According to Levin’s article Curriculum Policy and the Politics of what Should be Learned in Schools, school curricula is developed and implemented by many parties that you might expect and some you might not. Teachers, along with what are considered to be “experts” in the fields or subjects are one of the main contributors to the school systems curriculum. While this makes a rich and very structured learning program and outline for the classroom it can also make it hard for those who have to teach grades or subjects they know very little or nothing about. While these “experts” might hold the best knowledge and understanding of an area, they are an expert of the field not children or their students themselves. This creates a heavy curriculum that may not quite fit the needs of the students at certain levels. Another main contributor to the development and implementation of curriculum and or policy is the government itself. Politics are one of the main contributors to the curriculum. Everything has to go through the certain government levels in order to be approved and while this may seem like a good idea it also can cause students to not get the proper education they need or desire.
One of the things Levin talks about in this article is society involvement. I agree with Levin in the fact that society and students voices play an important role in this area and that it isn't being heard enough. There is a lack of public input and connection to the policies and curriculum. These curriculum and policies are all to create a student and a member of society that has certain knowledge about different things. These people that create documents and outlines for students to learn teach the basics of subjects, but what about the basics of life as an adult? When thinking about it learning these skills plus skills that will benefit them in their life as an adult, a good example for this might be learning taxes or how to manage money. But because these things don’t exactly fall into a subject area they are left out completely. Only students that are privileged enough to have classes offered in their schools to teach them that even have a chance to learn these important life skills. When creating policies and curriculum, I personally think it would be beneficial to ask society and the community who have already been through school what would have benefited them most and what they wish they would have learned and finding a way to incorporate these things into the classroom. When comparing Levin’s article and the Treaty Education Document they have a couple things in common. Both curriculum was developed by multiple people in different levels and field areas. The Treaty Education Document tells teachers what their students should have learned by the end of grade 12 but not how or to what extent they should learn it. Just like in Levin’s article the Treaty Education Document sets up what is to be taught and what students are to take away from the class. This can be difficult as some students take away different things from others and or have a stronger desire with the subject to learn. Some tensions that may have occurred when creating the Treaty curriculum is be aware of past and present history and how to preserve it without offending or being culturally incorrect (We want the right information to be taught). The Treaty Education Document states “Making mandatory instruction in history and content of the Treaties in the K-12 curriculum.”(pg. 3) It is important that the instruction of learning the history and content is updated to the best of education knowledge and that it can work towards creating understanding of the past in as truthful a way as possible. It is important to remember that creating documents, policies, and curriculum in education all have their tensions, what is important is providing the students with the best information possible so they are about to learn.
1 Comment
Kendall Allin
2/11/2020 09:44:52 am
This is a great response! You clearly understood the writing and that shows in your work. I like how to talk about having a discussion about what has benefitted society and the community and what more you could do to make your lessons have more meaning. I think as future teachers this is a really good idea to think about and implement
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Whats on this page?Here I will write my responses and thoughts to readings, texts, articles, conversations and more throughout my time in ECS 210. Archives
March 2020
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