Curriculum is the blueprint and framework of schools, shaping students and learners to be successful adults, to benefit society. Although curriculum is heavily impacted by other aspects of society, those being mostly political reasons. In the article “Curriculum Policy and the Politics of What Should be Learned in Schools” Ben Levin goes on to describe that politics is a large social process surrounding formal and informal influence (Levin). “Politics is about power.” (Levin,p.8), deciding who gets what they want and who will not, creating a social ladder. “ In every setting, from classroom to country, political influence is usually highly unequal, and those who have the least status tend also to have the least influence on political decision making.” (Levin. p.8), as he goes on to state that almost every educational decision is rooted as a political decision and process. The political process is all about interests. Educational policies are not made by the “basis of educational expertise.” (Levin, p.22) and that can lead to the failure of the intended results.
When reading The Saskatchewan Way – Professional-led Curriculum Development.pdf It is clear how complex the curriculum is and how difficult it is to meet all the needs of everyone involved. What is different about the Saskatchewan Way curriculum is that the government has been cooperating with those in the education field of work, when working on curriculum for years. The Saskatchewan teachers have taken the lead when it comes to planning and reviewing the Saskatchewan curriculum. Having actual education professionals benefits the Saskatchewan students. The Saskatchewan Way should be a guideline for others when it comes to curriculum.
Hey Ireland, well said!
The points on the curriculum in regards to politics and Saskatchewan Way are well talked about. I completely agree that the curriculum has become too influenced by politics and it’s never fair like that. The Saskatchewan way is a step in the right direction, meeting more educational requirements. I wish you expanded a little more on the Saskatchewan Way with a small quote, but other than that, well done.
Hi Ireland! I really enjoyed reading your post about curriculum politics and the Saskatchewan Way.
I found it very interesting that the way Saskatchewan builds and guides their curriculum is through the teachers, even though the article we read talked about how this often doesn’t happen in curriculum development. I completely agree that other education professionals should be looking towards our methods of curriculum development, as I do believe that it’s working for us. I was actually really surprised finding out how political curriculum can be, and I don’t really think that it should be. We develop curriculums to make sure that the young members of our society are gaining the knowledge and skills they require to be active, vocal, and progressive members of our society. It would be hard to create a curriculum that reflects this progressive tone when allowing current politics to “run the show”, especially if the voices of those who want no curriculum reform or are pushing for regressive thinking to be part of the curriculum. It’s also interesting that Levin mentioned that mostly everyone in society feels as though they are a ‘professional’ in the education field because they went through the education system, but this isn’t really a reason to allow the general public to influence all the decisions based around curriculum. Current education professionals are the best choice for curriculum development as they are practicing the current curriculum, and they understand what is working and what isn’t working. They have an interesting perspective when it comes to the curriculum, and this perspective needs to be heard in order to develop a curriculum that works for both the students and the teachers.