1. Novels, Nests and  Other Provocations: Emergent Literacy Curriculum Production in a Childcare  Centre

Author: Rachel Heydon, Wendy Croker and Zheng  Zhang

Source:Journal of Curriculum  Studies, 46(1): 1-32

Abstract:In a bid to identify and gain analytic  insight into the make-up and dynamics of kindergarten literacy curricula in an  era of early childhood education and care reform, this study was designed to  trace how classroom literacy curricula were produced in a kindergarten in a  childcare centre in Ontario, Canada. Drawing on actor-network theory’s (ANT)  definition of curriculum as a network effect and understandings of literacy from  multiliteracies theory, this case study using ethnographic tools focused on the  ways in which children’s interests and funds of knowledge (i.e. their  linguistic, modal, epistemic and cultural resources) were implicated in the  production of curriculum in a kindergarten milieu outside of school. Data were  collected through observation, interview and document collection methods and  were analysed through an ANT approach. Findings identified actors believed to be  involved in literacy curriculum production which included an emergent curricular  orientation, novels, educators’ understandings of children’s interests and funds  of knowledge and materials and life forms from the natural world. The findings  also offer a rich illustration of emergent literacy curriculum in action  characterized by multimodal classroom literacy events and featuring  Read-Aloud.

 ………………………………………………………………………………

2. Teacher Involvement  in Curriculum Design: Need for Support to Enhance Teachers’Design  Expertise

Author: Tjark Huizinga, Adam Handelzalts,  NienkeNiveveen and Joke M. Voogt

Source:Journal of Curriculum  Studies, 46(1): 33-57

Abstract:Teacher involvement in curriculum design has  a long tradition. However, although it fosters implementation of curriculum  reforms, teachers encounter various problems while designing related to  conditions set for the design process, and lack the knowledge and skills needed  to enact collaborative design processes. Providing support to enhance teachers’  design expertise is essential, since most teachers are novice designers.  However, little is known about the nature of the support offered to improve  teachers’ design expertise. In this explorative study, six teachers and six  facilitators offering support reflected on an enacted design process, the  problems they experienced and the support offered. The findings indicate three  gaps in teachers’ design expertise related to three domains (1) curriculum  design expertise, (2) pedagogical content knowledge and (3) curricular  consistency expertise. The outcomes of this study illustrate the importance of  supporting teacher designers during the design process and enhancing teachers’  design expertise. By offering (tailored) support to teachers, the enacted design  process and the quality of the design materials are expected to  improve.

3. Contextualizing  Teacher Autonomy in Time and Space: a Model for Comparing Various Forms of  Governing the Teaching Profession

Author: Wieland Wermke and Gabriella  Hostfalt

Source:Journal of Curriculum  Studies, 46(1): 58-80

Abstract:This study aims to develop a model for  comparing different forms of teacher autonomy in various national contexts and  at different times. Understanding and explaining local differences and global  similarities in the teaching profession in a globalized world require  conceptions that contribute to further theorization of comparative and  international education. Drawing on a governance perspective and building on  considerations of curriculum evaluation, the study argues that teacher autonomy  is a crucial factor that has to be conceptualized in its national and historical  contexts. It presents an examination of the teaching profession from both an  institutional and service perspective. In both perspectives, teacher autonomy,  framed by curriculum evaluation, can be regarded as both extended and  restricted, but not necessarily at the same time. This point of view enables us  to discuss different forms of autonomy in relation to each other. To support  this idea, the study discusses cases of teachers in various contexts of time and  space.

4. From Stories of  Staying to Stories of Leaving: a US Beginning Teacher’s Experience

Author: Cheryl J. Craig

Source:Journal of Curriculum  Studies, 46(1): 81-115

Abstract:This narrative inquiry traces a beginning  teacher’s unfolding career over a six-year period in a diverse middle school in  the fourth largest city in the USA. The work revolves around two  conceptualizations: ‘stories to live by’ and ‘stories to leave by.’ How these  identity-related phenomena surface and play out in an entry-level teacher’s  experiences become revealed. The stories of experience lived and told, and  relived and retold, illuminate the influence of context on beginning teachers’  knowing. The interwoven nature of educators’ lives also forms a major theme. In  the final analysis, the beginning teacher’s ‘stories to live by’ are no longer  able to sustain her in her urban teaching milieu. Shifting occurs and ‘stories  to leave by’ prevail.

5. Multicultural  Education as an Emotional Situation: Practice Encountering the Unexpected in  Teacher Education

Author: Jenna Min Shim

Source:Journal of Curriculum  Studies, 46(1): 116-137

Abstract:Juxtaposing the concepts of screen memory,  counter-transference and the holding environment within psychoanalytic theory,  this essay explores the author’s emotional experience, who begins the  exploration by asking several questions. What happens to a teacher’s emotional  world and her consciousness in the process of trying to shift students’  consciousness in multicultural education? What is the psychical consequence for  teachers of colour who must listen to racist discourse as a precondition to  convincing those to do otherwise? How does a teacher’s emotional world influence  student learning and development of critical consciousness? In working  through her emotional response aroused by the students’ questions in her  multicultural education classes, the author discusses the importance of a  conversation between psychoanalysis and critical multicultural pedagogies and  why the conversation matters.

6. PreserviceElementary  School Teachers’Knowledge of Fractions: a Mirror of  Students’Knowledge?

Author: H. Van Steenbrugge, E. Lesage, M. Valcke and  A. Desoete

Source:Journal of Curriculum  Studies, 46(1): 138-161

Abstract:This research analyses preservice teachers’  knowledge of fractions. Fractions are notoriously difficult for students to  learn and for teachers to teach. Previous studies suggest that student learning  of fractions may be limited by teacher understanding of fractions. If so,  teacher education has a key role in solving the problem. We first reviewed  literature regarding students’ knowledge of fractions. We did so because  assessments of required content knowledge for teaching require review of the  students’ understanding to determine the mathematics difficulties  encountered by students. The  preservice teachers were tested on their conceptual and procedural knowledge of  fractions, and on their ability in explaining the rationale for a procedure or  the conceptual meaning. The results revealed that preservice teachers’ knowledge  of fractions indeed is limited and that last-year preservice teachers did not  perform better than first-year preservice teachers. This research is situated  within the broader domain of mathematical knowledge for teaching and suggests  ways to improve instruction and student learning.