Curriculum and Professional Issues

The word curriculum can mean something different to different people, even to different teachers who use the term almost daily (Manning & Butcher, 2012). However, it boils down to curriculum being what a student learns, both in terms of core subject content, as well as though social activity and elective/activity courses. However, there has often been a disconnect between different states and districts over what exactly should be in the curriculum for various grades and what is needed to prepare students for life beyond school, as well as providing little basis for comparing the US to other countries. That’s where Common Core State Standards (CCSS) come in. According to Teaching in the Middle School (2012), the Common Core standards were created in an attempt to provide curriculum standards that are “rigorous, internationally benchmarked, and aligned with college and work expectations”. Since its implementation in 2009, 42 US states and the District of Columbia have integrated the standards into their curriculums. (Core Standards, 2015)

The origins of the word curriculum date back to ancient times and in fact the work comes from the Latin word of currere: a course or race or to run (Smith, 1996,2000). Over many decades, people have argued over the various definitions. Tanner (1980) defined it as “the planned and guided learning experiences and intended outcomes”, whilst Pratt (1980) defined it as a written document describing goals planned, objectives, content and evaluation. So s it a course of study? Or can it be defined as content or a product( Marsh, 2008). Marsh (2008) goes on to include that at a variety of learning sites are a set of objectives for student learning. We can also relate this to Tyler’s objective curriculum model being that the first step to curriculum is always to set the objective. The Model of Taba from 1962, is the same model at Tyler’s but includes interaction and flow between all four stages, so we do not always need the objective before we start writing the content to the curriculum.

Ralph Tyler (1957) describes curriculum as “. . . all the learning experiences planned and directed by the school to attain its educational goals (Glatthorn, 2011, p.3). Going by this definition, one can regard curricula as encompassing what is taught in the classroom, as well as

Curriculum is so much more than the paper copy of lessons and activities that we receive as teachers, but before this course I never really thought of curriculum as

For Curriculum it does not matter the religion or the nationality, children are educated into particular modes which can make sense of their experiences and the environment around them, and also into a set of behavioral expectations, skills and knowledge, which the society requires for its future.

Do teachers still teach what you expect the students can learn and remain in their social class or do you still teach them what will give them the flexibility to choose their path in life? According to Jean Anyon in the article “ Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum”, the Hidden Curriculum sets the students to remain within their economic class, which causes inequality in the society. Her findings challenged the work of sociologists who assume that the student's academic success depends on their self-motivation to succeed. I'm of the two mind that the more money you have, the better education your child receives. On the other hand, I also agree that the student success depends on their self-motivation. However, I don't concur that the Hidden Curriculum still exists in schools as at today because instructors are trying their best to rouse students towards achieving more prominent positions in life with the help of information technology, teachers also develop discipline in students and finally, education is reducing inequality in the United States. Therefore, I still maintain that the Hidden Curriculum does not exist in our schools as at present.

On page 99-100 hidden curriculum is defined as “the attitudes and practices that others model, even though they do not explicitly teach them.” In the book Michael Wilkes gives a good quote explaining that even though we are taught and teach about how to be appropriate and respect different cultures, different health practices etc. the moment we are in a situation where a peer disses, or makes fun of a patient everyone kind of falls into it to be part of a so called “club” to fit in. So actually seeing is doing when training these new professionals, and to achieve true change comes from modeling the behavior that we want to see. My interpretation of the term was pretty close to the way the textbook explained it, that when we are in a professional setting even though we are always taught to have these standards on how we communicate things and deal with others we don't always follow that rule and sometimes like to poke fun at the fact to make our colleagues laugh which isn't always the moral thing to do.

Brady and Kennedy (2010) define the term curriculum as ‘the means by which young people and adults gain the essential knowledge, skills and attributes they need to be productive and informed citizens in a democratic society.’ However the term has many varied definitions, it can be described as being the subject matter, the overall plan for teaching or the outcome of what is taught (Wiles, 2005). Marsh and Willis (cited in Marsh, 2009, p. 3) break curriculum down into three individual areas of ‘planned curriculum’, the objectives and aims, ‘enacted curriculum’, how the objectives are

Prompt: Discuss the impact of Curricula on their intended beneficiaries as described in the readings of Jean Anyon and John Taylor Gatto.

In this report I will explain the purpose and design of the curriculum proposal. I will then review the feedback obtained from the validating panel and the changes made. Professional values will also be explained and the importance they have in the lifelong learning sector. In addition, I will explain how the course will be evaluated providing a summary of how records are currently being used. Finally, I will create an action plan highlighting development needs to the course design.

Schools also have a hidden curriculum in which values and norms of behaviour are transmitted. For example, wearing a school uniform and keeping to a set timetable can all be seen as activities that encourage particular standards of behaviour which could be viewed as producing disciplined future workers. Therefore the hidden curriculum implies that pupils not only learn formal subjects such as English or physics but also receive hidden messages about their class, ethnicity and gender from their experience of schooling. Through the choice of teaching strategies and characteristics chosen to be employed by educational institutions it indirectly conveys to students the norms, values and expectations. This is what we refer to as the hidden curriculum. As we will later explore there are many that argue the hidden curriculum and processes within schools help to produce inequalities between children of different social classes. Whitty and Young (1976) view the

Hidden curriculum is not a new concept in the education system, and as a matter of fact, it begins early in a child’s education. According to Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach, “hidden curriculum refers to the attitudes and the unwritten rules of behavior that schools teach in addition to the formal education.” This includes rules and expectations. According to The Hidden Curriculum in Higher Education, “hidden curriculum emphasize[s] specific skills: learning to wait quietly, exercising restraint, trying, completing work, keeping busy, cooperating, showing allegiance to both teachers and peers, being neat and punctual, and conducting oneself courteously.” Hidden curriculum sets the standard for what is proper in society. This concept helps

From the Rusken College speech in 1976, a whole new approach to education was to be invented and from this came the introduction of the craft based qualifications, his idea of the government putting money into education and seeing very little return, made him concentrate on making people fit for work, in turn helping the economy and paying the government back on their investment. This is the main model used in my specialised curriculum. One of the attractions of this approach to curriculum theory is that it involves detailed attention to what people need to know in order for it to work. Lesson plans are produced with the main theme of ‘by the end of the session the learner will

Curriculum is a term often highlighted during discourse about education and most commonly understood as a policy with overt leaning outcomes for teachers to apply and achieve. Ornstein and Hunkins (1998), as cited by Selvaraj (2010), defined curriculum based on two lenses; micro and macro, which identify the term as both policy towards certain goals and what students experience with consideration for relevant theories and principles central to its development and implementation. However, Wilson (n.d.) argued that curriculum is not restricted to certain individuals, subjects and environments, since teaching and learning can also occur beyond the scope of official curriculum (Ebert & Culyer, as cited in Marsh, Clarke & Pittaway, 2014). I believe this interpretation is the closest to the true nature of curriculum, or education, as there are more complex layers to curriculum than just a written guideline. For example, not one curriculum is similar to another because it is subjected to influences from continuum number of factors, such as politics and economy. Hence, it is wise to conclude that curriculum could not be defined based on a singular perspective due to its dependability on context.

According to Blaise and Nuttall (2011), to understand curriculum, we must first understand what is meant by the term curriculum. Within curriculum there are five key concepts, they are the intended curriculum The Intended curriculum is the curriculum that the teachers want the children to experience in order to develop particular knowledge, skills, and attitudes. (Blaise & Nuttall, 2011, p. 82). The enacted curriculum is what teachers want students to experience. important reason why the intended curriculum is enacted differently from teacher to teacher, from classroom to classroom, is that a key part of a teachers work is to interpret the official curriculum, taking into account a wide range of variables that are specific to their classroom and school setting.