The taught curriculum

A study of curriculum patterns in high versus low-performing classrooms year 8

Abstract

Increased differences in results not only between schools but also within schools have been extensively discussed as related to a deterioration in equality in Swedish schools. This so-called school segregation has been an issue not least in educational sociological research and has often been related to socio-economic factors (Holmlund, 2016). Correlations between student composition and student achievements have been demonstrated (SOU 2020: 28). Differences between students' socio-economic statuses lead to differences in grades and goal fulfilment. Studies show that differences in results in the Swedish school system have increased both between schools and between classrooms and that various factors within schools and classrooms are likely to have an impact. This is despite the curriculum reform in 2011, when a standards-based curriculum was introduced, which was motivated precisely to improve equality between schools and classrooms. This study does not provide any causal links between school and classroom factors and students' school performance; instead, this study sheds light on an often overlooked aspect – namely, how curricula are understood, interpreted and implemented. This article focuses on what versions of the curriculum and what knowledge are represented in classrooms and in teaching according to different school contexts for schools with higher and lower goal fulfilment, respectively. Through empirical classroom observations of four schools and classrooms over one school year, patterns in the implemented curricula have been studied. A curriculum theoretical perspective has been adopted when analysing coherence between goals, teaching and assessment in various school and classroom contexts. Previous research (Wahlström & Sundberg, 2015) has suggested that schools differ in terms of local curricula processes in relation to increased external pressure for measurably improved school results.

The purpose of the present study is therefore to examine the taught curriculum in different classrooms from a curriculum theoretical perspective and how teaching processes can be understood in relation to the implementation of a standards-based curriculum given different conditions in this regard. The research questions are: Which curricula patterns can be identified in the implemented curricula among schools with differing results? How can these patterns be understood in relation to different levels and aspects of curriculum coherence? Which curriculum versions can be distinguished according to patterns of curriculum coherence, i.e. connections between goals, content, teaching and assessment in the four case schools?

The study is based on empirical material from four case schools. Schools were selected according to SIRIS statistics and the SALSA (Swedish National Agency for Education) database to identify high- and low-performing schools (five-year criteria of the mean merit values applied, the 75th and the 25th percentile respectively). Case schools varied in terms of their location in urban or rural areas with differing socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds in relation to student composition.

The empirical material mainly consisted of video observations of lessons, with a total of 16 lessons observed at each school over a school year (n = 64). The observations thus follow a class and the teaching of the subject Swedish and the natural science subjects year 8 in the four case schools. The data collection period comprised one school year to be able to capture longer series of lessons. The main unit of the analysis is themes (‘curriculum tasks’), which represent longer sequences of lessons with the same content theme. Within each theme, the lessons at the beginning, middle and end were analysed as different categories, as previous classroom research has shown that communication patterns and student and teacher activities change depending the phase of the task (Wahlström & Sundberg, 2018). Based on the content prescribed in the curriculum/syllabus, teachers write themes and curriculum assignments that usually transcend individual subjects and span a period of time (e.g. power and movement, acidification, electricity, heat in the natural sciences and poetry, news, facts and fiction and music video in Swedish). Teachers' curriculum decisions regarding the planning, implementation and evaluation of these themes indicate the teachers' curriculum agency in relation to various aspects of the curriculum framework, framework factors, professional experience, students' needs, etc. Video observations have been supplemented by ‘stimulated recall’ interviews with both teachers and focus groups of students, which usually occurred after every other filmed lesson (n = 37). Follow-up questions concerned a lesson's purpose, content, working methods, assessment situations, etc. Classroom data was combined with school data, with such curriculum documents including guidelines, schedules, work plans, planning, tests and follow-ups (n = 35). Observations concluded with an interview with the principal (n = 4) to assess how a national curriculum was adopted and translated into lessons given different local conditions (Wahlström, 2019).

As a result, three levels of curriculum coherence and six aspects of curriculum patterns were identified, namely vertical, substantial, conceptual, horizontal, longitudinal and contextual coherence. Furthermore, this study shows that the curriculum patterns in high- and low-performing teaching contexts differ with regard to these sub-aspects of coherence, i.e. how a local curriculum system affects a school's planned, enacted and evaluated teaching. Two curriculum versions – one goal- and process-oriented and one activity- and result-oriented – are discussed, concerning how a standard-based curriculum, such as the Swedish one, is translated according to differing local conditions.