Area of Concentration in Education Sciences (Educational Policies and School Organization)

Area of Concentration in Education Sciences

(Educational Policies and School Organization)

Research Line

Educational Policies and School Organization

Research Project

A study on curriculum development in Basic Education: Challenges and Recommendations
(approved by the National Institute of Science and Technology – INCT)

Research Group

The research team is composed of five members, two male and three female, as follows:

Manuel Azancot de Menezes (Coordinator)
Joaninha Carvalho de Jesus
Leocádia Leong Sarmento
Tadeu Cabral Soares
Letícia Elviana Ximenes Belo

Brief Description and Contextualization of the Study

Decree-Law No. 4/2015 of January 14 approves the National Core Curriculum for the First and Second Cycles of Basic Education. Article 1 (Purpose) establishes “the guiding principles, organization and management of the national core curriculum for the first and second cycles of Basic Education, as well as the methods and criteria for assessing acquired knowledge and developed competences through its implementation”. Therefore, in light of the legislation in force in the country, there are concrete guidelines—whether consensual or not—regarding the process of implementing educational policies related to curricular issues.

On the other hand, based on comparative education and literature review, it is possible to obtain an overall understanding of the most frequent recommendations and the main curricular guidelines. This will allow addressing key issues inherent to the conception and operationalization of the national framework for the National Curriculum of the First and Second Cycles of Basic Education, with a focus on curriculum development in the context of democratic decentralization, autonomy, and the teaching-learning process aimed at competence development.

In this sense, this research focuses on the guiding principles intrinsic to the conception, operationalization, and assessment of learning within the basic education curriculum of the 1st and 2nd Cycles at the national level.

Literature Review

There is a set of indicators that are fundamental to understanding the trajectory of a school with good practices and academic success. School autonomy, initial and continuous training of education professionals, effective community participation, the teaching-learning process, school leadership, citizenship education, and curriculum are among these core dimensions.

Within the scope of this study, when referring to curriculum, we seek to engage with the thinking of reference authors, including Gaspar and Roldão (2007). According to these authors, cited by Azancot de Menezes (2014, p. 31), it is no longer possible to conceive the curriculum in a static way, merely as a rigid plan in terms of content, organization, and work models, based on a single centrally defined standard supposedly applied by schools.

Drawing on comparative education, this study aims to leverage international discourse to gather opinions and disseminate findings from reference scholarly communities in the curricular field, in order to select and substantiate key concepts relevant to the scope of the research.

Given that curriculum plays “a central and decisive role in the education system” (Gaspar & Roldão, 2007, p. 45), the discussion will first focus on the meaning of the concept of curriculum, followed by fundamental theoretical and conceptual considerations necessary for the intended study.

The concept of curriculum is considered by most specialists to be controversial and ambiguous. Etymologically derived from the Latin word currere (to run), referring to a racecourse, curriculum in the Latin-European tradition corresponds to a study plan or programme that is highly structured and organized around objectives, content, and activities, according to disciplinary nature (Pacheco, 1996). In contrast, within the Anglo-Saxon perspective, although the programme is also considered, the meaning of curriculum goes beyond the notion of a programme, encompassing what is taught, content and form, objectives, assessment criteria, organization and structure of studies, duration, and progression.

Gaspar and Roldão (2007) argue that, after analysing dozens of definitions, curriculum is situated within the school, in its restricted sense, and that differences among definitions often reveal conflicts regarding ways of thinking about and organizing schools.

Given this plurality of perspectives, multiple interpretations have emerged, requiring the introduction of various variables to understand the concept and define what should be understood as curriculum.

From the standpoint of this research, priority is given to theories advocated by proponents of contemporary and active pedagogies, considering as valid a curriculum concept that questions what is to be learned, why, for what purpose, how, and when, in line with authors such as Azancot de Menezes (2014), Gaspar and Roldão (2007), and Pacheco (2002), among others.

Accordingly, this study adopts the understanding of curriculum as “a plan, completed or reoriented by projects, resulting from an explanatory model of what should be taught and learned; it thus comprises what, to whom, why, and when it is offered, as well as how and with what it is offered” (Gaspar & Roldão, 2007, p. 29).

Problem Statement

The Education System Framework Law (Law No. 14/2008 of October 29) establishes the general framework of the education system, defining its scope, general principles, fundamental objectives, and organization. It clearly states that Tetum and Portuguese are the languages of instruction (Article 8).

Decree-Law No. 4/2015 of January 14, which approves the National Core Curriculum for the First and Second Cycles of Basic Education, establishes guiding principles, organization, management, and assessment criteria. However, empirical observations indicate that many basic education schools lack a School Educational Project (PEE), despite its importance for contextualized and democratic curriculum development.

Research Question

What is the impact of Decree-Law No. 4/2015 of January 14 on the National Core Curriculum for the First and Second Cycles of Basic Education, within a national educational project that advocates qualitative change in the conception, operationalization, and assessment of learning?

General Objective

To analyse the impact of Decree-Law No. 4/2015 of January 14 on key aspects of the conception, operationalization, and assessment of learning in the First and Second Cycles of Basic Education, within a context of educational change and curricular management and innovation.

Specific Objectives

To gather teachers’ and school principals’ opinions regarding the guiding principles of the curricular framework under study;
To assess the degree of implementation of school autonomy in the First and Second Cycles, particularly curricular autonomy;
To verify coherence between teachers’ initial academic training and the curricular units taught;
To identify teaching-learning methods used and their contribution to competence development and critical thinking;
To analyse the adequacy of weekly teaching hours allocated to linguistic development (Tetum and Portuguese);
To evaluate the adequacy of weekly teaching hours allocated to scientific development;
To assess the existence of an institutional evaluation culture in schools.

Methodological Considerations

This study adopts a mixed-methods research approach, combining qualitative and quantitative methodologies, ensuring data triangulation. Data will be collected through Likert-scale questionnaires administered to school principals, teachers, and guardians from 52 schools across all municipalities of Timor-Leste and the Special Administrative Region of Oecussi-Ambeno (RAEOA).

Data analysis will be conducted using Google Forms (or other appropriate software), and results will be presented in tables and graphs. APA 7th edition standards will be applied throughout the study.

Expected Results

The study aims to:

Improve coherence between the Education System Framework Law and the National Core Curriculum;
Optimize curriculum time allocation for Portuguese and Tetum literacy;
Enhance mathematics curriculum distribution;
Promote competency-based and critical-thinking-oriented teaching methodologies;
Strengthen curriculum management, innovation, and institutional evaluation culture.

Timeline

The research will begin in August 2023 and conclude in August 2024.