Post 4: Curriculum & Philosophies

 Until recently, I never realized how much curriculum was influenced by philosophers such as Rousseau, Plat, Dewey and more. It's very interesting to learn how each philosopher had their own perspective on education and curriculum. 

There are three overarching foundations: Society, Learner and Subject. 

I would classify Subject as - High-School or College level, where each is taught by teachers who specialize in the subject area and students are to learn each subject, whether they like it or not. I know if I did not have to take math in High School, I would not have. If I could have taken PE all day long, that is what I would have loved.

Then there is society, which I have talked about lots in my blog. Society influences curriculum as does the government. BC curriculum has been influenced by the needs of society, through the core competencies. The core competencies are not explicitly taught, rather more like implicit. They focus on communication, critical and creative thinking, personal and social awareness. They meet the need of socialization as computers, phones and video games are now taking up the child's brain rather than talking to people in person. 

Lastly, the learner. This for now is my favourite and where education seems to be going. Students are being taught with more focus on their interests, expanding on what they know as previous knowledge. Reggio Emilia, project based, inquiry are just some that foster the learner. Elementary schools have a lot more flexibility than High Schools when it comes to teaching to the learner. I am not convinced we are doing it justice in the High Schools, because instead of knowing your thirty students and having them all year, High School teachers have over 100 and they change halfway through the year. 

I wonder how will High Schools move away or will they from a Subject based system to a learner based? I think there needs to be a big shift, but I wonder if this will ever happen? 

I love the idea of High School becoming more vocational. However, there are some speed bumps with that as well. Colleges and Universities will have to change their models. This was a bit of contention when the BC curriculum came out because it was forcing Universities to change, there was talk at the beginning that it was coming although, it has been over 4 years and no changes have occurred.

It's very interesting to see just how much society, government and other large stakeholders have a say at the table and control.