apresentação na european conference on curriculum studies

The Vocational Areas in the curriculum of classes with alternative curricula

Maria da Glória SantosUniversidade Aberta

mariagloriasls@gmail.com

Maria Ivone GasparUniversidade Aberta

migaspar@uab.pt

How to avoid exclusion and social marginalization?

How to ensure that everyone who attends school

will have access to quality education?

This presentation is based on a research focused on the syllabus of two classes, in the 3rd cycle. These have Alternative Curricula Pathways and are part of a school with 2nd and 3rd cycles. They have as determinant focus the vocational areas that are part of such a curriculum.

The implementation of alternative curricula will allow:

• the implementation of measures able to fulfill the ideal of educational equality

• the means to fight against social exclusion

• an innovative solution

• the search for solutions adapted to the diversity of the cases that cannot be integrated in regular education

We defend that

the main objective of alternative curricula is to adjust education to those students, giving schools flexibility to organize and adequate the curricula according to

the students’ difficulties

We assume the curriculum

in its plan dimension, it integrates the experiments so as to develop the project leading it to a process

of the pedagogical praxis reconstruction

Qualitative methodology-descriptive

Methodology

case-study

Five teachers

Empirical study

Twenty two students that compose the two Alternative Curriculum Pathways classes

Twenty seven semi-structured script-guided interviews

research objectives

to know the opinion of those directly involved in this process

to know if these fields appeal to students

Results

• Students and teachers were excited with the implemented project, vocational areas were an added-value

• The high motivation, built upon the results obtained with students

• The fields existing at the school seem to appeal to students

• The affective relation between teachers and students, which seemed to be very relevant for the success of this project

Alternative curricula

advantages

freedom for the teachers/class council

to design and implement projects

with a curricular dimension adapted to

the students’ skills and needs

a way for active and motivating

learning, which will foster interest in

school

the possibility of new learning

options for the students

an effective way to fight against

school failure and drop-out

Thank youvery much!