Conception of Curriculum
Before do any of the readings, my understanding of curriculum and how it was developed was it was decided by theorists and experienced teachers or administrators who want students to develop specific skills and knowledge at the end in a continuum. Being an educator, I am to implement them so that students are following the curriculum and become good citizens within our community. After understanding more with the knowledge acquired from the readings, I have a deeper understanding of how curriculum was developed and changed over time.
The curriculum used to be standard-based where students have specific benchmarks, skills and knowledge they must attain at a grade level. Standard-based curriculum requires schools to do planning backwards from standards and benchmarks (McNeil, 2009). Assessment would be standardized exams for students, such as provincial exams and FSA in British Columbia, where I work at. They require students to meet a specific academic standard in order to enter universities and further their education. This is a conception that happens in many countries and globally, within international education, because it provides specific planning, curriculum, and assessment across different places simultaneously. It establishes a consensus of student performance by setting common and firm academic standards for topics (Vallance, 1986).
However, when I started teaching in British Columbia, I had to learn about the new curriculum as the old one is no longer prevalent. In the new B.C. curriculum, there are core competencies which are skills students are to develop during their schooling. The three competencies are communication, thinking and personal and social. Within each grade, there are specific learning goals, skills, and big ideas. The new curriculum is more relevant to the society and the future. There is a shift in direction from standard-based learning to more student-centered approach. Curriculum is based on self-actualization conception, learner-centered ideology, humanistic approach, and critical pedagogy. These conceptions and pedagogy continue to be used over time because they are relevant within our society, especially with the shift in our societal values. There is a greater focus on mental health and student’s well-beings, respecting each individual and allowing them to discover and grow for themselves without subduing to expectations from the curriculum and education standards. Students can have different skills and aptitudes that are encouraged to be developed, instead of concealing or holding back as they may not be applicable to schooling.
Self-actualization is essential in the conception of curriculum. There is an emphasize in learner autonomy and growth for where schooling is to help develop individuals to their full potential (Sowell, 2005). Students can grow and discover themselves. The focus shifted from what knowledge is important to teach to what knowledge benefits the learners to develop skills and interests (Vallance, 1986). Students develop satisfaction with their learning and a personal sense of purpose and integration within their learning and the curriculum.
For humanistic approach on conception for curriculum, it focuses on personal growth, integrity, and autonomy (McNeil, 2009). The role of the teacher is to help nurture and become a facilitator for the students to help present materials and challenges for the students to grow and learn (McNeil, 2009). Teachers have a positive relationship with the students where each student can learn (McNeil, 2009). This relates to the planning and instruction of the teachers. Teachers would have to be very careful and mindful in ways topics are taught and create a safe and comfortable environment for students to learn, which connects with learner-centered ideology.
For learner-centered ideology, the curriculum is based on needs and concerns of individuals, where school is an enjoyable place for people to develop and grow (Shiro, 2013). This continues to be relevant as the curriculum I work with, focuses on it. Educators need to plan carefully to create contexts where students simulate growth and construct meaning for themselves because of interacting in social and intellectual environments (Shiro, 2013). Instead of teacher driven pedagogy, students are now taking ownership and encouraged to construct meaning in developing attributes. There is a shift in ownership and society where individuals are valued and respected learners. They have their goals and attributes, and teachers are required to help develop these with careful planning and instruction.
Critical pedagogy teachings new constituency in our development in social life and social realities (McNeil, 2009). It discusses how students need to understand contradictions of social life and connect school knowledge to social realities, (McNeil, 2009). As society continues to evolve, it is essential that citizens develop and have a critical consciousness, being capable in understanding and challenging social problems and social structures within our society to create reforms. This relates to understanding our community and what constitutes a community. It connects with the curriculum by reminding teachers the importance of planning what the students need to understand about our society, our history, and our politics to create global and efficient citizens. They must be critical thinkers, which is a skill that requires teachers to plan when teaching in the classroom.
It is essential that students develop critical thinking as technology in learning affects all parts of planning and curriculum. Technology in Learning continues to change over time. Technological conception was where computer-assisted instruction, but computer revolution continues (Vallance, 1986). With the curriculum, we have “Applied Skills & Technology” where students are to learn how to use technology such as coding, typing and basic manipulation of technological devices. This conception continues to be used but has evolved and has become more widespread in teaching and learning. It has a role within the curriculum as it helps to facilitate and communicate knowledge. Even with my teaching, I must include technology as a tool to help with planning and assessment.
In my district, teachers are encouraged to document assessment and instruction pieces for parents to see. We complete report cards on a platform where assessments are student-centered and directed. Students’ learning is visible for assessments for parents to see. Students can demonstrate and showcase skills and knowledge on the platform, which encourages students for self-actualization and learner-centered focus. Students are not compared from other students but themselves. They grow their own capabilities and attributes.
After completing all the readings, I realized the current curriculum I am teaching and planning with, enables students to become critical thinkers and global citizens. It is student-centered and focused on developing skills that can help them create a better society in the future. Although the curriculum enables student’s skills and knowledge as the center, there are specific goals students are to attain after each grade level. Without this, it makes assessment difficult. However, assessment does get complicated when you are not to compare students amongst other students.
It makes me wonder how curriculum is developed in other countries. From what I understand, there is a focus on two subject which is literacy and numeracy. Furthermore, I wonder what curriculum teachers has a say, especially the current curriculum I am working with. For my planning and instruction, I try to stimulate growth and construct meaning in different contexts. Thus, I teach based on what the students are interested and would like to learn more about. For example, in my current class, the students were fascinated about gravity. As a result, I want to teach about space with them, which would tie into learned centered pedagogy while teaching them about history, environment, social responsibilities, and socials. The curriculum provides a guideline for me to teach and what skills they need to have but it also provides me flexibility to interpret what topics and how to teach them.
References:
McNeil, J. D. (2009). Contemporary curriculum in thought and action (7th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley. Pages 1, 3-14, 27-39, 52-60, 71-74.
Schiro, M. S. (2013). Introduction to the curriculum ideologies. In M. S. Schiro, Curriculum theory: Conflicting visions and enduring concerns (2nd ed., pp. 1-13). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Sowell, E. J. (2005). Curriculum: An integrative introduction (3rd ed., pp. 37-51). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson
Vallance. (1986). A second look at conflicting conceptions of the curriculum. Theory into Practice, 25(1), 24-30.
Jessica, I enjoyed reading through your first blog entry on the Conceptions of Curriculum. I like what you wrote about standards-based education being used globally to commonly assess students learning. I agree that most places in the world will use this style of curriculum because it ensures that teachers are being held accountable for students learning. It also makes it easier for students to be admitted to universities across the globe as many nations' base admittance on standards like grades or test scores. Just like you in British Columbia, in Alberta we have the Diploma Exams in Grade Twelve, as well as the Provincial Achievement Tests in Grade Six and Nine. It would be interesting to research how some universities in the world admit students when they are not focusing on standards. Would they be admitted using character references? Teacher recommendations? Does this type of university admittance even exist? How are universities impacted by conceptions of curriculum also?
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting that you wrote about student-centered assessment and how this could be impacted by conceptions of curriculum. My school also uses this approach, and we are expected to provide formative and personalized feedback to students to help them grow in their learning. I think that the Technology in Learning curriculum conception also relates to student-centered and timely feedback because we are using open gradebooks now. Parents and students have access to feedback immediately now via online tools like Schoology, D2L or Google Classroom. I think that this is a step forward for parent-teacher relations, but that there are still some areas of growth in the open gradebook.
Thanks for the interesting read,
Megan Shaw
Hi Jessica,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post. I connected to your discussion of the new(er) British Columbia curriculum and your experience of peeling the layers of what the education curriculum is all about. When entering the education field, I was surprised to see just how much goes into our curriculum. As educators, we see just how complex the curriculum is and how much there is to focus on - juggling competencies with content in meaningful ways. Now, as a student - I am intrigued with how deeply complex the curriculum is and how it is related to politics, differing opinions, a larger society, different agendas, assumptions/questions etc.
I liked the way that you highlighted learner-centred ideology and the attributes that it includes. When reflecting back on my own schooling experience in the past, it seemed as though our education was always more teacher and content driven whereas nowadays, there are many educators that take the class in the direction of facilitating student interests and making individual meaning of their learning, allowing ownership of learning and making the class an area for students to highlight their personalities hand-in-hand with their growth and learning (which is great!)
In our district, we also use an online reporting space that is student-centred and I feel that this makes all the difference in allowing students to highlight and reflect on their learning rather than just being assigned a proficiency at the end of a learning task. The skills that students develop in highlighting their learning using technology is wonderful.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts,
Sonika