Evaluating course books checklists what makes a good checklist the textbook selection in primary and secondary schools

EVALUATING AND SELECTING CURSEBOOKS FOR PRIMARY SCHOOL

PLAN:

• 
  EVALUATING COURSE BOOKS – CHECKLISTS
  
• 
  WHAT MAKES A GOOD CHECKLIST
  
• 
  THE TEXTBOOK SELECTION IN PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS
  
• 
  OUR CHECKLIST – IS IT ANY GOOD
  
• 
  POSSIBLE IMPROVEMENTS
  

The paper reports on the research concerning the textbook selection process in

Czech primary and secondary schools, carried out at the University of Ostrava in
2004. The Czech Republic belongs to those European countries where the Ministry
of Education still approves lists of textbooks. It means - in the case of primary and
lower secondary school textbooks - that only those with the ‘approval clause’ are
free of charge. Nevertheless, the lists of approved textbooks include a relatively
great number of items. Thus the final solution of textbook selection remains on
schools and teachers. The conception of a teacher as the key agent in textbook
adoption process was the starting point of our investigation.
The research problems of textbook adoption and selection fall into the great research
group of ‘the development of textbooks’ (Johnsen, 1993, 28) or ‘process-oriented
textbook research’ (Weinbrenner, 1992, 21). The investigations in this field are
relatively frequent in the USA (e.g. Muther, Farr and Tulley in 1980s; Woodward,
Tyson in 1990s), but quite rare in the European educational research. E. B.
Johnsen’s monograph from 1993 is the significant but rather rare information
resource.
If we summarise the findings of our research, we can claim as follows: the processes
of the textbook selection and adoption are not explored sufficiently; in spite of that it is possible to state two main conclusions:
a) The idea of an optimum textbook is false. It is very difficult to specify
general views which would qualify the selection of one textbook and deny
the other. The textbooks work in the frames of various educational
conceptions declaring different demands (Westbury, 1994; Bamberger,
1994; Johnsen, 1993).
b) The decision on textbook selection must be made in the light of specific
characteristics of their users – students and teachers (Grant, 1990;
Westbury, 1994; Bamberger et al ,1998; etc.). It means that teachers play a
key role in the process of decision-making. It is only the particular teacher
who knows the particular conditions under which the textbook will work in
the class.
Research aims and methods
The research investigation was carried out among primary and secondary school
teachers in Ostrava – a region in the Czech Republic. The main aim of the study was
to identify and describe the role of teachers in textbook selection and evaluation in
342 Workshop 3: Quality, Evaluation and Selection
schools. The research sample was represented by 784 teachers of general education
subjects in Ostrava – region. The sample was selected on the base of stratified
choice and includes 5 groups of respondents: primary school teachers, lower-
secondary school teachers and the teachers from 3 types of upper-secondary schools
(general upper-secondary, secondary technical and vocational schools). We applied
a questionnaire method with multiple-choice questions and scales; an individual
semi-structured interview was applied in pilot and pre-research studies. The
investigation was focused especially on the following issues:
– What is the role of teachers and other participants in textbook selection
process in primary and secondary schools?
– To what extent do the external factors influence the process of textbook
selection?
– What are the teachers’ needs concerning textbook selection and evaluation?
The role of teachers and other people
We used a few questions of different formulations in order to find out the textbook
selection strategies; the first one was: “How were the textbooks you are working
with selected?” The respondents quoted particular titles and the ways they were
chosen. Thus the data of 2523 textbooks were gathered. All presented versions of
answers may be summed up into two categories:
1. The teacher had an opportunity to participate in selection of the textbook he/she
was working with – it includes the following multiple-choice variants
– ‘own choice’;
– ‘in co-operation with the colleagues’;
2. The teacher had no opportunity to participate in selection of the textbook he/she
was working with – it includes the following versions
– ‘the decision of headmaster (or subject head teacher)’;
– ‘the textbook had been already used’;
– ‘I do not know how the textbook was selected’.
Table 1.Teacher’s opportunity to participate in decision-making