Curriculum Overload.

• Author: OECD.
• Place / Publishing House: Paris : : Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development,, 2021.; Ã2021.
• Year of Publication: 2021
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (98 pages)

Schools are constantly under pressure to keep up with the pace of changes in society. In parallel, societal demands for what schools should teach are also constantly changing; often driven by political agendas, ideologies, or parental pressures, to add global competency, digital literacy, data literacy, environmental literacy, media literacy, social-emotional skills, etc. This "curriculum expansion" puts pressure on policy makers and schools to add new contents to already crowded curriculum.

Table of Contents

Intro -- Key Messages -- Executive Summary -- 1. What does research say? -- What is curriculum overload? -- What is curriculum expansion? How does it affect students and teachers? -- What is content overload? How does it affect students and teachers? -- What is perceived overload? How does it affect students and teachers? -- What is curriculum imbalance? How does it affect students and teachers? -- What is still unknown? -- Notes -- References -- 2. How do countries compare? -- What kinds of cross-curricular themes do countries/jurisdictions articulate to accommodate new demands? -- How do countries/jurisdictions embed such cross-curricular themes into existing subjects? -- Which cross-curricular competencies do countries/jurisdictions most commonly select? -- How do countries/jurisdictions embed cross-curricular competencies into existing curriculum? -- How do countries/jurisdictions structure and describe subject-specific goals? -- Notes -- References -- 3. What types of challenges do countries/jurisdictions face in addressing curriculum overload, and what strategies do they use to address these challenges? -- Content expansion: overview of challenges and strategies -- Content overload: Overview of challenges and strategies -- Curriculum pitch and workload: Overview of challenges and strategies -- Note -- References -- 4. What lessons have countries/jurisdictions learned from unintended consequences? -- 1. Keep the right balance between breadth of learning areas and depth of content Knowledge -- 2. Use focus, rigour and coherence jointly as key design principles when addressing curriculum overload -- 3. Be conscious of and avoid homework overload for students -- 4. Be mindful of local decisions leading to curriculum overload for schools -- 5. Stress curriculum overload as a pressing issue by redefining student success and well-being -- Notes.

References -- Contributors list.