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Teachers’ sense-making and adapting of the national curriculum : a multiple case study in Turkish and Swedish contexts

Bümen, Nilay T. and Holmqvist, Mona LU orcid (2022) In Journal of Curriculum Studies 54(6). p.832-851
Abstract

Despite the increasing popularity of studies on teachers’ national curriculum adaptations, there is no comparative study elucidating teachers’ adaptations in centralized and decentralized educational contexts through sense-making theory lenses. This paper presents a comparative case study of Turkish and Swedish senior classroom teachers’ curricular adaptations concerning sense-making theory. We get data through non-participatory lesson observations, interviews, and document analysis from two teachers teaching third-grade mathematics in each country (İzmir and Malmö). Findings reveal that both Turkish and Swedish senior teachers frequently extend, replace/revise and omit the mathematics curriculum. Turkish teachers provided extensive... (More)

Despite the increasing popularity of studies on teachers’ national curriculum adaptations, there is no comparative study elucidating teachers’ adaptations in centralized and decentralized educational contexts through sense-making theory lenses. This paper presents a comparative case study of Turkish and Swedish senior classroom teachers’ curricular adaptations concerning sense-making theory. We get data through non-participatory lesson observations, interviews, and document analysis from two teachers teaching third-grade mathematics in each country (İzmir and Malmö). Findings reveal that both Turkish and Swedish senior teachers frequently extend, replace/revise and omit the mathematics curriculum. Turkish teachers provided extensive evidence about their adaptations and even tried explaining their reasons whereas Swedish teachers perceived the changes they made in the classroom as teaching rather than adaptations, due to different levels of centralization. Additionally, Turkish teachers responded with parallel structures and assimilation to the national curriculum, and Swedish teachers responded only with assimilation. However, a Turkish teacher’s assimilation mediated fewer adaptations while both Swedish teachers’ assimilation mediated more adaptations (extension and replacing/revising). We conclude by drawing implications for research on teachers’ adaptations and sense-making.

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author
and
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
classroom teachers, curriculum implementation, Sense-making, teachers’ adaptations
in
Journal of Curriculum Studies
volume
54
issue
6
pages
20 pages
publisher
Routledge
external identifiers
  • scopus:85138250258
ISSN
0022-0272
DOI
10.1080/00220272.2022.2121178
language
English
LU publication?
no
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
id
8e3b8d29-1185-4ad7-89d9-a52465dff501
date added to LUP
2023-09-05 13:50:05
date last changed
2023-09-06 17:16:17
@article{8e3b8d29-1185-4ad7-89d9-a52465dff501,
  abstract     = {{<p>Despite the increasing popularity of studies on teachers’ national curriculum adaptations, there is no comparative study elucidating teachers’ adaptations in centralized and decentralized educational contexts through sense-making theory lenses. This paper presents a comparative case study of Turkish and Swedish senior classroom teachers’ curricular adaptations concerning sense-making theory. We get data through non-participatory lesson observations, interviews, and document analysis from two teachers teaching third-grade mathematics in each country (İzmir and Malmö). Findings reveal that both Turkish and Swedish senior teachers frequently extend, replace/revise and omit the mathematics curriculum. Turkish teachers provided extensive evidence about their adaptations and even tried explaining their reasons whereas Swedish teachers perceived the changes they made in the classroom as teaching rather than adaptations, due to different levels of centralization. Additionally, Turkish teachers responded with parallel structures and assimilation to the national curriculum, and Swedish teachers responded only with assimilation. However, a Turkish teacher’s assimilation mediated fewer adaptations while both Swedish teachers’ assimilation mediated more adaptations (extension and replacing/revising). We conclude by drawing implications for research on teachers’ adaptations and sense-making.</p>}},
  author       = {{Bümen, Nilay T. and Holmqvist, Mona}},
  issn         = {{0022-0272}},
  keywords     = {{classroom teachers; curriculum implementation; Sense-making; teachers’ adaptations}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{6}},
  pages        = {{832--851}},
  publisher    = {{Routledge}},
  series       = {{Journal of Curriculum Studies}},
  title        = {{Teachers’ sense-making and adapting of the national curriculum : a multiple case study in Turkish and Swedish contexts}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00220272.2022.2121178}},
  doi          = {{10.1080/00220272.2022.2121178}},
  volume       = {{54}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}