Curriculum and assessment for the knowledge society: interrogating experiences in the Republic of Ireland and Queensland, Australia

Abstract

The ‘knowledge society’ has become a central discourse within educational reform. This article posits that the impact of the knowledge society discourse on curriculum and assessment has led to the emergence of what the authors term a new-form/re-form curriculum, and it asks whether what is transacting in contemporary movements in curriculum is less the reform of curriculum and more the emergence of a new-form/re-form curriculum. What is emerging is well beyond the discussions of outcomes and curriculum alignment that characterised much curriculum reform effort in the late 1990s. In this new-form/re-form curriculum ‘content’ is displaced by ‘skills’ and ‘knowledge acquisition’ by ‘learning’. Curriculum coverage is replaced by learner engagement. In this context, assessment also begins to take on new-form/re-form. Assessment now engages and promotes learning as process rather than as product. Two cases – the Republic of Ireland and Queensland, Australia – are analysed and compared to illustrate this shift in the conceptualisation of curriculum and assessment. Consideration is given to the possibility that this new-form/re-form curriculum represents a settlement in the contestation associated with learning outcomes and their perceived technical rationality and market focus. The paper concludes that the new-form/re-form curriculum is emerging in locations as diverse as Ireland and Queensland.

Keywords:

• curriculum and assessment re-form
• knowledge societies
• learning curriculum

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge that both the Department of Education and the Arts and Education Queensland are joint funders and partners with the Queensland Studies Authority in the 2005 Queensland Assessment Task trial evaluation, and also partner and joint funder in the development of the Queensland Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Framework.

Notes

1. There were 1813 responses, with the results of the survey being updated daily. It attracted ongoing media and public attention and allowed for far more student engagement than heretofore, as evidenced in the article.