According to the Levin article, how are school curricula developed and implemented? What new information/perspectives does this reading provide about the development and implementation of the school curriculum? Is there anything that surprises you or maybe concerns you?
- What is curriculum? As Levin states “curriculum is defined as an official statement of what students are expected to know and be able to do” (2008, pg. 8). This idea of curriculum shows us how students are effected by this way of learning and overall how it will impact their learning. Throughout reading this article I was provided insight into who is really making the decisions about curriculum and what they view as important for students to learn. Even though each province has a different curriculum and guidelines to follow, each school curriculum is mainly developed and put together by the same people. These people are the individuals that are high in status or high on the political totem pole. This causes so many issues and upsets because these individuals are not really qualified to be able to be able to choose what is important and what isn’t; these individuals know nothing about teaching children or what is best for a students development and wellbeing. This causes even more upsets when many teachers, parents, and students believe their should be changes made to the curriculum and to certain subjects compared to other individuals. Overall it concerns me that the people creating the curriculum aren’t even the people that are going to be teaching the material, its old white men who think they know what’s best for students.
After reading pages 1-4 of the Treaty Education document, what connections can you make between the article and the implementation of Treaty Education in Saskatchewan? What tensions might you imagine were part of the development of the Treaty Education curriculum?
- Through making connections between Levin’s article and the Treaty Education Document, I have made many connections. The main connection I have made is the influences that the government and politics have on these documents. These curriculums and documents were created without really any say from the other parties that could be involved like the First Nations people.