Curriculum Policy and the Politics of What Should be Learned in Schools – Response


Before the Reading: how do you think that school curricula are developed? This is an entry point to this topic and whatever you write will be fine.

Reading: https://www.corwin.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/16905_Chapter_1.pdf

Curriculum is developed by provincial government’s, specifically, The Ministry of Education. Topics and ideas are hand picked by those who believe in the importance of that form of thinking, and spread throughout the school systems as guidelines for instruction. A teacher has to follow the general form of the curriculum in order to keep in good measure of their employer.

After the Reading: How are school curricula developed and implemented? What new information/perspectives does this reading provide about the development and implementation of school curriculum? Is there anything that surprises you or maybe that concerns you?

This explanation of how curriculum is developed ran close to my prior understanding. The curriculum is developed by The Ministry of Education but I was provided with a more in depth understanding of how this is done. Curriculum is developed in the form of a public policy. The public opinion has much higher influence on curriculum than I would have guessed but I learned that this is not necessarily a good thing since there are many differing opinions and every member of the province can be considered knowledgeable on the topic since everyone has spent time in schools here. The curriculum is also influenced by a small group of “experts” who have studied the affects of certain teaching practices and topics. Parents and students also have an influence on the curriculum. I hadn’t considered the role that secondary educational institutions play in the influencing of curriculum. It does make sense since they have certain grade and class requirements for each program. But what about the teachers? It is a teacher’s job to teach along the lines of the set curriculum so perhaps it would be a good thing to have them more heavily involved in the development of these guidelines. They know what is best for their students after all, and they have the most experience in learning what teaching techniques actually work. They have the more tried and true methods of teaching than politicians, parents, and even academics.

This entry was posted in ECS 210: Curriculum as Cultural and Social Practice. Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *