The role and nature of curriculum frameworks in mathematics curriculum development initiatives

Abstract

As pointed out by Wong (1991), a curriculum framework provides a description of the philosophy of the curriculum and helps to establish the important aspects of learning and teaching. Lee (2008a) observed that the pentagonal Framework for the Singapore Mathematics Curriculum, developed in 1990, survived, with minor modification, the major curriculum review for the 2001 (and in fact also for the 2007) syllabus. However, as national Curriculum Framework, the generality of the framework often needs further tweaking to meet the specific needs of schools and special groups of students. This paper first traces two separate efforts in establishing such 'localised' mathematics curriculum frameworks based on the national Mathematics Curriculum Framework. The first effort is basically part of a school-based mathematics curriculum initiative. The initiative sought to examine the impact of a metacognitive classroom environment that incorporates various metacognitive instructional strategies on the problem solving performance of mathematics students in a neighbourhood secondary school The second one arose out of an effort undertaken by the Ministry of Education, called the Learning Support for Mathematics (LSM) programme, to better help teachers prepare children entering into formal schooling and yet are identified as not ready for school mathematics. The paper then draws lessons from these to determine the role and nature of curriculum frameworks in effective implementation mathematics curriculum development initiatives.