Page 153 - Getting of the fence

The relevance and usefulness of the Comprehensive Approach
time spent from 8% to 20%. In working this way, Sarah experienced a boost of energy because she had the feeling that she could finally revise the exhausted curriculum she had been working with for years. Although Sarah remarked that she had hardly spent any lesson time on the Language approach, she did include several listening and writing assignments. Despite the fact that we did not include the Language approach element ‘Language skills’ and therefore did not include these language skills activities in our coding, the lesson time Sarah spent on the Language approach did increase with 5%. Overall, Sarah’s curriculum showed a large change towards a more Comprehensive Approach with a decrease in the average deviation from the assumed even distribution of 24% in year 1 to 15% in year 2.
Doris (School B, 10 years teaching experience)
Doris felt the Comprehensive Approach was an eye-opener, allowing for a multiple-perspective view on her curriculum (accommodation). The Comprehensive Approach inspired her to think of different ways to teach literature, especially adding variety to her lessons. Doris enjoyed receiving pedagogical input, which helped her in stepping out of her comfort zone and seeing things from a different perspective. One theme that emerged very strongly with Doris was her growing awareness of the rationale behind her curriculum. The Comprehensive Approach provided her with a framework through which she could analyse her literature lessons. Being able to explain this rationale to her students increased her enjoyment in literature teaching. These changes were also visible in her lessons in year 2. There was a considerably greater balance between the Text-, Context-, and Reader approach in year 2. The fact that we did not include the underlying element ‘Language skills’ of the Language approach in our analysis is particularly important in our understanding of Doris’s lessons. In year 2, for example, Doris completely changed her Macbeth module, focusing on students’ language development by having them read aloud parts of the play in small groups and offering them a modern translation of the text as well as the original version, asking them to make comparisons. Overall, Doris was satisfied with the changes she experienced in year 2.
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