Introduction: tasks, concepts, and subject knowledge

In: https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:d2a927cf-6b11-4fa7-a64a-910217eabbc6

Open Access

Abstract

The background to this book on task design is that for the past 25 years the curriculum in the UK, and subsequently teaching, has been dominated by the introduction and implementation of government national strategies. In the secondary school environment this has often led to teaching through narrow and restrictive versions of 'teaching objectives' and patterns of assessment that focus on product and external examinations rather than process and student development. This pattern of curriculum imposition is not unique to the UK of course and educators in many other settings and contexts will recognise the same pressures on teaching and learning. The danger is that pedagogic practices that promote students' learning and knowledge transformation through active participation can be largely shelved (or hidden) in favour of a passive form of knowledge acquisition through transmission assessed by recall of knowledge gleaned from others or the mastery of technical skills.