Rethinking Schooling for the 21st Century

taught will depend on both the ability and the scope teachers have for exercising
professional judgement.
b. Subject Matter
Subject matter is the second key curricular domain. The classroom treatment of
any topic (such as water conservation) ostensibly depends on the teacher, but
he or she generally works within the parameters set by the official curriculum
or syllabus. Although the terms are often used interchangeably, the ‘syllabus’
carries greater importance in many educational systems than the ‘curriculum’.
Their meanings are in fact quite distinct and, as Dottrens (1962) explained in an
early UNESCO study, they represent a typology of educational systems around
the world. Countries that follow a syllabus model generally offer less autonomy
to teachers than those operating with a curriculum model. This distinction is
rooted in the historical evolution of different national systems. In countries
where modern education was introduced under colonial conditions, or by tightly
controlled ‘developmental states’ — conditions that apply across most of Asia —
the syllabus tends more strictly to constrain choice and treatment of topics. In
many such systems, procedures for vetting or prescribing textbooks constitute
a key instrument of control. The teachers are in practice generally expected to
teach the textbook, rather than determining for themselves how to address a
broadly defined theme. Indeed, especially at primary and lower secondary levels,
teachers in such systems may themselves be unaware of the formal syllabus or
curricular guidelines. Under such conditions, those drafting syllabi are tasked
with framing topics with sufficient clarity to guide textbook authors and, through
them, classroom teachers.
In many countries, since teachers are in practice expected to adhere to the
textbook and desist from applying their own judgement, textual quality and
clarity, as well as the nature of any accompanying illustrations, are crucial. These
features of textbooks largely determine how a topic such as water conservation
will be presented, as well as what kind of questions or exercises will be used
to teach it and ultimately to assess or evaluate children’s learning. If national
or international policy documents ignore these micro-realities while setting
up grand goals for curriculum policy, the results are likely to be disappointing
at best. Particular topics may appear fleetingly in the syllabus or even the
textbook. However, meaningful learning may fail to result, for reasons including
inappropriateness of grade level, unclear or inconsistent rationale, mechanical
textbook treatment, and, eventually, vague and unconvincing interpretation by
the teacher.
c. Pedagogic Process
It is customary to hold the teacher responsible for such a chain of failure. This
tendency has many consequences. The most relevant here is that teachers often
act as timid transmitters of messages in which they may not believe, or which they
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Introduction