It shouldn’t surprise one that school curricula is apart of a political agenda, “school curricula are developed and implemented by politicians as a “political decision” (Levin 2). In our previous lecture we learned that teachers are not as much apart of building curriculum which was a little surprising. In short Ben Levin’s article on Curriculum Policy and the Politics of What Should be Learned in School is about how understanding political structures and government will lead to understanding the development and implementation of curriculum. This is quite a concern, I just wrote my critical summary on decolonizing curriculum and knowing that curriculum is largely based on political power makes something like decolonizing the curriculum quite difficult.
The document Treaty Education Outcomes and Indicators on the other hand highlights what must be taught in the new curriculum. This definitely came with a mixed response from the public, but that is besides the point, a change to be made in Indigenous education was long overdue. It is important that students learn and acknowledge Canada’s true history. This is truly a step in the right direction when it comes to decolonizing curriculum in Canada. Another tension I could see coming from this article is the fact that it seems a little rushed in the sense of content. The document of course only focuses on outcomes and I don’t believe that it is enough. That being said it is a step in the right direction and I do believe that more changes to curriculum will be made in the future regarding Treaty and Indigenous education.
Readings
Curriculum Policy And The Politics Of What Should Be Learned In Schools by Levin – Curriculum policy and the politics of what should be learned in schools by Levin
Saskatchewan Treaty Education Document – https://www.edonline.sk.ca/bbcswebdav/library/materials/english/docs/Treaty%20Education%20Outcomes%20%26%20Indicators%20-%20Feb%2021%202013.pdf
I enjoy seeing people adding their own comments and reactions to the readings, it helps me as a reader feel connected to the writer. I did find this to be repetitive, but maybe only because it was short and you kept on task with the topic of the blog. Overall wonderful work, clear, precise, and a good read
Great work Ethan! I really enjoyed your connection to your paper in an effort of informing readers about how these concepts connect to decolonization. Decolonization is a common concept discussed when critiquing our education system, and your post made it easy to connect to bigger-picture ideas. I would have loved to see a direct connection to your critical summary to further implement the ideas you briefly mention into context. You did a great job critiquing concepts within the Treaty Education Curriculum. Much of what you mentioned, I overlooked. Your blog post caused me to critically question: Is this small, progressive step enough? Thank you for sharing.