In the book, Curriculum Policy and the Politics of What Should Be Learned in Schools”, Ben Levin defines curriculum “as an official statement of what students are expected to know and be able to do” (Levins 8). However, in order to understand the curriculum, we must know who should be credited in the making of the curricula. Today, our school curriculum is curated by a number of people within different levels. This includes those that are at the national, provincial, local or school district levels. Once a satisfactory curriculum is created, it is then implemented or the curriculum will be released as a trial, changes are made if necessary, then officially released. The process for creating curriculum or editing curriculum is not a simple task and often takes a couple years or more. 

Throughout the reading, I was not too surprised about what I read. As someone who grew up in a household with someone in the education system, I already knew their frustrations about certain aspects of creating and implementing curriculum and Levin talks about a main one: curriculum is based on beliefs rather than facts. I find it disturbing that something as important as education can be doctored up to tailor to beliefs. I say this because religion, politics and personal beliefs should not be paving the way for education curricula. An example that is currently happening right now is what is happening in Florida. In Florida, legislature passed a bill that restricts the curriculum and teachers speaking about LGBTQ+ topics. Unfortunately, this bill was put forward by Republicans, A.K.A. their personal opinions and beliefs. I find this very disheartening because school should be a safe place for children and it is important for ALL children to feel represented within their studies regardless of gender, sexual identity, race and religion. I know this is happening in the United States, but as a future Canadian teacher, I am fearful that those with loud, hateful voices will take away inclusive teaching in the classrooms here.  

After reading the Treaty Education document, I think it is a good thing that they highlight the importance of teaching Treaty Education, Indigenous rights, etc. However, I do not believe it has been implemented well at all. I was fortunate that I had passionate history, English, and Indigenous Studies teachers throughout high school. The knowledge I have retained over the years on Residential Schools, Indigenous rights, colonization and marginalization of the Indigenous peoples of Canada is fairly high. It saddens me knowing that this education is not implemented throughout all of Saskatchewan and on a wider scale, Canada. It seems to me that teachers often teach misinformation about these topics, brush past it, or, in my case, are enthusiastic and well-informed about the topics. 

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Levin, B. (2008). Curriculum policy and the politics of what should be learned in schools. In F. Connelly, M. He & J. Phillion (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of curriculum and instruction (pp. 7 – 24). Los Angeles, CA: https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.libproxy.uregina.ca/lib/uregina/reader.action?docID=996458&ppg=24&pq-origsite=primo.

Saskatchewan Ministry of Education. (2013). Treaty Education Outcomes and Indicators. Government of Saskatchewan.

The Associated Press (2022). Florida legislature passes ‘don’t say gay’ bill to restrict LGBTQ topics in elementary schools.https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/florida-bassed-don-t-say-gay-bill-lgbtq-schools-1.6377169.