Özet:

This paper’s purpose is to understand different approaches to the national-level curriculum decision-making by looking at three systems: Finland, Singapore, and the US. Although rhetorical and administrative shifts towards centralization are common to many countries under international testing practices, the structure and function of national-level school curriculum, the composition of actors in centralized agencies, and the driving rationale for education centralization, all vary by country due to their differing administrative structures, and histories, and institutionalized curriculum decision-making practices. Based on literature reviews, this paper compares three different approaches to curriculum centralization by questioning and answering who decides on curricula, and how, in the current international testing and comparison policy context. The tree examined cases reveal that in each the justification rationale for curriculum centralization is strikingly similar, and that the influence of traditional curriculum decision-makers weakens, whereas new policy actors arise.

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