Negotiating curriculum constraints in ESOL through teacher research

Curriculum is at the centre of the debate between educators and planners about appropriate models of teaching and learning. In vocational teaching contexts such as NZ Polytechnics competency-based assessment is the dominant curriculum and assessment paradigm. Curriculum policy and accreditation processes through the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) reflect this vocational, outcomes oriented approach to learning and teaching. Despite the fact that curriculum policy claims that educators have freedom to employ all methodologies that achieve curriculum assessment goals, from the perspective of educators, teaching methodologies and the beliefs underpinning them cannot be separated from curriculum policy. Teaching methodologies must be seen as an integral part of curriculum production and so the interaction and negotiation between policy and process still needs to be clarified. This clarification is especially important in fields where the vocational paradigm is contested by practitioners as a valid model for teaching, learning and assessment; transitional tertiary and vocational ESOL is one of these fields. Teacher research promises to deliver this clarification and negotiation by engaging practitioners in reflecting on syllabus and curriculum issues from the classroom environment. This paper looks at the development of a teacher research culture in a NZ Polytechnic as an example of the policy-methodology dialogue.