of a curriculum Curriculum framework, subject syllabi, textbooks, lesson plans, teacher guides What is a course programme/syllabus? What are the parts of a course programme/syllabus? 10:20 12:00 Review examples of pre-service teacher education syllabi (UQAM, Concordia, in Canada; maybe Oulu in Finland) 13:00 15:00 Drafting in teams (1): Deriving A Course program/syllabus from Curriculum and Competency frameworks outline and drafting 15:20 17:00 Drafting in teams Sharing results, feedback and integration DAY 7: Sunday 25 June 2017 (IBE) 09:15 10:00 Drafting in teams (2): Deriving A Course program/syllabus from Curriculum and Competency frameworks outline and drafting 10:20 12:00 Drafting in teams (cont d) Subject area distinctions 4
Incorporating principles from Day 1 Day 3 (Constructivism, problem solving, collaborative learning, ICT as learning tool) 13:00 15:00 Drafting in teams (cont d) Presentation of drafting results by participant teams (1) 15:20 17:00 Presentation of drafting results by participant teams (2) Feedback and discussion Workshop wrap-up 5