1. Curriculum Ideologies, the National Curriculum and Foundation Stage Year 2 07-8 Vanessa Young

2. Where do you stand?

I think...

... education is about helping children to get a good job

homework is a good thing

SATs should be abolished

it should be part of schooling to teach children to eat healthily

the curriculum should focus on the 3 Rs

competition in school is a bad thing

3. The Curriculum (HMI 1989)

A schools curriculum consists of all thoseactivities designed within itsorganisational frameworkto promote theintellectual, personal, social & physical developmentof its pupils. It includes not only theformal programmeof lessons, but also theinformalprogramme of so-called extra-curricular activities, as well as those features which produce theschoolsethos , such as the quality ofrelationships , the concern for equal opportunity, thevalues exemplified in the way the school sets about its task and the ways in which it isorganised and managed .

4. Ideology

a broadinterlocked set of ideasandbeliefsabout the world held by agroup of peopleoperating atvarious levelsin society and invarious contextsand which is demonstrated in theirbehaviour .

Matheson & Limond (1999) on Marxist definition

5. Importance of ideologies

revealing

not uniformly shared

not fixed

mismatch what we say, what we do!.

6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. Traditional and progressive philosophies (CRE)

Traditional

Hierarchical

Subject centred

Knowledge & content

Book knowledge & accuracy

Rationality & facts

Right & wrong

Product

Objective testing

Competition

Choice

Equality of opportunity

Progressive

Egalitarian

Child centred & relevant

Skills

Experience & understanding

Creativity and feelings

Relative right & wrong

Process

Subjective assessment

Cooperation

Entitlement

Equality of result

13. Strong feelings!

those who support the traditional philosophy are not old-fashioned, right-wing or reactionary: such descriptions are terms of abuse used by progressives to vilify their opponents. In fact, it could be argued that progressivism is old-fashioned: John Dewey is its ideologicalguruand he is long dead! It should also be emphasised that perhaps more than anything else, progressive educationists fear objective testing, because they know that honest measurement of results highlights the deficiencies of their philosophy and its inherent methods of teaching.

The Campaign for Real Education

14. So what?..........

Any ideology has implications in terms of:

Knowledge

Aims/objectives/outcomes

Learners role

Teachers role

Resources

Classroom organisation

Assessment

15. All young people should have the chance to experience top quality culture Ed Balls Secretary of state for Education Five hours of culture each week to be appendedto the curriculum. What is implicitly being admitted in the new proposals is an ideological flaw nothing less than the failure of government to educate Howard Jacobson The independent 16.2.08 16. 4 key ideologies Morrison and Ridley in Preedy (1989)

Progressivism

Classical humanism

Reconstructionism

Instrumentalism

17. Progressivism

Emphasis on:Individual child

Key features:

Subjects are a vehicle for learning

Process orientated/integrated approach

First hand experience

Discovery learning

developing individual potential

Teacher as facilitator

Creativity

Equality of opportunity

Questioning of society

18. Classical humanism

Emphasis on:Knowledge

Key features:

academic

non-vocational

cultural heritage

high culture

standards

competitive

formal

intrinsic worthwhileness

19. Reconstructionism

Emphasis on:Society

Key features:

socially relevant

problem solving

vocational

practical

catalyst of social change

flexible

extrinsic worthwhileness

20. Instrumentalism

Main focus:Society

Key features:

utilitarian

technological

training

practical

relevant to economic good

extrinsic worthwhileness

21. Four extracts

Which of the ideologies described above are betrayed in the following extracts?

22. Sources of extracts

Plowden Report (1967)

Sir Keith Joseph (1986)

Rhodes Boysen (black paper) (1982)

Department for Education and Skills: A strategy to 2006 (2003)

23. Your own ideology

Reflect back on the questions posed earlier:

1. What is schooling for?

2. Name one thing you feel very strongly about in education?

What do your answers tell you about your own ideology?

24. The Foundation Stage Curriculum

What ideology underpins the Foundation Stage curriculum?

How does the Foundation Stage Curriculum differ from the National Curriculum in terms of ideology?

What are the implications of running the Foundation Stage in Yr R and the NC in Yr 1?

25. Current developments

The Curriculum in Successful Schools www.ofsted.gov.uk/publications (2003)

Excellence and enjoyment www.qca.gov.uk(2003)

Creative Partnerships www.creative-partnerships.com

Expecting the unexpected :developing creativity in Primary and Secondary Schools www.ofsted.gov.uk/publications (2003 )

Cross-curricular approaches

Every Child Matterswww.everychildmatters.gov.uk

Personalized Learning (2007)www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/personalisedlearning

26. Ideologies and the NC

there is a paradoxical relationship between the national curriculum and the government's latest obsession, "personalised learning".

Janet Murray Tuesday February 12, 2008 The Guardian

27. Every Child Matters

be healthy

stay safe

enjoy and achieve

make a positive contribution

achieve economic well-being.

From OFSTED Framework for the inspection of childrens services (2005)

28. What is education for? None of the political parties seems to have a clue

politicians are not selling education as an end in itself. They are positioning it as a means of addressing wider social problems, such as apathy, exclusion, obesity and disorder - and the list grows longer by the day.

28 April 2005

Institute of Ideas

29. Conclusion

We need to:

maintain a critical stance - we are professionals not technicians

know what we think - integrity in the face of compromise

hang on to what it means to be an educated person

ride fashions in education