Teaching, learning and assessment 1: overview and stakeholders in curriculum

Teaching, learning and assessment 1: overview and stakeholders in curriculum Dr Geoff Tennant Course Leader geoff.tennant@aku.edu

In this session: Overview of the key themes of the course Stakeholders in the curriculum Setting up next week’s session

An overview Starting point is 4 questions from Tyler (1949): 1. What educational purposes should the school seek to attain? 2. What educational experiences can be provided that are likely to attain these purposes? 3. How can these educational experiences be effectively organised? 4. How can we determine whether these purposes are being attained? Tyler, R.W. (1949). Basic principles of curriculum and instruction. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

So firstly (1) 1. What educational purposes should the school seek to attain? • Who are the stakeholders? • What purposes are we trying to achieve in education? Preview of what’s coming soon… • To acculturate children into local village life; • To develop a sense of the wider world, the opportunities presented and to prepare children for that. Tyler, R.W. (1949). Basic principles of curriculum and instruction. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

So firstly (2) Need to consider curriculum, overarchingly what we are trying to achieve. Tyler, R.W. (1949). Basic principles of curriculum and instruction. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Secondly (1) 2. What educational experiences can be provided that are likely to attain these purposes? So the curriculum needs to be converted to a syllabus. Leads to two further crucial questions: • How do children learn? • What teaching methods facilitate this learning? Tyler, R.W. (1949). Basic principles of curriculum and instruction. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Secondly (2) Often not at all obvious how to operationalise curriculum aims. Example from Jamaica (Ministry of Education and Culture, 1998: 84), mathematics curriculum grades 7 to 9 is aiming to develop: “…the problem-solving approach to learning mathematics and the willingness to accept the challenges of new situations” Ministry of Education and Culture. (1998). Curriculum guide grades 7-9 for career education, mathematics, language, arts, science and social studies. Kingston, Jamaica: MOEC.

Thirdly: 3. How can these educational experiences be effectively organised? Possible answers include: - thematic curriculum; - conventional subject areas. Also: science divided up into biology, chemistry, physics in accordance with 19th century industry rather than 21st century realities (Galison 2008)? Galison, P. (2008). Ten problems in history and philosophy of science. Isis 99(1), 111-124. Tyler, R.W. (1949). Basic principles of curriculum and instruction. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Fourthly: 4. How can we determine whether these purposes are being attained? Key questions: • How can we assess and why? • How can assessment support the learning process? Tyler, R.W. (1949). Basic principles of curriculum and instruction. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Two further thoughts (1) From Lawton (1975: 6), curriculum is… “…essentially a selection from the culture of society.” Which raises a large number of questions: • How local is the ‘culture of society’? • How is the selection made? • Who makes the selection? Lawton, D. (1975). Class, culture and the curriculum. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

Two further thoughts (2) According to Goodlad (1979) there are: The ideological curriculum The formal curriculum The perceived curriculum The operational curriculum The experiential curriculum (Also the hidden curriculum) Goodlad, J.I. & Associates (1979). A place called school: prospects for the future. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Or more simply: There is: The intended curriculum The actualised curriculum The learnt curriculum Goodlad, J.I. & Associates (1979). A place called school: prospects for the future. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Stakeholders in the curriculum Discuss on your tables: • Who are the stakeholders in putting together a curriculum? • What are the stereotypical implications of the input from that stakeholder group? Example: one stakeholder group is future employers, who stereotypically will want children to be trained to be ready to do the jobs that are needed.

Answers include: Children Parents Employers Politicians Subject enthusiasts Local community Wider community Let me share some thoughts on some of these

Children as stakeholders If education starts with child, need to operate within an understanding as to how children learn, considered in sessions 3 to 5. White (1990) suggested general aim of education is the promotion of the pupil’s well being, producing autonomous flourishing adults. White, J. (1990). Education and the good life: beyond the National Curriculum. London: London Education Studies, Kogan Page.

I wish to suggest.. To live flourishing lives as adults we need to make choices from an informed position. Children therefore need to be engaged in a range of activities in order to be in a position to make informed choices whether to engage with them as adults. So, to enjoy freedom as adults we need to curtail immediate freedom in children.

To put the point another way… A child may have a long term desire to play the piano.. …but a short term desire not to practise. Parental help may be needed to override short term desires in order to facilitate long term desires. If interested in this point, type ‘first order desire’ into Google.

If the child is the stakeholder… …then considering benefits of education very much on an individual basis, personal autonomy, one’s own freedom, etc. So what happens if the needs and wants of individuals conflict with the needs and wants of the community?

Parent / immediate community as stakeholder (1) To enculturate children into the community into which they are born: • Learn the religious faith of the locality; • Customs; • Learn to do work available locally.

Parent / immediate community as stakeholder (2) But what about eg. custom of the Hamar tribe in Ethiopia for women to have lip plates?

Parent / immediate community as stakeholder (3) Or scarification?

Parent / immediate community as stakeholder (3) Consider also Aikman (1994), a study of primary education in a village in Peru. Education very unpopular amongst adults in the village: • Conducted in Spanish; • Secondary education a three day boat ride away; • Getting jobs using post-primary qualifications took youngsters out of the village. So, potential conflict between child – and country’s economic development - and immediate community as stakeholders. Aikman, S. H. (1994). Intercultural education and Harakmbut identity: a case study of the community of San Jose in Southeastern Peru. Institute of Education, University of London, London.

Nation as stakeholder (1) Educate children to maximum to advance countries economically and technologically. Need to educate children both for what is currently available and for what is going to be available over their working lives. Children need to learn how to learn…. ….but how do we do this?

Nation as stakeholder (2) Conflict between the development aspirations of the country and continuation of traditional way of life?

Subject enthusiasts as stakeholders (1) Clearly need subject enthusiasts to shape the way their subject is taught in a school curriculum. But beware! Easy for enthusiasts to assume that all children should be as enthusiastic about their subject as they are.

Subject enthusiasts as stakeholders (2) Examples easily found of enthusiasts wanting their subject to be in schools, often compulsorily Dancer Wayne Sleep: …dance should be in the school curriculum (Hartlepool Mail 22nd March 2007) “A leading fertility specialist has called on NSW education authorities to start teaching children about egg-freezing technology from the age of 16.”1 1 http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/schools-urged-to-teach-children-about-female-eggfreezing-technology-20150914-gjm6fa.html.

Subject enthusiasts as stakeholders (3) “America’s egg farmers invite you and your students to learn more about where your eggs come from and how eggs move from the farm to your tables.”2 Similarly, school curriculum can be used to promote eg. desegregation in American schools when not happening in society (Noddings 1983) 2 http://www.aeb.org/educators/lesson-plans-and-materials Noddings, N. (1983). The false promise of the Paideia: a critical review of the Paideia proposal. Journal of Thought 18(4), 81-91

Subject enthusiasts as stakeholders (4) Crucial question: what aspects of the subject is needed by everybody (Tyler 1949)? Subject enthusiasts probably not the best people to answer this question! Note also employer as stakeholder expecting youngsters to be trained to do their jobs: how many different jobs can youngsters reasonably be trained to do at school? Tyler, R.W. (1949). Basic principles of curriculum and instruction. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Compulsory curriculum as setting out a bare minimum White (1973) suggested that it is important to determine the bare minimum we need children to have learnt in the compulsory years at school. In subject groups of about 4 people, what would you consider to be the minimum school leavers should know, understand and be able to do in your subject? White, J. (1973). Towards a compulsory curriculum. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. .

For next week… I will be emailing you Namafe and Chileshe (2013) later today. Please read this article in advance of next week’s session, particularly engaging with the questions: • What is the starting point for this study? • What happened in the current study? • What conclusions were arrived at? • Can the conclusions be justified from the study? • What messages can you take away from this article? Namafe, C., & Chileshe, B. (2013). Contextualising the curriculum through local floodplain artefact at Lealui Basic School of Western Zambia. Southern African Journal of Environmental Education, 29, 167–179. . .

Teaching, learning and assessment 1: overview and stakeholders in curriculum