1. International Bureau of Education
KICD – UNESCO – IBE Curriculum Workshop for Textbook Publishers 5-7 October 2016 Day 2
Thomas Cobb Faculty of Education, Université du Québec à Montréal Lili Ji
International Bureau of Education
Geneva

2. FOLLOW ON MOBILE OR REVIEW THIS PPT AT http://lextutor.ca/kenya2/day_3.2.pptx
TEXTBOOK CHECKLIST

3. THEN FOR TOMORROW DOWNLOAD YOUR IMAGES AFTER 9 P.M (21h)
FOR PRESENTATIONS
FROM

4. FIVE GROUPS BY PRIMARY SUBJECT
Maths 6
Science 9
English 11
Social Studies
Kiswahili
Bring me a list of names for each group OK
Tomorrow please sit together OK
Look for PDFs or Mobile images of a current textbook task, etc. (3 pp. max) IN

5. Later today we group-develop a competency checklist for textbooks
10 things a textbook should do to support CBE
HAS TO BE END OF DAY 2
THEY TALK, I TYPE, WE VOTE, PRINT
CORE COMPS ETC CAN COME NEXT
Then my Textbooks are… moment, includng “orange book”
THEN TIME TO WORK ON PREZZs, USING CHCKLIST

6. But first They key idea of situated competence
Of high importance to the type of textbook needed
And again a potentially reduced role for textbooks

7. Three Four big ideas in this diagram
(1) Not knowledge alone
+ skills
+ attitudes
(2) Applied
(3) In context
(4) Underpinned by values

8. In some CBE approaches…
Familiar situations are seen as absolutely key
Why?
Learning is MUCH more difficult
For no reason or benefit
When the context is unfamiliar
E.G. when using donated foreign textbooks!
Children in Niger learning science in the context of French places and situations
Because the textbooks are donated from France

9. Why ~
Should kids have to learn about France at the same time as they are learning about science?
It is just a source of confusion
Particularly when much vocabulary is new
It’s like “Why should Rwandan kids have to learn the competency approach
And English at the same time?
Oldest rule of pedagogy: Learn one thing at a time

10. DEMONSTRATION
Is there proof of a “situated learning effect”?

11. Each card has a letter on one side and a number on the other side.
What card(s) must be turned over to determine if the following statement is false? If a card has a vowel on one side, then it has an even number on the other side.

12. Each card has a drink on one side and the drinker’s age on the other side.
What card(s) must be turned over to determine if the following statement is false? If a person is drinking beer, then the person is over 19 years old.
BEER
COLA
16 YEARS
22 YEARS

13. The drinkers and ages are clearly MUCH EASIER than the vowels and even numbers

14. This clearly means….
That textbooks in Kenya should use local Kenyan situations
That are familiar to the learners

15. Great Alberta Questions/tasks WITH LOCAL CONTEXTUALIZATION

16. Local relevance – prior knowledge

17. Tap prior knowledge (vuvuzela)

18. Prior knowledge: pets

19. Prior knowledge: running trail

20. Prior knowledge: licence plates

21. All of these involve features of relevance to these learners’ lives at this age
AND also involve problem solving
They do not simply ask for an answer to a problem type that has been seen before
But rather ask for a new application of concepts that have been taught

22. But Kenya is a vast and varied country
How can a textbook find materials that fit Turkana, Kisumu, Mount Kenya, and Nairobi all at the same time?

23. Solution: Teachers Book shows ways of using the local environment as a source of learning
‘The environment’ is a huge source of teaching materials for teachers who know how to use it
Main or supplementary
Examples include using SPORTS STATISTICS in Math
And using money changing in the market place in Niger

24. But of course… Localization of materials involves many, many issues
Is it dangerous? Learners of what age?
For starters we can become to be AWARE of the localization issue
Also called situated effect, contextual effect, familiarity effect

25. From my own teaching days (1)
In ESL ~
Learner groups go out for 30 minutes and look for 10 new words
‘Scribe’ writes down the physical and linguistic context
Back in class
Groups decide on the three words they most need to know (meta-cognition)
Teacher explains, illustrates, dramatizes
Half these words appear in the weekly formative quiz

26. From my own teaching days (2)
With Vietnam Boat People
Montreal ESL Ss have learned some words and sentences for asking directions
Groups of 4 take the train to the end of the line
Must come back on the bus
They have only bus tickets and a tape recorder,
no money or maps
They record every conversation where they asked someone for information
Back in class, recordings are played and enjoyed but also feed into the teacher’s next class

27. Note the amount of work this was for the teacher!
T works out that there is a bus where the train ends
T supplies tape recorder to each group
Probably damage to at least one
T forms groups so there is none with weak-only Ss
But note the advantages!
Social cooperation skills
Language skills
What is learned is immediately used - COMPETENCE
Trust is increased within groups
Motivation to learn increases

28. So how would this work in a textbook?
TEACHER’S BOOK
LEARNERS’ WRITE TEACHERS INSTRUCTIONS IN THEIR WORK BOOK
In your city or area, learners travel by bus or train to the last stop
They then return…
Dictate instructions to your learners, filling in the local names of places and means of transportation
“We must take the bus to Loresho and then return by three Mutatus, asking directions…”

29. In other words The teachers books is general
The learners’ copy local references into their instructions for the task
And into the report they put together as a group after they have returned and debriefed

30. Short Plenary Discussion
With a partner, work up a way you could use the environment as a teaching resource
Example
RELIGION CLASS: “Children, on Sunday go to a different church/mosque from the one you usually go to, and then report in class Monday on the differences”
Teacher draws out issues and deeper meaning of what students tell

31. Questions / Ideas

32. NEW TOPIC: PROBLEMS ABOUT TEXTBOOKS IN KENYA
SORRY NICE PEOPLE, BUT…
NEW TOPIC: PROBLEMS ABOUT TEXTBOOKS IN KENYA

33. Textbooks

34. Textbooks 2 And In additional to IT, textbooks will still be needed
Even more so than before, as drivers of reform
Teachers cannot be trusted to do it by themselves (!)
However:
At present book-to-student ratio is only 1:4
And
“The cost of textbooks in Kenya is four times higher than the cost in countries with similar economic status. The curriculum reform process presents an ideal opportunity to re-engineer the process of producing and developing curriculum support materials that offer local relevance.”
Three Big Ideas in this 

35. Textbooks (2) Three Big Ideas in this
-- Make textbooks competence oriented
Knowledge but also application of knowledge
Make them locally relevant
Apply knowledge within real-life situations that the students understand
Make books cheaper
How will this happen? 

37. Textbooks (3) “Policy statement:
The government will mobilize resources and in partnership with private support and households to ensure that a book ratio of 1:1 is achieved at all levels in basic education in the medium term.”
How?
“Liberalize the textbook market and allow free market principles to apply”
“Promote the manufacture of curriculum support materials locally”
“Take affirmative action to lower the cost of text books”

38. Quite a few problems that I did not see written down
…but heard about informally
Let’s discuss
The famous “orange book” comes out with all (5+) the textbooks listed that are approved for a certain course, like Primary Math
And somehow kids end up with all five books in their bags!
Wearing down their tiny bones
Purchased by parent terrified their kids will fail these horrific summative examinations

39. Orange book 1 This is a rather grotesque anomaly
Where many children are sharing a book
Have no book of their own
While others have five books for the same subject

40. Orange book 2
This problem seems to be a product of the “liberalization” of the book publishing business
that accompanied the 1985 Reform (8-4-4)
Prior to which KICD published all textbooks
And is caused by book sellers (middle men) more than book publishers
With some participation (profit sharing?) from the schools
What is the solution?
We know what the GOAL is…

41. Orange book 3 KICD knows what the goal is…
One book
(which the school has chosen from those available)
For each student
For each course
Not more, not less
… but maybe is less sure about how to get there

42. Orange book 4 NOBODY IS TALKING ABOUT THIS! POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
Book market could be de-liberalized, KICD take back its pre-1985 monopoly
NOBODY IS TALKING ABOUT THIS!
(2) In some future high-tech Kenya:
All books could exist online only, with no print edition
Like academic journals in CAN/USA right now
School would choose one book for a subject and have access to that one book only
Learners in that school are given password access to the download
Would keep this book on iPad or similar device
Bookseller is locked out Publisher  School  Learner

43. In your subject group, in five minutes:
Orange book 5
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
(3) …
In your subject group, in five minutes:
come up with a textbook model that can deal with the “orange book” problem

44. MINI-TASK I GAVE MY TRAINERS LAST WEEK
Give me your brief wish-list for new competency based textbooks
Please specify the subject area
Especially with a view to how this book must be used by your teachers
Tom will read a few out

45. NEW Models of role for textbooks as we go bravely forward
NEW TOPIC
NEW Models of role for textbooks as we go bravely forward

46. Teacher book expands, learner book shrinks… plus
(for reasons already discussed)
To accommodate localization of situation
To make the content “created by learner” not “found in book”
+ publishers create online supplements for courses
Portfolio assessment
+ publishers create parallel online AND RADIO versions of courses
As mentioned earlier, this is really the only way to “make time the variable, not achievement”

47. Models for textbook in CBE
In your subject group, in five minutes:
come up with an original model for the role of textbooks within a competence based educational system in Kenya

48. NEW TOPIC?
Trainers ppts

49. NEW TOPIC
Checklist: top 10 characteristics of a competency based textbook lesson

50. Now we group-develop a competency checklist for textbooks
10 things a textbook should do to support CBE
GROUPS TALK, I TYPE, WE VOTE, PRINT
>>> THEN TIME TO WORK ON PREZZs, USING CHCKLIST