Chapter 7

Identifying Needs for Support to Enhance

Teachers’ Curriculum Design Expertise

Tjark Huizinga, Nienke Nieveen, and Adam Handelzalts

Introduction

The design and implementation of curriculum reform are complex processes.

However, various stakeholders repeatedly overlook this complexity. Consequently,
despite the best intentions and ambitions, curriculum reforms are too often only
partially implemented or fall short of realizing their educational goals (Fullan,
2007; Green, 1980; Stenhouse, 1975; Van den Akker, 2010). The failure of curricu-
lum reform is often explained by the lack of involvement of the main stakeholder:
the teacher (Fullan, 2007; Stenhouse, 1975). As Fullan stated it (1991, p. 117):
‘Educational change depends on what teachers do and think – it is as simple and
complex as that.’ Borko (2004) also asserted that educational change is not likely to
take place when teachers are merely viewed as practitioners who are expected to
implement the plans of others. She implied that failure of curriculum reform is
caused by teachers’ lack of involvement and lack of ownership for the reform.
Conversely, teachers’ ownership of the curricular problem to be solved and their
active involvement in the design process are often reported as the main mechanisms
to foster the implementation of a curriculum reform. Various scholars have

T. Huizinga (*)
Department of Innovative and Effective Education, Saxion University of Applied Sciences,
Enschede, The Netherlands
e-mail: [Link]@[Link]
N. Nieveen
ELAN Department of Teacher Development, University of Twente,
Enschede, The Netherlands
e-mail: [Link]@[Link]
A. Handelzalts
Teacher Education Department, Free University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
e-mail: [Link]@[Link]

© The Author(s) 2019 115

J. Pieters et al. (eds.), Collaborative Curriculum Design for Sustainable
Innovation and Teacher Learning, [Link]
116 T. Huizinga et al.

indicated the need to involve teachers from the early stages of the curriculum reform
process (e.g., Borko, 2004; Darling-Hammond & McLaughlin, 1995; Fullan, 2007;
Stenhouse, 1975).
The importance and relevance of teachers’ involvement in curriculum develop-
ment becomes increasingly apparent when curriculum policy is considered. In the
Netherlands, teachers formally and legally have a great deal of autonomy to shape
and enact their own (school-specific) curriculum (Kuiper, Van den Akker, Hooghoff,
& Letschert, 2006; Nieveen & Kuiper, 2012). Schools and teachers have been given
‘curricular space’ to shape and arrange their so-called school-based curricula
(Nieveen, Van den Akker, & Resink, 2010). In terms of educational policy in The
Netherlands, recent initiatives have underlined the importance of allowing teachers
to become designers of curriculum materials that take the school’s context and its
students into account (e.g., Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap,
2011; Onderwijsraad, 2014; VO-Raad, 2014). Studies related to these initiatives
have reported positive findings for teachers’ collaboration in curriculum develop-
ment. While designing, teachers can discuss the essence of the renewal and class-
room implementation, which helps to improve teachers’ understanding of the
reform and fosters their ownership of the reform.
Although teachers in different contexts have been increasingly involved as
designers in curriculum reform projects, not all efforts have been successful. The
first attempts were ill-structured and teachers received little support during the pro-
cess (e.g., Eggleston, 1980; Nieveen et al., 2010; Onderbouw-VO, 2009; Skilbeck,
1984). A major problem was that teachers lacked certain knowledge and skills
needed to fulfil the proposed role of designer (Bakah, Voogt, & Pieters, 2012;
Forbes, 2009; Handelzalts, 2009; Nieveen et al., 2010). For their efforts to succeed,
it does not seem to be enough to rely on ownership, active involvement and willing-
ness to cooperate in curriculum development. In order to play a significant role as
curriculum designers and to successfully implement the new curriculum materials
in their classrooms, teachers need to have specific knowledge and skills, in particu-
lar, subject matter knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge and curriculum
design expertise (Nieveen et al., 2010; Nieveen & Van der Hoeven, 2011; Schwab,
1973). The various categories of expertise required for designing high quality cur-
ricula have been comprehensively defined as ‘design expertise’ (Hardré, 2003;
Hardré, Ge, & Thomas, 2006; Huizinga, 2009; Huizinga, Nieveen, Handelzalts, &
Voogt, 2013; Nieveen & Van der Hoeven, 2011). Design expertise consists of two
components, namely process and generic design expertise and specific design
expertise, which include teachers’ expertise in curriculum design (Huizinga, 2009).
Although some teachers who fulfil the role of designer are expected to have
intuitive design expertise, many of them lack this kind of expertise (Forbes, 2009;
Handelzalts, 2009; Hardré et al., 2006; Kerr, 1981; Nieveen et al., 2010). Therefore,
most teachers can be considered novices in curriculum design, and subsequently
experience beginner’s difficulties while designing curriculum materials (e.g., Ertmer
& Cennamo, 1995; Kerr, 1981; Kirschner, Carr, Van Merriënboer, & Sloep, 2002).
For teachers to end up with good quality materials and, ultimately, to play a decisive
role in curriculum reform, it seems essential to support them in their collaborative
7 Identifying Needs for Support to Enhance Teachers’ Curriculum Design Expertise 117

design process, to help them tackle design challenges and to develop their design
expertise (Handelzalts, 2009; Hardré et al., 2006; Nieveen, Handelzalts, Van den
Akker, & Homminga, 2005).
The collaborative design of curriculum materials has been identified as a promis-
ing way to foster the design of high quality curriculum materials and to enhance
classroom implementation (Handelzalts, 2009; Hardré et al., 2006; Fullan, 2007).
Furthermore, teacher involvement in collaborative design processes offers opportu-
nities to learn about the design process (Bakah et al., 2012; Voogt et al., 2011).
Recently, professional learning communities have become more popular as a
means for teachers’ professional development and have proven successful
(Desimone, 2009, 2011; Stoll, Bolam, McMahon, Wallace, & Thomas, 2006).
Participation in these communities permits teachers to develop their expertise by
sharing ideas and opinions and by reflecting on their practices (Hord, 2004; Little,
1990, 2003; Stoll et al., 2006). A concrete form of professional learning community
aimed at curriculum development can be found in Teacher Design Teams [TDTs],
which are teams of at least two teachers who collaboratively (re)design parts of their
shared curriculum (Handelzalts, 2009). These teams can be considered design com-
munities in which active learning by collaborative designing takes place. The activi-
ties and discussions in TDTs provide opportunities for developing the expertise
needed to design and implement the new curriculum materials (Clarke &
Hollingsworth, 2002; Coenders, 2010; Handelzalts, 2009). During TDT meetings,
teachers discuss how a pedagogical approach is incorporated in the curriculum
materials or exchange their experiences of using the materials in classroom prac-
tices. Furthermore, the members of TDTs can identify what actions are needed to
further improve the designed curriculum materials. TDTs offer opportunities for
teacher learning, especially when supported by an external facilitator and when sup-
port is related to teachers’ subject matter knowledge, pedagogical content knowl-
edge and curriculum design expertise (e.g., Desimone, 2009; Hoogveld, 2003;
Penuel, Fishman, Yamaguchi, & Gallagher, 2007; Voogt et al., 2011).
Although working in TDTs has been advocated by various scholars (e.g., Bakah
et al., 2012; Handelzalts, 2009; Penuel et al., 2007; Simmie, 2007; Voogt et al.,
2011), little is actually known with regard to what design and implementation activ-
ities and what support offered by an external facilitator to TDTs provide opportuni-
ties to develop teachers’ design expertise (Handelzalts, 2009; Hardré et al., 2006;
Nieveen et al., 2010). In this study, this aspect will be explored in TDTs in schools
where teachers work together on the design and implementation of a reformed
curriculum.

Aim of the Study

This study focuses on the opportunities TDTs offer to teachers to develop their cur-
riculum design expertise. The study was conducted in the context of a curriculum
reform of a school subject. Teams of teachers from the same school intended to
118 T. Huizinga et al.

design curriculum materials (attuned to the curriculum reform) and implement these
within their own classrooms. As discussed before, besides subject matter knowl-
edge and pedagogical content knowledge, teachers also need curriculum design
expertise in order to be able to design high quality curriculum materials. To identify
what opportunities TDTs offer to develop teachers’ curriculum design expertise, it
is essential to get a better understanding of teachers’ need for support and the actual
support offered to TDTs. Identifying beneficial support and design activities may
help improve the structure of future TDTs.

Conceptual Framework

In this section, the main concepts of the study are clarified. First, the overall concept
of design expertise and specific design expertise of teachers as designers are intro-
duced. Secondly, the opportunities and support that Teacher Design Teams provide
to teachers to develop their design expertise are addressed.
In this study, teams of teachers (TDTs) within schools were faced with the imple-
mentation of a curriculum reform in their classrooms. These TDTs consisted of
teachers from the same department, who collaboratively revised a school subject.
The reform specifically required TDTs to align the school subject to an international
framework developed for teaching and learning the subject according to a new
approach (intended curriculum at supra level, beyond macro level). During their
design process, teachers needed to develop a shared vision and common under-
standing of how this international framework affects their subject and their teaching
(intended/implemented at meso level). Based on this shared vision the teacher teams
were to develop lesson materials that could be used in the classrooms (intended/
implemented curriculum at micro level). The curriculum materials at this stage
included lesson materials for students and assessment rubrics.

Design Expertise

It is generally agreed upon that teachers taking up the role of designer need specific
knowledge and skills to plan and carry out design processes (Bakah et al., 2012;
Forbes, 2009; Hardré, 2003; Huizinga, 2009; Richey, Field, & Foxon, 2001).
Although various scholars (e.g., Eggleston, 1980; Marsh, Day, Hannay, &
McCutcheon, 1990) have pointed out the importance of such knowledge and skills,
the conceptualization and operationalization of the required knowledge and skills
covered by this concept differ. To identify the relevant knowledge and skills for
teachers as designers, insights from prior studies in which teachers fulfilled the role
of designers (e.g., Forbes, 2009; Handelzalts, 2009) and overviews of the task of
professional instructional designers (e.g., Richey et al., 2001; Seels & Glasgow,
1991) were combined.
7 Identifying Needs for Support to Enhance Teachers’ Curriculum Design Expertise 119

An overview of expertise as defined for professional designers (Richey et al.,

2001) and the expertise teachers need in order to fulfil the role of curriculum
designer (e.g., Forbes, 2009; Hardré, 2003; Hardré et al., 2006), including design
activities performed by teachers as curriculum designers (e.g., Richey et al., 2001),
consists of pedagogical design capacity, instructional design competencies, and
design expertise. Teachers’ attitudes, although in practice essential for successful
curriculum design, were not addressed in this study. Problems teachers encounter
during curriculum design processes mainly relate to a lack of teachers’ knowledge
and skills (e.g., Handelzalts, 2009; Kerr, 1981). Therefore, the definition by Hardré
et al. (2006) was taken as a starting point and was adapted to fit to the context of
teachers who fulfil the role of designer. This led to the following definition of design
expertise: ‘the knowledge and skills required to design high quality curriculum
materials’.
In a prior study, Huizinga (2009) identified the knowledge and skills that teacher
designers need to develop high quality curriculum materials. Based on a literature
review and expert validation, he concluded that design expertise consists of generic
design and process expertise and specific design expertise. The generic design and
process expertise addresses the knowledge and skills required for any type of design
process (e.g., collaboration and project management skills). The specific design
expertise addresses the knowledge and skills specifically required for developing
curricula (e.g., subject matter knowledge and curriculum design expertise).
In the current study, the emphasis is on teachers’ specific design expertise.
Teachers as designers need this expertise to cope with design challenges that they
might face during the design process. In this study, the categories ‘curriculum
design expertise’ and ‘curriculum consistency expertise’ were combined in the con-
cept of curriculum design expertise, because it appeared that these categories over-
lapped. Curriculum consistency expertise is teachers’ ability to design materials that
are internally and externally consistent (Kessels & Plomp, 1999; Van den Akker,
2003). Whereas internal consistency reflects the logic contingencies of the compo-
nents of the curriculum, external consistency refers to a shared understanding of the
content and nature of the curriculum that needs to be designed In the next section,
teachers’ specific design expertise will be elaborated in depth.

Specific Design Expertise

Specific design expertise reflects teachers’ knowledge and skills for curriculum
design. As indicated before, since teachers can generally be identified as novices in
curriculum design, it seems essential to develop their specific design expertise.
Teachers’ subject matter knowledge and their pedagogical content knowledge were
identified to be beneficial for fulfilling the role of designer (e.g., Coenders, 2010;
Huizinga, 2009; Schwab, 1973). These will be elaborated first, followed by an elab-
oration of the additional knowledge and skills teachers as designers need in order to
conduct curriculum design processes (curriculum design expertise).
120 T. Huizinga et al.

Subject Matter Knowledge

The design of high quality materials implies that the designed materials are relevant,
consistent, practical and effective (e.g., Nieveen, 2009; Nieveen & Folmer, 2013).
Subject matter knowledge, which is represented in the curriculum materials, needs
to be accurate, relevant and up-to-date. It is expected that throughout their profes-
sional career, teachers apply various strategies to keep their knowledge up-to-date,
for example, by collegial consultation, reading literature and attending conferences
(e.g., Brandes & Seixas, 1998; Davis & Krajcik, 2005; Kessels, 2001). They use
their subject matter knowledge when creating the curriculum materials. Teachers
need to be able to attune subject matter knowledge to suit the students and the dif-
ficulties students have with the subject matter (Angeli & Valanides, 2009; Kreber &
Cranton, 2000; Marks, 1990; Richey, Klein, & Nelson, 2004).

Pedagogical Content Knowledge

The designed curriculum materials not only need to represent accurate and up-to-­
date subject matter knowledge, but they also need to fit a specific pedagogical
approach. The pedagogical approach depends on the rationale (or vision) of the
curriculum reform (as indicated in the spiderweb of Van den Akker, 2003) and is
expected to be reflected in the strategies and corresponding instructional and learn-
ing activities, in the materials and resources, in the assessment strategies, and so on.
Teachers’ expertise for selecting, designing and applying strategies and correspond-
ing activities for teaching and learning specific goals and content has been defined
as pedagogical content knowledge [PCK] (Shulman, 1986). Teachers need to have
a deep understanding of the subjects they teach, the various possible pedagogical
approaches and which instructional activities are relevant and effective for their
students (Marks, 1990; Shulman, 1986). PCK is an important prerequisite for devel-
oping curriculum materials, because teachers’ understanding of the pedagogy is
reflected in the curriculum materials they select, adapt and/or develop (Forbes,
2009; Koehler & Mishra, 2008; Koehler, Mishra, & Yayha, 2007; Remillard, 2005).
Therefore, during curriculum reform, teachers’ PCK usually needs to be further
developed before teachers start designing curriculum materials.

Curriculum Design Expertise

The concept of curriculum design expertise is grounded in the phases distinguished

in curriculum and instructional design models (e.g., Hardré et al., 2006; Huizinga,
2009; Richey et al., 2001; Seels & Glasgow, 1991). For each stage of the design
model, teachers as designers are expected to have specific knowledge and skills that
help them to successfully navigate the design process and to tackle the challenges
they face while designing. Huizinga (2009) identified six aspects of curriculum
design expertise that teachers need during curriculum design processes: Systematic
7 Identifying Needs for Support to Enhance Teachers’ Curriculum Design Expertise 121

curriculum design skills, curriculum decision-making skills, problem statement

skills, idea generation skills, implementation management skills, and formative and
summative evaluation skills.
Applying a systematic and iterative design approach is beneficial for the quality
of the designed curriculum materials (Dick, Carey, & Carey, 1985; Gustafson,
2002). Taking a systematic curriculum design approach prevents vital design activi-
ties from being neglected during the design process. A systematic design approach
is not necessarily linear, but consists of various iterations of design activities
(Gustafson & Branch, 2002; Visscher-Voerman, 1999). When teachers carry out
design processes, they usually concentrate on the design of learning activities and
curriculum materials (Forbes, 2009; Handelzalts, 2009; Kerr, 1981). Because of
contextual limitations and teachers’ limited curriculum design expertise, they often
skip important design activities (Bakah et al., 2012; Handelzalts, 2009; Kerr, 1981),
in particular, analysis and evaluation activities, which then affects the quality of the
designed materials. Consequently, teachers might develop curriculum materials that
do not suit the learners or do not reflect the reform (Handelzalts, 2009). To prevent
the curriculum materials from being of poor quality, teachers need to be aware of
the importance of analysis, design, development, implementation and evaluation
activities and the influence of these activities on the internal and external consis-
tency of the curriculum materials (Kessels & Plomp, 1999).
During all design activities, decisions need to be made that affect the curriculum
materials and the design process (Dick et al., 1985; Gustafson & Branch, 2002).
Justifying the decisions made and using insights from various sources are expected
to result in well-considered curriculum materials. Teachers as designers use their
practical understanding of the classroom, teaching and their students to support
their design decisions (Forbes, 2009; Handelzalts, 2009). They rarely use insights
from (scientific) literature during the design process to improve the quality of the
materials or to guide their design process (Handelzalts, 2009). Insights from the
literature are usually offered by external facilitators who help to guide the overall
design process and offer support (e.g., Linder, 2011; Nieveen et al., 2005). To pre-
vent teachers’ misconceptions from affecting the curriculum materials, teachers
need to be informed about relevant and useful scientific and practical insights dur-
ing the design process.
A shared vision of the aim of the design process and its expected outcomes is
vital for guiding the design process (Handelzalts, 2009; Hord, 2004). A shared prob-
lem statement must be formulated as a result of conducting various analysis activi-
ties. Moreover, the key concepts of the reform need to be clarified, since they guide
the design process and are used to determine if the design process has been success-
ful (Handelzalts, 2009; Hord, 2004). Previous studies have indicated that teachers
rarely conduct analysis activities to identify students’ needs and characteristics and
the contextual boundaries of the reform in their particular context (Beyer & Davis,
2009; Forbes, 2009; Handelzalts, 2009). Moreover, at the start of the design pro-
cess, teachers as designers tend to skip the development of a shared vision and
understanding (e.g., Coenders, 2010; Handelzalts, 2009). Given the importance of a
shared vision, which guides the remainder of the design process, teachers need to
122 T. Huizinga et al.

improve their understanding of conducting analysis activities and developing a

shared vision.
An important step in tackling the identified problem is to identify possible solu-
tions (Richey et al., 2001), for instance, by using brainstorming techniques (e.g.,
Christensen & Osguthorpe, 2004). Prior studies in which teachers fulfilled the role
of designer demonstrated that teachers often start designing by generating various
ideas about the curriculum materials (Coenders, 2010). Teachers’ understanding of
the existing materials, of previous efforts to tackle (similar) problems and of the
curriculum reform help teachers to generate ideas and to determine what materials
need to be developed. While generating ideas, teachers compare their ideas to one
another, and the best ideas are put into material form and used for developing the
curriculum materials (Handelzalts, 2009; Kerr, 1981).
Classroom implementation of the designed materials is a key element of the
design process (Fullan, 2007; Richey et al., 2001), because this is how the reform is
enacted in classroom practice. Prior studies have demonstrated that the implementa-
tion of the new curriculum materials is not self-evident. Teachers as designers need
to discuss the teacher role, teacher-student interaction and other practical concerns
with colleagues outside the TDT (Handelzalts, 2009; Penuel et al., 2007).
Handelzalts (2009) argued that this rarely happens, which affects classroom imple-
mentation. To prevent other relevant stakeholders (e.g., school’s management and
colleagues outside the TDT) from lacking ownership of the designed curriculum
materials, teachers as designers need to understand the importance of shareholder
involvement and be able to involve stakeholders in the design process.
To assess the quality and merit of the designed curriculum materials, designers
need to conduct formative and summative evaluations (Nieveen, 2009; Scriven,
1991). Formative evaluations help to improve the quality of the designed curriculum
materials, because the outcomes of the evaluations are used to further improve the
materials before they are implemented in classroom practice. Summative evalua-
tions often emphasise student learning and help to determine whether the materials
are beneficial for students. These outcomes are also used to improve or redesign the
curriculum materials. Previous studies have shown that teachers do not plan and
structure evaluations (Handelzalts, 2009; Kerr, 1981), which can be the result of
having little understanding of how to assess the quality of curriculum materials
(Handelzalts, 2009; Nieveen et al., 2005). To prevent implementation of materials
that do not suit the context, do not foster student learning and do not represent the
reform, teachers need to improve their understanding of conducting structured
evaluations.

Developing Curriculum Design Expertise Through TDTs

For the success of curriculum reform, it seems essential to assist teachers in devel-
oping their curriculum design expertise (e.g., Beyer & Davis, 2009, 2012;
Handelzalts, 2009; Hardré et al., 2006; Hoogveld, 2003; Kerr, 1981; Nieveen et al.,
7 Identifying Needs for Support to Enhance Teachers’ Curriculum Design Expertise 123

2010). This can happen via various ways of capacity building (Loucks-Horsley,
Hewson, Love, & Stiles, 1998). Desimone (2011), summarizing research on teach-
ers’ professional development, distinguished a number of effective components of
professional development, two of which are especially relevant for developing
teachers’ curriculum design expertise: Active learning (opportunities to develop
knowledge through activities such as observing, receiving feedback or presenting
progress to others) and collaborative participation (participating together with fel-
low teachers from the same grade, subject, or school in a learning community).
Participation in a design community, such as a TDT, in which active learning takes
place by collaboratively designing curriculum materials, meets these conditions
(Coenders, 2010; Handelzalts, 2009; Simmie, 2007; Voogt et al., 2011). Therefore,
working in professional learning communities or teacher communities provides
opportunities to share and develop new expertise (Pareja Roblin, Ormel, McKenney,
Voogt, & Pieters, 2014), and is assumed to be beneficial for teachers to develop their
curriculum design expertise, for instance, by discussing the design and implementa-
tion of the curriculum reform in classroom practice. These discussions help teachers
to better understand the reform and to better conduct curriculum design (Voogt
et al., 2011). In addition to designing, teachers are expected to use the curriculum
materials in their classroom practices. Classroom implementation offers a prime
opportunity to experience the reform and to reflect on its enactment in practice
(Anto, 2013; Clarke & Hollingsworth, 2002; Lieberman & Pointer Mace, 2008).
Teacher involvement in collaborative curriculum design offers opportunities for
teachers to develop their curriculum design expertise, especially when support is
offered to the teachers while designing (Penuel et al., 2007; Voogt et al., 2011).
Ideally, support offered to TDTs is attuned to teachers’ existing expertise, their
experience in curriculum design, the challenges they encounter in the design pro-
cess and the expected outcomes of the design process (Desimone, 2011; Garet,
Porter, Desimone, Birman, & Yoon, 2001; Loucks-Horsley et al., 1998). Teachers’
individual existing expertise and experiences might differ within the team, which
makes support for the development of curriculum design expertise a complex pro-
cess (Hardré et al., 2006).
Previous studies have indicated the importance of an external facilitator to sup-
port TDTs (e.g., Linder, 2011; Nieveen et al., 2005; Patton, Parker, & Neutzling,
2012; Velthuis, 2014; Voogt et al., 2011). External facilitators can offer new insights
about the design process and the reform, help the TDT to conduct design-related
activities and help to foster reflection activities. The external facilitator can apply
two styles of support (Linder, 2011; Nieveen et al., 2005). First, facilitators can
apply proactive support. This facilitation style requires that facilitators help to struc-
ture the design process before design activities are conducted. The support is prede-
signed and aligned with the articulated need for support. Second, facilitators can
offer reactive support. This support is aligned to the progress of the design team and
is expected to be offered just-in-time, since new insights are offered when teachers
face design challenges. Finally, combining the two styles can also be identified as a
way to facilitate teachers’ professional development (Linder, 2011).
124 T. Huizinga et al.

Support to Enhance Teachers’ Design Expertise

Support of teachers during curriculum design aims to update teachers’ subject mat-
ter knowledge, teachers’ (technological) pedagogical content knowledge, their cur-
riculum design expertise and their understanding of the particular reform (Bakah
et al., 2012, Nieveen et al., 2005; Stenhouse, 1975). However, how to support teach-
ers is less clear, or as Nieveen et al. (2005, p. 22) indicated, ‘there is no single best
way in the innovation process’. This raises a dilemma for facilitators on how to
support the development of design expertise in TDTs. However, aligning teachers’
and facilitators’ preferences for support is vital, since it prevents a difference in
expectations about the role of the facilitators (Nieveen et al., 2005). This role
depends on the aim of the support, team size and contextual limitations (Garet et al.,
2001; Hardré et al., 2006; Loucks-Horsley et al., 1998).
Two strategies for supporting TDTs can be distinguished. First, support that is
part of the team’s design process is offered just-in time and is context specific. This
strategy provides opportunities to offer meaningful support to TDTs (Loucks-­
Horsley et al., 1998), since teachers can determine the relevance and usefulness of
the support offered for their design process (Desimone, 2009). Second, support can
be offered in the form of specific workshops or training sessions to foster teachers’
subject matter knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge and/or curriculum
design expertise (Bakah et al., 2012; Garet et al., 2001; Hardré et al., 2006; Nieveen
et al., 2005). In this scenario, workshops and training sessions are offered with spe-
cific predefined aims or learning goals. Since such support is offered in various
contexts and is evaluated, the quality and effectiveness of the support are deter-
mined and improved before it is offered to new TDTs (Loucks-Horsley et al., 1998).
However, the effect of this approach has been questioned, because teachers cannot
directly apply the newly acquired knowledge and skills in practice. Therefore,
Lumpe (2007) recommends organizing workshops and specific training sessions as
an integral part of just-in-time support.
Facilitators play a crucial role in the support offered to design teams. Facilitators
can offer proactive and reactive support (Nieveen et al., 2005). When offering pro-
active support, facilitators help steer the team during the design process (e.g., out-
lining the process) and make sure that teachers do not skip important design
activities (e.g., conducting evaluations). In contrast, when offering reactive support,
facilitators follow the team’s enacted design process, react to the decisions made
and make sure that all important design activities are enacted. During both reactive
and proactive support, facilitators determine the support based on the teams’ articu-
lated needs for support. Given the varying expectations of the support and prefer-
ences of teachers within teams, balancing proactive and reactive support seems
essential for the design process (Nieveen et al., 2005).
7 Identifying Needs for Support to Enhance Teachers’ Curriculum Design Expertise 125

Research Question

The study was undertaken to identify opportunities TDTs provide to develop teach-
ers’ curriculum design expertise, in the context of TDTs within schools that rede-
signed a school subject. The opportunities that are provided by teacher involvement
in TDTs are expected to be the result of the TDT’s design activities and the support
activities offered by external facilitators.
In this chapter we will report on the analysis that aimed at identifying the needs
for support, guided by the research question: What are TDTs’ needs for support dur-
ing collaborative design of a lesson series?

Method

Procedure and Participants

A qualitative cross-sectional approach was used to reconstruct the design process as

experienced by six teachers and six facilitators. The respondents were selected
using a purposeful sampling technique (Patton, 1987). Each respondent was inter-
viewed using a semi-structured interview guide that was adapted from Huizinga’s
study (2009). The interview addressed the design process, the design problems that
occurred, how teachers and facilitators overcame these problems and what support
was offered. Transcriptions and summaries were made and used during data analy-
sis. The data were coded using an iterative coding process in which deductive cod-
ing was applied first, followed by inductive coding.
A two-stage process was applied to select the teachers. First, schools were
selected that offered interdisciplinary courses. Second, within the selected schools,
teachers who had experience with designing course materials for these interdisci-
plinary courses in teams were approached. Teachers had from 4 to 25 years of teach-
ing experience and 2–8 years of design expertise.
A similar two-stage process was applied to select the facilitators. First, six orga-
nizations that offer support to TDTs were selected to participate in this study.
Second, one facilitator within each organization was selected based on experience
with supporting TDTs that had designed interdisciplinary courses. Facilitators had
from 1.5 to 13 years of facilitator experience. The selected facilitators did not offer
support to the selected teachers but were involved in similar projects, in order to get
a broader picture of the need for support.
126 T. Huizinga et al.

Instruments

Semi-structured interview guides for teachers and facilitators were developed based
on the theoretical framework and the aim of the study. The interview guides were
adapted from Huizinga’s (2009) study to address the enacted design process and the
support offered. Both interview guides were discussed with an expert in the field of
TDTs. In each interview, teachers and facilitators were asked to reflect on the enacted
design process. Follow-up questions were posed to gain additional insights into the
projects’ characteristics (e.g., aim of the project, subjects involved, etc.). Once the
key characteristics of the project were clear, the respondents were asked to give a
brief overview of problems that occurred and, if applicable, how they overcame the
problems related to teachers’ curriculum design expertise. Finally, the support activ-
ities offered and the extent to which they met teachers’ needs were discussed.

Data Analysis

For all interviews, a transcription and a written summary were made. The summa-
ries were based on parts of the transcriptions and were sent to the respondents for
member checking (Merriam, 1988). These data sources were then analysed using an
iterative coding process. In the first step, all summaries were coded using a pre-
defined codebook. For each theme in the interview guides, codes were created based
on the extended theoretical framework. The codes referred to the design expertise-­
related problems the TDTs experience, as discussed above.
Inductive coding was applied in order to identify the support activities offered to
tackle the problems experienced and those activities offered to address teachers’
needs. In addition, inductive coding was applied to retrieve additional insights
regarding problems that occurred during the design process and were not identified
ahead of time.
Investigator triangulation was achieved by determining the inter-coder reliabil-
ity. A research assistant was involved in checking the reliability of the coding done
by the first author of this chapter. One summary and one transcription were initially
coded by the research assistant and differences in code interpretation were discussed
with the first author until consensus was achieved. Then, 3 out of 12 interviews were
re-coded independently by the research assistant, which led to an acceptable inter-­
rater reliability (Krippendorff’s Alpha) of 0.72.

Main Findings

This study explored gaps in teachers’ design expertise required for designing a les-
son series. These insights can be used to develop and offer support during such
design processes. Prior research has already indicated that teachers require support
to tackle design-related problems during design processes (e.g., Ben-Peretz, 1990;
7 Identifying Needs for Support to Enhance Teachers’ Curriculum Design Expertise 127

Nieveen et al., 2005; Stenhouse, 1975). However, little was known about the spe-
cific kind of support needed to enhance teachers’ design expertise. In this study,
teachers and facilitators reflected on a school-specific collaborative design process
in which they experienced and tackled several problems related to specific design
expertise. Based on the results, three gaps in teachers’ design expertise were identi-
fied, namely:
1. Curriculum design expertise
2. Pedagogical content knowledge
3. Curricular consistency expertise
Each of these gaps will be discussed in terms of the problems experienced and sup-
port offered to overcome the problems.

Curriculum Design Expertise

During their design process, the teachers developed and implemented the lesson
series in practice. However, they experienced several problems during the process.
A major problem according to both teachers and facilitators related to defining the
problem statement. Teachers encountered ill-defined shared visions of their future
practice at the start of their design process, which affected the design activities (cf.
Handelzalts, 2009), especially when teachers within the same TDT had different
expectations. Subsequently, teachers designed materials that did not suit the newly
developed practice.
Facilitators also recognised TDTs’ problems with creating the problem state-
ment. Therefore, they offered TDTs support for developing the teams’ shared vision
about their future practice. This support helped teachers to clarify what they wanted
to achieve in the design process.
Scholars in the field of instructional and curriculum design have strongly articu-
lated the importance of enacting a systematic design processes and enacting evalu-
ation activities (Hardré et al., 2006; Richey et al., 2001; Seels & Glasgow 1991),
since this is beneficial for the quality of the designed product (Gustafson, 2002).
However, teachers rarely design according to existing design models (e.g., Hoogveld,
2003; Handelzalts, 2009; Kerr, 1981). The results of this study confirm this. We
found that teachers rarely performed analysis activities, such as a learner or context
analysis. In contrast to Handelzalts (2009, p. 208), who argued that teachers ‘are not
inclined to initiate evaluation activities of any sort’, the teachers in this study did
enact several evaluations of the designed lesson series, since they were insecure
about the quality of the designed materials. However, facilitators and teachers both
reported that teachers did not know how to enact evaluation activities and how to
determine the quality of the materials created (cf. Handelzalts, 2009; Kerr, 1981).
The support offered by facilitators to enhance teachers’ systematic curriculum
design skills mainly focused on the design and evaluation activities, probably
because facilitators were not involved in the initial stages of the design process.
While supporting the design and evaluation stages, facilitators reflected with the
128 T. Huizinga et al.

team on their shared vision and the expected outcomes. This support also consisted
of enacting some activities to clarify the vision. During the design stage, support
addressed how teachers could design digital materials and offered just-in-time sup-
port during the (co-)construction of curricular frameworks and templates. The tem-
plates helped teachers to structure the design activities and to focus on the content
of the lesson series instead of on the materials’ layout. Similar support was offered
for conducting evaluation activities, since facilitators provided checklists or feed-
back, or taught teachers how to enact evaluations.
In order to increase teachers’ curriculum design expertise, it seems essential that
TDTs receive support during all stages of the design process (Hoogveld, 2003;
Nieveen et al., 2005). Based on the results of this exploratory study, it seems espe-
cially essential to support TDTs during the analysis and evaluation stages, since
they experience the most knowledge and skills-related problems while enacting
these activities.

Pedagogical Content Knowledge

Both teachers and facilitators in this study indicated that TDTs had, in general, suf-
ficient pedagogical content knowledge to design the lesson series. However, some
teachers argued that they experienced some minor problems with selecting an
appropriate pedagogy to suit the interdisciplinary character of the course. Also,
facilitators argued that teachers required new insights into what is involved in offer-
ing interdisciplinary courses (cf. Krajcik, McNeill, & Reiser, 2007).
Facilitators offered some insights into applying new pedagogy in practice, for
example, by offering a workshop to let teachers and students experience a new
approach. Given the insights from professional development programs (e.g., Garet
et al., 2001; Van Driel, Meirink, Van Veen, & Zwart, 2012), which indicate that col-
laborative learning and the connection to teachers’ classroom practice are essential,
the pedagogy-related support that was offered seems beneficial for increasing teach-
ers’ pedagogical repertoire. In addition, Handelzalts (2009) noted that helping teach-
ers to visualise their future practice by piloting, conducting school visits and discussing
blueprints can also be offered to enhance teachers’ understanding of new pedagogy.
Teachers’ ability to choose materials that suit the selected pedagogy has been
identified as a part of teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge for designing (e.g.,
Huizinga, 2009; Nieveen & Van der Hoeven, 2011). During the design of a lesson
series, teachers select and often adapt the materials found to their own context
(Remillard, 2005). Teachers in this study criticised the materials found in digital
repositories on their practical usability and did not use the materials. Instead, they
used the repositories to get inspiration. One reason might be that teachers lack the
technical skills to make the required adaptations to the digital materials (cf. Wilhelm
& Wilde 2005).
Facilitators discussed with teachers how they could search for existing materials
and when to select them. One facilitator indicated that his organization also offered
7 Identifying Needs for Support to Enhance Teachers’ Curriculum Design Expertise 129

background information about the search process for a specific repository. Similar
support was provided to experienced teachers as designers in the study by Strijker
and Corbalan (2011). Their study illustrated that this support improved the search
process and that the materials that were found suited their context.
Finally, the teachers who designed digital materials experienced difficulties
related to pedagogy and integration of ICT, especially when they had limited ICT
skills for designing teaching materials. The integration of ICT required teachers to
be familiar with ICT and able to make adjustments in order to fit it into the teaching
materials (cf. Agyei, 2012; Alayyar, 2011).
In order to increase teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge for designing, it
seems fruitful to gain insights about teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge in
relation to the expected outcomes (e.g., do they have experience with the new peda-
gogy). Based on this exploratory study, it seems helpful to offer some technical
support for teachers to make contextual adaptation to digital materials found in
repositories. This prevents the loss of valuable time in (re)creating materials that are
already available.

Curriculum Consistency Expertise

Teachers also experienced difficulties in creating curriculum materials that were

internally and externally consistent (cf. Handelzalts, 2009; Van den Akker 2003).
The support offered to create an internally consistent lesson series was already
partly discussed in the previous sections (e.g., templates and helping with conduct-
ing evaluations). Teachers felt insecure about the materials’ quality, which they
partly tackled by using templates. Yang, Fox, Wildemuth, Pomerantz, and Oh (2006)
also argued that templates are useful to prepare high-quality curriculum materials.
For the design of a lesson series, they also articulated the need for curricular frame-
works to organise the individual materials in a well-considered order. Yet facilitators
rarely offered such frameworks, despite indications by Yang et al. (2006) that it
might be beneficial to offer them to teachers.
External consistency, on the other hand, was affected by different understandings
within TDTs about the key concepts of the reform. Moreover, teachers within TDTs
also had different expectations about the lesson series they were designing. A shared
vision is required to foster the design and implementation of the lesson series, but it
takes some time to develop (Handelzalts, 2009; Hord, 2004).
Handelzalts (2009) provided guidelines for teachers and facilitators to foster the
development of the team’s shared vision. He suggested that activities should be
initialised to help teachers to create concrete images of their future practice. This
study showed that such activities included visualizing the team’s ideas by using
Venn diagrams, posing reflective questions about the team’s intentions and expected
outcomes and discussing with the team how they wanted to achieve these outcomes.
Facilitators used this input to align the vision of the individual teachers.
130 T. Huizinga et al.

Reflections

Teachers as Designers

Although teachers are used to adapting existing materials to fit their context and
learners (Forbes, 2009; Remillard, 1999, 2005; Cviko, Mckenney, & Voogt, 2013),
designing curriculum materials that encompass a curriculum reform at the subject
level is a more complex design task that is often new to them. This study showed
that teachers were able to fulfil the role of designer regarding this complex task
under the condition that they could collaborate in a TDT and received sufficient
support (cf. Handelzalts, 2009). This study also showed that in order to develop
teachers’ curriculum design expertise, teachers need to be actively involved in con-
ducting design activities (cf. Lohuis, Huizinga, ‘t Mannetje, & Gellevij, 2016).
However, in contrast to what was found in the study by Cviko et al. (2013), where
teachers in TDTs adopted the designer role to design a series of lesson activities in
the context of ICT use to foster early literacy education in kindergarten, this study
showed that when teachers are involved in more complex design task they need
additional support. This support, in particular, needs to help them (more than was
seen in this study) in planning and performing analysis and evaluation activities,
because these activities are not undertaken by TDTs as such. As the study by Lohuis
et al. (2016) illustrated, providing teachers with support by using a stepwise design
approach and offering just-in-time support from educational designers and ICT
designers helps teachers to develop their design expertise.
By taking up the role of designer, teachers developed not only their curriculum
design expertise, but also their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). In this study,
teachers needed to develop their PCK to get a deep understanding of the reform
framework and how to integrate the curriculum materials they were to design within
the reform framework. Although the (few) exemplary curriculum materials assisted
teachers in developing an understanding of the design task and improved their
understanding of the curriculum reform, teachers needed their (existing) PCK to
come up with ideas for the curriculum materials that had to be developed.

Curriculum Design Expertise

In this study, the concept of curriculum design expertise was used to identify the
knowledge and skills teachers as designers need to have in order to conduct curricu-
lum design activities (cf. Huizinga, 2009; Nieveen & Van der Hoeven, 2011).
Together with teachers’ subject matter knowledge and pedagogical content knowl-
edge, curriculum design expertise is part of teachers’ specific design expertise. The
findings of this study revealed convincing evidence about teachers’ curriculum
design expertise and which aspects of curriculum design expertise teachers need to
further develop.
7 Identifying Needs for Support to Enhance Teachers’ Curriculum Design Expertise 131

Curriculum design expertise has been conceptualised as the ability to adopt a

systematic and iterative approach to curriculum design. The underlying rationale for
this conceptualization is that this approach helps prevent the neglect of important
design activities during the design process (Gustafson, 2002; Gustafson & Branch,
2002). The assumption of this study was that when teachers have a comprehensive
understanding of the curriculum design process, they can better plan and operation-
alise the design activities. Furthermore, they can monitor whether all design activi-
ties have been conducted, and are able to identify if important design activities have
been ignored. Teachers can still integrate a more pragmatic or prototypical approach
to curriculum design within this systematic and iterative approach, since under-
standing curriculum design as a systematic and iterative approach does not imply a
strictly linear approach that prescribes when to conduct which design activities. The
results of this study showed that teachers have an incomplete conceptual under-
standing of curriculum design processes, resulting in TDTs skipping important and
relevant design activities. To develop a comprehensive understanding of curriculum
design as a systematic and iterative approach, TDTs need additional external
support.

Developing Curriculum Design Expertise

Working in TDTs

During the overall study, teams of teachers worked together on the design and
implementation of a curricular reform. As this specific study also showed, working
in TDTs offered opportunities for teacher learning about the reform and about cur-
riculum design (cf. Penuel et al. 2007; Voogt et al., 2011). To improve teachers’
understanding of curriculum design, the identified need for support indicates that
teachers need to reflect on the design activities they conduct and to share their
reflections with colleagues (cf. Hall & Hord, 2010). As the findings of the overall
study demonstrated, explication of the design process and the intentions of the
designed materials with colleagues, both within as well as outside the TDT, are
powerful means for improving teachers’ understanding of and expertise in curricu-
lum design (cf. Hall & Hord, 2010; Hardré et al., 2006; Voogt et al., 2011). Therefore,
TDTs need to conduct these kinds of explication and reflection activities during the
design process. Facilitators of TDTs can help teachers to initiate such reflection
activities and sharing experiences with fellow-teachers.

External Support

Supporting TDTs during their effort to collaboratively design and implement cur-
riculum materials is vital (cf. Becuwe, Tondeur, Pareja Roblin, Thys, & Castelein,
2016; Handelzalts, 2009; Nieveen et al., 2005; Patton et al., 2012; Voogt et al.,
132 T. Huizinga et al.

2011). Support not only fosters the design process, but also offers additional oppor-
tunities for teacher learning about curriculum design, the pedagogy, the subject mat-
ter and the overall reform ideas. The findings of this study underline that teachers as
designers require specific support to foster the design process. The need for support
includes developing teachers’ curriculum design expertise and PCK. This study
showed that teachers need support throughout the whole design process, and in
particular for conducting analysis and evaluation activities (cf. Handelzalts, 2009;
Kerr, 1981). By offering such support, the quality of the designed curriculum can be
improved (cf. Nieveen & Folmer, 2013; Scriven, 1991). This kind of support can be
offered by external facilitators, but also in the form of tools and templates that help
teachers conduct concrete design activities (such as templates for selecting materi-
als and tools to conduct a formative evaluation of the materials with students).
Oftentimes support to TDTs is offered by an external facilitator, which was also
the case in this study. When an external facilitator is involved, the style of support
offered needs to be attuned with the TDT and their expectations (cf. Odenthal,
2003). In general, two facilitating styles can be offered to TDTs, namely, a proactive
and a reactive support style. Both support styles are aligned to teachers’ need for
support, either based on teachers’ articulated need for support at the start of the
design process (proactive) or teachers’ need for support during the design process
(reactive). In the overall study, the proactive support style aimed at improving teach-
ers’ conceptual understanding of curriculum design by attuning the support meet-
ings to the stages of the ADDIE-model (Analysis, Design, Development,
Implementation, Evaluation; Gustafson & Branch, 2002). The reactive support style
in the overall study had a just-in-time nature and was attuned to the progress of the
TDT. As the results of this study indicated, teachers tend to prefer a reactive, just-­
in-­time, support style, since it is aligned to their progress in the design process. Still,
it can result in teachers skipping important design activities. Therefore, a combina-
tion of both design styles seems essential. As the studies by Linder (2011), Lohuis
et al. (2016) and Patton et al. (2012) showed, it is essential to offer support that is
attuned to the progress of the TDTs’ design process and to help teachers to structure
the design activities. In order to achieve this, recent studies have also acknowledged
the variety of roles that facilitators fulfil while supporting teacher teams, ranging
from a coordinator role to supporting the community-building within the team (e.g.,
Margalef & Pareja Roblin, 2016).
In addition to the support style, the number of support meetings and the design
phase in which the support is offered also influence the opportunities for teacher
learning and the quality of the designed materials. Facilitators in this study were
mainly involved during the design and development phases of the design process.
This resulted in minimal support during implementation and evaluation activities.
The articulated need for support suggests that teachers require support during all
phases of the design process to help them understand the importance of conducting
analysis and evaluation activities. In the study by Lohuis et al. (2016), support was
offered to TDTs for conducting formative evaluations by offering support from an
educational designer and by providing a checklist that helped teachers to identify to
what extent the designed curriculum materials were aligned with the reform.
7 Identifying Needs for Support to Enhance Teachers’ Curriculum Design Expertise 133

Curriculum Design Expertise of Facilitators

Given the importance of support offered by an external facilitator, it is essential that

the facilitators themselves have a deep understanding of curriculum design.
Facilitators need to be able to plan and conduct analysis, design, evaluation and
implementation activities and provide teachers with relevant insights into how to
conduct these activities in the school context. They also need to be able to identify
the stage of the ADDIE model with which the design activities are related. The
facilitators in this study varied in their facilitating style as a result of the different
phases they were involved in during the design process and their personal prefer-
ences for offering support. Their own curriculum design expertise might also have
affected the support style they offered.
Facilitators need to know which design processes fit the context in which TDTs
will work. Therefore, a facilitator is expected to identify which design approach is
most applicable and relevant for the TDT, given the aim of the design process and
the contextual boundaries.

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