How do you think that school curricula are developed?
I believe school curricula is developed from what has “worked” according to the smarty pants pale stale males. Curriculum represents the concepts that have shown success in the past and therefore were implemented into the curriculum. Much of it from my perspective still seems like it is coming from Mike’s old classroom management texts as there is still a lot of restriction to the freedom of the student.
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?
Through the reading the article about curricula development, I discovered that much of what is determined is through the “more important” people of society, aka the government. And what do I have to say about this?…
Wow. Just wow. I can not believe how little not just teachers, but even higher-ups in education do not get a say in curricula development. Though I was correct on the “male-stale-male” having a say, I did not think that he would be correlated with the government! It angers me to see the people who have the most power over curricula development have the least knowledge in not just education, but also zero teaching experience. It truly frightens me to think that DONALD TRUMP can have a say in the development of curricula before anyone else… My goodness?! What has this world come too????
And yes, curricula development does typically depend on who at the time is in power (reflecting on the Ontario dispute) but if there is controversy in curricula I believe it is essential to not only go to the teachers, but also to the students. They are the ones who are in class aren’t they? They should be the ones who get the final vote on what is and isn’t removed from the past and present curricula. If I was to make a goal for this world to accomplish in the next 5 years, it would be to have a curricula that has been pieced together by all aspects of authority: Students first, than teachers, the school board, and then the government authorities.
Wishful thinking??? *eternal sigh*
Peace and Love
Miss Mac
Hannah MacMurchy 
Hey Hannah, awesome post! I love how apparent your frustration is in your writing, and your prediction of the “smarty pants pale stale males” having the most involvement in creating curricula was both entertaining, but also disheartening. I agree that the way the curriculum is developed needs to be changed; how do you think we can get students and teachers more involved in the curricula planning process?
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I could really feel the passion when reading your post, and i am also shocked when reading about the extent teachers have when in the context of the curriculum. you would think that we would have a say in what we teach.
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Hi Hannah, thank you for your insight. It makes me so sad realizing how little the children we will teach are valued, not to mention how little we will be valued as educators if curriculum development continues on this path. I appreciate how you mentioned the terror of Donald Trump developing curricula… Do you agree that would mirror a curriculum as syllabus to be transferred model? Perhaps with plenty of conversation about guns and no conversation about consent. Power in this world is such a crazy thing. Hopefully we can be the generation of teachers where this changes. Thanks – Natalie
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I liked your blog post this week! We had a lot of the same insights when it came to the role government plays in education. It always amazes me how political education is. However what do you mean when you said there is still a lot of restriction to the freedom of the students? What might a classroom with unlimited freedom look like?
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I totally agree with the before and after reading evaluations. I too am wishful thinking on how we could possibly reposition the hierarchy of the Education System and who gives the most important ideas towards our curriculum. It was surprising how dependent on the government and what they feel is important to our society and our children. Which obviously they have the very little hands-on experience nor ideas with being within the schools. How do you think this could change to make it better?
Thanks for sharing your ideas!
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