Watanabe, Tetsuko; (2018) The Enactment of England's National Curriculum for English in a British International Primary School in Japan. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

In international schools in many countries of the world, England’s national curriculum is the most common national curriculum taught. However, there have been few research studies on the application of England’s national curriculum in international school contexts. The research reported in this PhD dissertation is a case study of the enactment of the subject of English in England’s national curriculum by a British international primary school in Japan. The theoretical framing of the study is focused on curriculum aims and curriculum knowledge. The data collection methods were classroom observations of lessons, interviews with the head teacher and class teachers, and document analysis of teachers’ lesson plans. Findings, as a result of the thematic qualitative data analysis, revealed that teachers had their own aims for teaching, which often went beyond the specifications of England’s national curriculum, and beyond the formal aims of the English lessons represented in lesson planning. Teachers reported that they aimed to develop children’s knowledge beyond the specialised knowledge that formed the national curriculum subject. Children’s everyday knowledge had an influence on teachers’ decision-making for the selection of knowledge to be taught from England’s national curriculum. Discrepancies between teachers’ perspectives expressed in the interviews and the findings that emerged as a result of the observed lessons were identified. The teachers’ perspectives with regard to the enactment of England’s national curriculum in the school were mediated by two dominant aspects: flexible use of England’s national curriculum, and the concept of a culturally extended curriculum. All of the key areas stated in England’s national curriculum were taught, and very little content related to the Japanese context was found. The thesis concludes with reflections about the applicability of England’s national curriculum in an international context, and how knowledge selection might in future be enacted. These findings contribute to scholarship on curriculum aims and curriculum knowledge in the field of curriculum studies. The research reported in this thesis is the first research to study in depth the enactment of the subjects of English and literacy in England’s national curriculum in an international school in Japan.

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