Curriculum Leadership Research On IB Primary Years Programme In Australia

As the curriculum reform of elementary education carries forward,the integration of disciplines and the innovation of teaching methods have become parts of hot spots in the reform of primary school curriculum in China in recent years.The IB Primary Years Programme is a good example of the integration of disciplines and the innovation of teaching methods,which has profoundly affected curriculum reform in many countries.Due to the IB Primary Years Programme being used globally and transferablely,this thesis focuses on the curriculum leadership of a case primary school in Australia,which has implemented the IB Primary Years Programme for a long time,and tries to provide some enlightenment for the curriculum reform of primary schools in China.This study is based on qualitative research by case study methods.Through the interview with 22 primary teachers,15 students and 5 parents in this school,the participatory observation in 11 lessons and other materials,the research mainly analyses school curriculum leadership from administrators and teachers,which contents cover curriculum operating environment,curriculum vision,curriculum planning and curriculum implementation,and summarizes the characteristics of school curriculum and curriculum leadership at end.Therefore,This thesis tackles the problems below: 1.What are the characteristics of the school curriculum after the implementation of the IB Primary Years Program? 2.How does the school conduct curriculum leadership?The study concludes that: The school curriculum vision reflects the concept of lifelong learning,and this case intergerates the requirements of the NSW curriculum and the IB Primary Years Programme.The transdisciplinary in case embodies that New South Wales curriculum is placed under the six themes of the IB Primary Years Programme.Under the transdisciplinary theme,the unit of inquiry firstly takes advantage of the discipline course and the transdisciplinary inquiry course to achieve content integration,secondly explores the conceptcentered characteristics,and enables students to gain a deep understanding of the subject knowledge through inquiry lines.In terms of curriculum leadership,this study shows that this case has formed a curriculum leadership team with the program coordinator as the core.Administrators and teachers play an important role in the curriculum leadership in case.As for curriculum leadership in this case,democratic curriculum leadership enables both administrators and teachers to participate in school management;empowered curriculum leadership encourages asministrators to share power and responsibility on the basis of trusting;sustainable curriculum leadership emphasizes training teachers’ professionalism on curriculum,with the purpose of enhancing the school’s curriculum leadership,so that they can deal with challenges that may happen in future.This case has the following enlightenment on the school curriculum leadership for our country.Firstly,primary school curriculum ought to highlight the curriculum vision of lifelong learning and develop the curriculum with characteristics of reflecting integration and inquiry;curriculum planning should combine the characteristics of national curriculum,local curriculum and school-based curriculum,take advantages of discipline curriculum and comprehensive curriculum,and achieve the discipline integration under the existing conditions;inquiry learning should play an essential role in teaching that can contribute to the application and integration of knowledge.Besides,for curriculum leadership,schools should firstly clarify the responsibilities of each member so as to bring fully into play leadership from administrators and teachers;secondly,school should establish guarantees to enhance the teachers’ professional development and cultivate their professional level of curriculum leadership;thirdly,new styles of curriculum leadership like democratic,authorized and sustainable should be learnt by school.