Changes to the technical form of curriculum documents are central to contemporary accountability practices and reform agendas in education. Allan Luke and colleagues specifically identify formal design and the level of definition in curriculum documents as crucial factors in determining whether teachers have control over classroom curriculum or are de-professionalised and constrained by central prescription. However, although their theoretical account of technical form and definition is substantive, it offers limited guidance on how it can be applied in education research. This paper presents a toolkit for analysing the technical form of curriculum documents that draws upon Systemic Functional Linguistics. That toolkit is then applied to an analysis of the senior secondary Japanese language curriculum in Queensland, where language teachers have raised concerns about the constraining impact of new syllabuses introduced as part of a major reform to the senior phase of learning in the state. We present findings about how formal elements of curriculum documents such as compositional and classificatory taxonomies, activity sequences, modal language choices and lexical chains are connected to purported issues relating to the prominence of certain curriculum content, affordances for composite classes and differentiation across subjects. This paper contributes to research on the impact of the formal design of curriculum documents for teacher professionalism and educational governance. Additionally, it provides an analytic approach that can be used in research on the technical form of curriculum documents in other educational contexts.
Curriculum reform in numeracy education has become a major international priority, particularly in lower primary classrooms, where foundational mathematical understanding is developed. In Fiji, the revised inclusive numeracy curriculum for Years 1–4 was introduced to promote learner-centred pedagogies, conceptual understanding, problem-solving, and inclusive teaching practices. Despite growing international research on curriculum reform, few studies have examined lower primary teachers’ experiences in implementing revised numeracy curricula in Pacific Island contexts. This mixed-methods study explored teachers’ perceptions of the revised numeracy curriculum, the challenges encountered during implementation, and the support mechanisms required for effective curriculum enactment in selected Fijian primary schools. Data were collected through surveys and semi-structured interviews involving 30 lower primary teachers from 10 primary schools in Fiji’s Northern Division. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics, while qualitative data were analysed thematically. The findings revealed that teachers generally viewed the revised curriculum positively, particularly its emphasis on active learning, conceptual understanding, collaborative activities, and student engagement. However, participants also reported significant implementation challenges, including inadequate professional development, lack of teaching resources, overcrowded classrooms, time constraints, and geographical disparities affecting rural and remote schools. Teachers emphasised the importance of continuous professional support, practical training, equitable resource distribution, and stronger collaboration among teachers, schools, and curriculum officers. The study contributes to curriculum reform literature by providing context-specific insights into lower primary numeracy curriculum implementation within a Pacific Island setting and highlighting the importance of aligning curriculum reform with classroom realities, teacher preparedness, and sustained systemic support.
The curriculum hierarchy is a powerful heuristic for understanding the socially constructed value that senior secondary curriculum systems place on school subjects. Yet it is also a concept that holds a contested place in policy and academic debate concerned with educational inequalities and pathways. This paper demonstrates the critical importance of the concept of curriculum hierarchy for understanding the persistence of educational inequalities in senior secondary Australian education and the limitations of recent policy reforms seeking to address these inequalities, bringing theorising of the curriculum hierarchy in dialogue with analysis of senior secondary subject achievement patterns over time. Updating and extending earlier scholarship by Teese (2000/2013), the analysis confirms that the New South Wales senior secondary curriculum is organised by a hierarchy of subject status and value, access to which is socially and spatially structured, and that this hierarchy has been remarkably durable across time as it remains embedded within the form of the curriculum, despite attempts at policy reform. The paper calls for more detailed and sustained attention to the nature and structure of the curriculum hierarchy in senior secondary education, and the enduring social and cultural forces that produce and reproduce it.
Inclusive education is a challenge for education systems worldwide. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is an internationally recognised theoretical and practical framework that helps educators address this challenge, particularly in early childhood education. Recognising diversity among students in any context, UDL provides an inclusive approach to teaching by proposing inclusive measures organised around three main principles to create engaging, multi-format, and multi-expressive learning environments. As in many countries, UDL has been included in the Spanish educational curriculum, and each region is adapting its legislation to this new model. However, UDL is not being integrated effectively. As part of a nationally funded project, this study examines policy documents through a mixed-methods approach to address three research objectives. First, it seeks to explore the presence, treatment, and impact of UDL in the early childhood education curricula of the 19 Spanish regions. Second, it aims to investigate the political-educational implications of this curricular transformation. Third, it aims to propose recommendations based on the shortcomings found in the analysed implementation. UDL terminology and the presence of the model in legislative documents were examined statistically. Additionally, an analysis was conducted to determine whether explicit and implicit guidance for implementing UDL was provided through instructions, guidelines, and examples within education legislation and regulation. Findings suggest a limited understanding of the framework and little guidance to support teachers’ decision-making in planning and teaching. Although UDL is recognised as a relevant reference point, its development in the regional curricula is insufficient, raising questions about the measures and resources needed to ensure truly inclusive education.
This collective case study investigated the design and implementation of concept-based instruction among ten Taiwanese elementary school English teachers. Thematic analysis of documents, interviews, and classroom observations yielded three key findings. First, teachers’ conceptual decision-making was guided by curriculum standards, learners’ experiences, and local contextual characteristics. Second, teachers employed diverse instructional strategies, such as multimodal approaches to introducing key concepts and learning activities that facilitated learners’ conceptual connections and understanding. Third, challenges arose in relation to learners’ English proficiency levels, scaffolding practices, and assessment. Implications and recommendations for the effective design and implementation of concept-based instruction are discussed.
