Curriculum reform and the classroom norms

Abstract

Extended Abstract

Rationale of the study: Turkish curricula have been undergoing a massive change since 2005, especially at primary level. The new curricula set forth certain basic skills that every student at primary level needs to acquire; these skills are: critical and creative thinking, communication, questioning, problem solving, use of information communication technologies, initiation and use of Turkish language eloquently. However, research (Bingolbali et al., 2008; Ozmantar et al., 2008) shows that teachers working at this level experience difficulties in teaching such skills to the students. Hence, the need to help teachers for that matter is obvious. Having recognized this need, this study makes use of the notion of social classroom norms proposed by Cobb and his colleagues (Yackel and Cobb, 1996; Cobb et al., 1997) and suggests that teaching students such skills requires the establishment of certain classroom norms in line with the target skills. Classroom norms could be considered as tacit rules shaped by the interactions and dialogues amongst the agents in the classroom. The norms involve how students and teachers view themselves with regard to teaching and learning activities and what kinds of roles are assigned to the members of the classroom. Norms also reflect value judgements and determine what is important in a classroom regarding teaching and learning.

The purpose of the study: This paper aims to demonstrate how the notion of social classroom norms can be used to enable the teachers to get students equipped with the basic skills (e.g. critical thinking and questioning skills) that the new curricula set forth.

Method: This is a qualitative study which involves document analysis. To determine the kind of classroom norms, official documents concerning the new curricula are subjected to the content analysis. Further to this, literature (Cobb et al., 1997; Tsai, 2004 & 2007) on classroom norms is examined and the norms developed and used in classrooms by others are evaluated along with the basic skills. The analyses are carried out independently by each of the authors who determined such norms as they think are necessary for basic skills to develop. The determined norms are later compared and contrasted along with the targeted skills by the curricula. The norms are finalized through the agreement of all the authors and the relations between the determined norms and every each of basic skills are detailed.

Results: The analyses of the official documents and details of the basic skills given in those documents lead to the development of eight classroom norms which, we believe, need to be existent in each and every classroom concerned with teaching the students these skills. The determined norms are as follows:

1.      Explanation of the ideas (i.e. solutions, arguments and explanations)
2.      Justification of the arguments
3.      Sharing the ideas without any fear
4.      Making real effort to understand the others’ ideas
5.      Stating agreement or disagreement with the ideas shared in the classrooms
6.      Stating explicitly what is understood and what is not
7.      Developing alternative solutions
8.      Questioning the validity of the arguments

These norms are closely related to each other and every one of them needs to be established in the classrooms in order to create an environment in which students find opportunities to gain the basic skills that the new curricula aim. The use and importance of these norms are exemplified through dialogues obtained from Cobb et al’s (1997) study. The dialogues take place in a mathematics class where a teacher tries to establish similar norms as proposed in this study. The dialogues are examined in terms of both the norms and the basic skills in such a way to exemplify the relationships amongst them.

Discussion: The discussion addresses teachers with regard to creating particular classroom cultures through the determined classroom norms and how these norms can be used to help students to obtain the basic skills. It is argued that the new roles that the curricula assign to the teacher and students during the teaching and learning activities require a dramatic change in the classroom interactions and this in turn necessitates the establishment of classroom norms accordingly. This is particularly important given the fact that norms reflect what is valued during the learning and what is expected of students. The paper also discusses the importance of creating awareness for teachers with regard to the importance of classroom norms and suggests designing in-service teacher professional development programs. However, it is pointed out that the duration of such programs and the methods employed to enable teachers to appreciate the significance of these matters are issues of great importance.