Negotiating Accountability and Integrated Curriculum from a Global Perspective

Susan M Drake, Michael J Savage

Abstract


In an age of educational accountability there is tension between the pressure for success in large-scale testing and the need to develop students’ 21st Century skills such as creativity and problem-solving to prepare them for a complex global world. Integrated curriculum is popular way to develop these skills yet it is often dismissed because of accountability issues.  This article explores the policy directions of several countries or jurisdictions around the world to provide a deeper understanding of the relationship between the two positions. The analysis concludes that integrated curriculum approaches do not seem to have a negative impact on large-scale testing scores.


Keywords


Integrated curriculum, educational policy, standardized testing, creativity, problem-solving, large-scale testing

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References


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