Curriculum Development and "Good Practice" in education:
some concepts developed at the IBE (summary and extracts)
The curriculum
It is essential to look at the definition of the concept of curriculum and its evolution to set up the approach to curriculum we will adopt in the framework of the HIV/AIDS programme, in the collection of curricular material, the analysis in terms of contents and methods and the identification of good practices in HIV/AIDS preventive education.
The concept of curriculum refers to the existing contract between society, the State and the educational professionals with regard to the educational experiences that learners should undergo during a certain phase of their lives. For the majority of authors and experts, the curriculum defines:
(i) why;
(ii) what;
(iii) when;
(iv) where;
(v) how;
(vi) with whom to learn.
The curriculum defines the educational foundations and contents, their sequencing in relation to the amount of time available for the learning experiences, the characteristics of the teaching institutions, the characteristics of the learning experiences, in particular from the point of view of methods to be used, the resources for learning and teaching (e.g. textbooks and new technologies), evaluation and teachers' profiles.
The typical product of this process is one or several documents adopted at a given time by the political and educational authorities. In a narrow sense, the definitions contained in the produced curricula can be found in other curricular documents. In a wider sense, textbooks and teaching guides are also considered as curricular documents because they contribute to the production of meaning and to guide the teaching and learning process.
Good Practices
In the most affected regions of the world, HIV/AIDS represents a major challenge for education systems when it comes to trying to improve education - quantitatively as well as qualitatively. The HIV/AIDS epidemics threatens the progress that has been or is still being carried out in the field of education. Efficiently integrating HIV/AIDS prevention in education stems from the global trend of curriculum revision and the dissemination of good - and even best - practices. It is therefore also necessary to consider the tools used to identify good practices and to define the concept of good practice itself.
The work carried out on "good practices" at the IBE is based on partnerships within the UNESCO (Division for the Promotion of Quality Education, Paris ; International Institute for Educational Planning, Paris ; Regional Offices for education in Bangkok and Dakar ; Offices in Harare and Brazilia) and with international institutions and organizations such as the EU, UNAIDS, ADEA and some other bilateral and multilateral institutions and agencies active in the educational field like GTZ, OEI, OECD, etc.
It is not easy to define the concept of "good practice" as it matches with several realities. "Good practices" could be considered as examples of processes and behaviours that have positive results: "good practices" are then to be compared to "best practices", which is a very fashionable term in the United States where it is simply defined as a thing which works. It is thought to be in this case the best possible practice.
Elsewhere, a "good practice" was more comprehensively defined as an approach, frequently innovative, tested and appraised, which points to its success in other contexts. A good practice is the innovation that makes it possible to improve the present and therefore means - or can mean - to be a model or a standard in a given system. As a result, "good practice" and innovation are quite similar since they are assimilated in many programmes.
Conceptualisation et dissémination des bonnes pratiques en éducation : essai d'une approche internationale à partir d'enseignement tirés d'un projet Abdoulaye Anne