deconstructing curriculum

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deconstructing curriculum

The Basic Concept 

Curriculum design, at its essence, is social engineering. The concept of curriculum is used in a variety of different ways, but is generally understood to refer to the scope of what is taught and learned in an educational setting. Because this meaning is so broad, distinctions have been drawn, for instance, between the taught curriculum and the learned curriculum, or between the formal curriculum and the informal curriculum. Formal curricula provide the authorized encoding of what the educational institution deems to be important.

In most institutionalized educational settings, the curriculum is defined operationally by some kind of formal body of material, a course syllabus, a set of required readings, a document outlining standards and outcomes of the learning experience etc. Whatever

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deconstructing school architecture

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deconstructing school architecture

The Basic Concept

At the fundamental level, school architecture is as simple as it sounds. The basic assumption, of course, is that we need some kind of building to house students. We should not take that for granted because there are plenty of examples around the world where that is not the case, either out of choice or necessity. In addition, online learning is becoming more common, which has the potential to transform the way we understand the concept of school just as it has done with our concept of community. But for the time being, we can acknowledge that most formal education takes place in a building of some sort.

Functional Importance

School architecture has a strong functionalist element. First and foremost, we expect that

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implementing education for democracy

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implementing education for democracy

With the understanding that democratic citizenship is cultivated through experience, the operational question becomes one of how to create this experience. To embrace democracy in this manner is not to subjugate adult authority in the school to the masses of children surrounding them. Rather, it is to provide students, each passing year, with incrementally more sophisticated opportunities to apply their knowledge and skills and cultivate their character and dispositions, through appropriate activities, with adult supervision and guidance. 

With reflection, it is possible to see opportunities for mainstreaming democratic principles into students' daily experiences in school. This section provides a number of potentially high impact entry points for infusing democracy into school life. Other possibilities abound, as almost all contextual factors affecting students' experiences--

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deconstructing assessment

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deconstructing assessment

The Basic Concept

Student assessment is prominent in most education systems, and its prominence is only increasing in the age of market-based education development, comparative rankings under the guise of accountability, and "scientific" reform. But assessment is implemented in a huge variety of ways.

One fundamental distinction in assessment is that of intent. We can differentiate between assessment for learning, which is formative and ongoing, and assessment of learning, which is usually just summative. Generally, summative assessment will tend towards the formal, whereas formative assessment can include formal testing or be as informal as teacher observation. While most assessment is carried out by some kind of adult authority figure, we should also give consideration to students' involvement as co-assessors, through

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conceptualizing education for democracy

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conceptualizing education for democracy

Education's role in democracy is simple to understand, but the mechanism for fulfilling this role is harder to conceptualize. On the one hand, we recognize that citizens need a sound education to participate effectively in democratic life. But on the other hand, the specific learning required cannot be fully elaborated in terms of knowledge and skills in the existing subject disciplines. How, within our current curricula, are we expected to cultivate the requisite civic virtues, things like autonomy, justice, and civic respect? Where, within the framework of our current subject disciplines, do we acknowledge the importance of students becoming engaged critically with issues of democratic importance?

Most contemporary approaches to education mask the political concern over how we are cultivating our citizens, with a technical concern over efficiency in teaching content.

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good pedagogy.. large classes?

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good pedagogy.. large classes?

Many teachers in many countries do not have the luxury of small class sizes. When access to education is a priority, and the system is constrained by human and financial resources, something has to give. But I've seen plenty of evidence that good pedagogy is possible even with large class sizes. 

The following was originally written in 2005 in the context of the bilateral Strengthening Capacity in Basic Education in Western China project, reposted here (English/Chinese) for the benefit of my colleagues in the RRU MAELM program. 

Strategies for Using SCI with Large Class Sizes

Working with large classes can be challenging no matter what strategies are used.  However, using SCI strategies with large groups can be particularly challenging.  The following are some strategies to help deal with common issues encountered when

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islands of inspiration

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islands of inspiration

Below is the text of my presentation to the 18CCEM Ministerial Roundtable on Bridging the Gap Between Policy and Practice in Education for Sustainable Development.  

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Greetings, honorable ministers and esteemed delegates. I am honoured to have the opportunity to speak with you. 

I was invited here to share with you a report I worked on earlier this year, funded by the Commonwealth Secretariat. The report analyzed the implementation of Education for Sustainable Development, or ESD, in Small Island Developing States. This study originated from discussions around the impacts of climate change, to which small states are particularly vulnerable.  Recognizing that small states comprise a significant proportion of the member countries of the

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for what are we preparing our young people?

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for what are we preparing our young people?

The current preoccupation in educational reform seems to be with trying to do the same things we've always done, but better. I'm thrilled to have been invited to speak in a couple of sessions at the 18th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers in Mauritius, on the topic of education's role in sustainable development. Below is the text from the first session, a panel presentatation at the Stakeholders' Forum, looking at skills for the future: "Education for Tomorrow's World: For what are we preparing our young people?" My thesis was that we need to adjust our view of education's relationship to the future. We should not think about education as "preparation for" and try to come up with a list of knowledge and skills for the future (which are destined to be obsolete), but rather, to focus on education as the cultivation of more deeply held dispositions which will help students respond to

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deconstructing pedagogy

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deconstructing pedagogy

The Basic Concept

Pedagogy refers to the method or practice of teaching. In education circles the term is used in reference to things like instructional strategies and classroom management, essentially, the performance that the teacher puts on each day. But the idea need not be limited to these kind of direct behaviours. Many things which teachers do that don't involve direct interaction with students also have immense pedagogic potential. Montessori, for one, saw the pedagogic role of the students' learning environment, and devised an educational method which leveraged that potential through careful preparation of the environment to allow students freedom of choice while ensuring that those choices would result in meaningful experiential learning.

Functional Importance

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the educative context of a pluralist democracy

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the educative context of a pluralist democracy

A fair bit has been written about political aspects of mainstream schooling in the west.  Most of this is critical, exploring aspects of the hidden curriculum which undermine democratic participation and social justice by teaching students to be complacent, by priviledging certain knowledge over others etc.  This is an important body of work, and I agree with most of it.  But I've been frustrated by the overwhelming focus on critical over constructive perspectives.  We need both.  We need to acknowledge the shortcomings, but to envision a better way of doing things, we also need to step back and look at why things are the way they are.  In theory, our educational policy and legal context have been established to underpin a certain approach to education which was deamed appropriate to the kind of country we wanted.  I think it's time to revisit some of these underlying principles, especially in light of issues

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the problem with curriculum

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the problem with curriculum

I'm becoming increasingly aware of the problem with how we understand curriculum.  There was probably a time when curriculum related more clearly to the sum of experiences in schooling, but that time has passed.  Back when I was doing my pre-service teacher education, I learned that curriculum referred to a set of documents.. the outline of what we were supposed to teach.  I heard whispers every now and then about this thing called a hidden curriculum as well, but as exciting as that idea was at the time, I've come to think that both concepts are equally problematic--though for different reasons.  These days the best we seem to be able to come up with is the idea of standards. 

The problem with curricula, or standards, or syllabuses, is that they almost always reduce education to a set of things that students are supposed to learn.  This then gets flipped

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who gets to decide?

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who gets to decide?

Who Gets to Decide? Social Transformation and the Free School Movement 

While many alternative schools, including Montessori schools, may afford students relative freedom compared to the mainstream, those considered part of the free school movement have adopted a much more libertarian approach, emphasizing freedom from coercion and participatory governance.  While these schools do not have a single ideological or theoretical base (Gribble, 1998), they tend to share belief that the mainstream school system is unfit to meet the needs of children and society, or is even harmful to them (Graubard, 1972; Greenberg, 1995; Gribble, 1998), along with an earnest faith in the innate developmental potential of children (Greenberg, 1995; Gribble, 1998; Neill, 1992).  

In general, free schools seek to remove artificial barriers to the natural development of

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soft skulls, edutainment, slow play, and critical design

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soft skulls, edutainment, slow play, and critical design

Children are born with soft skulls--literally and figuratively.  Politically incorrect, huh.  But face it, children are designed, biologically, to come into the world prepared to absorb all sorts of stimuli and begin to make sense of it as information.  They're not doing this through language.. it's much more like osmosis.  In the early stages, they have no real cognitive filters.  Their perception is pure and unstructured. 

Slowly, their universe begins to coalesce, and take shape.  They begin to recognize and make sense of things.  But this is personal.  It does not happen according to some universal law of human nature.  Their cognitive infrastructure takes shape in relation to the world around them.  It is their specific experiences which give it form.  And since at this stage, children are not yet able to reflect critically on those experiences, it is important for adults to give some

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pulling back the curtains of the hidden curriculum

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pulling back the curtains of the hidden curriculum

Students' schooling experiences are some of the strongest forces in their development.  These experiences result not only in the learning of explicit subject matter associated with formal curricula, but also in a great deal of informal or tacit learning (Goodlad, 2004; Snyder, 1970).  This tacit learning is more a function of cultivation or socialization than teaching in the colloquial sense, and has been described as a hidden curriculum (Jackson, 1968).  While such learning is seldom mentioned in explicit goals (Apple, 1990), it has a profound and lasting impact on students (Ghosh, 2008; Posner, 2003), as it helps to conditions students to certain patterns of behavior, manners of thinking, deeply held beliefs, and dispositions (Burbules, 2008; Snyder, 1970), and even their underlying assumptions about the world (Apple, 1990; Bowers, 1993).  In short, “Children learn what they live” (Nolte, 1972).

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montessori and the genesis of environmental design

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montessori and the genesis of environmental design

Montessori, Environmental Education, and the Educative Context

Maria Montessori should be considered among the first "environmental educators", but not in the conventional sense.  Her concern related far more to the development of children's individual autonomy than the natural environment; however, her method was very much focused on the environment--the environment with which children are immersed day after day, the environment with which children interact, and hopefully, learn and develop.

In Montessori's view, children construct their understanding through interaction with their environment.  She believed that young children have an innate drive towards development, and that freedom within a carefully prepared environment would allow them to maximize their developmental potential while cultivating their intrinsic drives (Kramer, 1976; Standing, 1957).  Montessori observed that free choice played an

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benefitting the beneficial

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benefitting the beneficial

aroundsquare is committed to conducting business in a way which delivers benefits at each step.  to that end, we're constantly reflecting on questions like who we should be doing business with, from manufacturing partners all the way through to our retail partners.  the store that you might see our products in.. those are no accident.  we like to support good independent stores, stores which contribute something to the community, stores which care about quality, and care about play.  

in addition to making donations of our products to education and childcare centres in the developing world, we also provide special pricing for children's museums, and benefit-driven business which are doing something more than just trying to make a buck.  

in keeping with this spirit, we are launching a new program to extend our hand to non-

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multifaceted classroom management

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multifaceted classroom management

Following was written in 2005 in the context of the Strengthening Capacity in Basic Education in Western China project. 

Multifaceted Classroom Behavior Management

Effective classroom management is critical to an effective learning situation.  For classroom management to be successful in an SCI context, it must be approached holistically.  Classroom management should emphasize “proactive” strategies which prevent behavior problems from starting, but should also include “reactive” strategies for what to do if problems do occur.  Below are some of the aspects of classroom management that should be considered by all teachers.

Pedagogical Relationships

Pedagogical relationships are the foundation of effective classroom management in an

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tacit teaching

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tacit teaching

think about the world around you.  think about the world around our children.  now, remove the stuff that's directed at them, remove the explicit stuff.  remove the parents' lectures, remove the teacher talk, remove the moral of the story, remove the product that the commercial is telling them to buy.

what you're left with is everything else.  it's a lot.  it's actually pretty much everything.  in the big picture, what's written on the billboard doesn't matter nearly as much as the fact that they are surrounded by billboards.  what the teacher says doesn't matter nearly as much as the fact that the kid needs to sit in their desk for eight hours a day listening to it.  what's playing on the television doesn't matter nearly as much as the fact that it's the centrepiece of the living room and the focal point of family life.

we focus so much on the messages, while we ignore the medium.  by being selective

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implementation kebab

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implementation kebab

Capacity development is mostly a racket. The problem is that despite how costly these programs can be, the actual developmental benefits are usually pretty limited. This is particularly the case with training programs and professional development sessions. A great facilitator can make things engaging, participatory and even practical, but at the end of the session, folks return to their jobs and the relevance is immediately eclipsed by other things. Unless we are talking about the really low hanging fruit, not a whole lot actually changes.  

Part of the problem is that what these programs set out to deliver is not really what is needed in order to make real changes. Participants tend to be happy when they come out of a session feeling motivated. But motivation is almost never what is holding us back from making changes in our lives. Participants may come out embracing new values, or

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the educative context

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the educative context

i’ve written before about the idea of tacit teaching, and the important role which context (as opposed to explicit content) plays in the development of children.  the idea is that we should be as intentional about context as we are about content, because what we immerse our children in matters, perhaps more than what we tell them during their immersion.  

but in order to do something constructive with this idea, it is necessary to operationalize it.  the idea of context can be broken down in a number of ways.  in the context of schooling, it is we can conveniently talk about them in terms of three aspects: the physical, material environment and objects in it; the social context and interpersonal features; and the institutional landscape including formal and informal policies, which shape the course of experiences in that context.  while these areas are not mutually exclusive, they provide a

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