DOCSLIB.ORG

Studying Hidden Curricula: Developing a Perspective in the Light of Postmodern Insights

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Studying Hidden Curricula: Developing a Perspective in the Light of Postmodern Insights HIDDEN CURRICULA Curriculum Studies, Vol. 5, No. 2, 1997 Studying Hidden Curricula: developing a perspective in the light of postmodern insights ALAN SKELTON University of Sheffield, United Kingdom ABSTRACT This article provides an overview of research into the hidden curriculum. Following a consideration of functionalist, liberal and critical research studies, I focus in particular on recent insights which have arisen from postmodern thinking. In the light of postmodernism, I identify a personal perspective on how to study the hidden curriculum which moves beyond the established boundaries of discrete research paradigms. Why study the hidden curriculum? Had it not fulfilled all of its usefulness and potential by 1978, when David Hargreaves begged the question: “From whom, one wonders, is the hidden curriculum now hidden?” (Hargreaves, 1978, p. 97). In answer to these questions, I want to argue that it may be timely to revisit the concept for two main reasons. Firstly, although the initial wave of critical research into the hidden curriculum may have achieved its primary purpose of revealing covert political interference into the curriculum, the task of enabling people to understand what motivates such interference is perhaps even more important in the current context where political control over the curriculum is explicit yet offered up as ‘common sense’. Secondly, contemporary hidden curriculum research may seek to problematise the implicit and taken-for-granted rationality of most ‘modern’ curricula and the totality and coherence of the belief systems which inform them. Do current conceptions of curricula prepare students for the millennium? Do they reflect and anticipate the challenge of living in a world which is rapidly changing and becoming ever more complex, fragmented and uncertain? In short, then, contemporary hidden curriculum study might usefully embrace old and new challenges and, in so doing, might seek to draw on the wide range of analytical frameworks that have been applied to the study of education. What follows is a review of different research perspectives on the hidden curriculum. A concise summary of initial work into the hidden curriculum is presented for those unfamiliar with the field, since this work still has much to offer 177 ALAN SKELTON contemporary critique. The section on postmodern perspectives is more substantial since it offers ‘new’ possibilities for hidden curriculum study. Research Perspectives on the Hidden Curriculum Different perspectives on the hidden curriculum have been articulated over the past 25 years. A word of warning, however, must accompany the following discussion of hidden curriculum perspectives. Whilst the clarification of distinct perspectives communicates central ideas, it must also be recognised that such clarification is ultimately a reductionist exercise which inevitably simplifies reality and conveys a picture of order and progression. It is important to state from the outset, therefore, that: a perspective contains internal differences (sub-perspectives); perspectives do overlap in some respects and are not, in every respect, distinct; perspectives do not necessarily build on from one another in time or in quality. Also what one calls a particular perspective is contestable (Hammersley, 1992) and different names have been identified for the perspectives which are presented here (see Giroux, 1983; Lynch, 1989). The Functionalist Perspective Initial work on the hidden curriculum focused on the problematic of how schools played their part in maintaining social order and stability. This ‘functionalist’ perspective (for example: Parsons, 1959; Dreeben, 1968; Jackson, 1968), viewed schools as vehicles through which students learn the social norms, values and skills they require to function and contribute to the existing society. As Giroux (1983, p. 48) explains: The hidden curriculum is explored primarily through the social norms and moral beliefs tacitly transmitted through the socialization process that structure classroom social relationships. Parsons and Dreeben are explicit functionalists in that they both recognise and support the linking role schools play in social maintenance. Dreeben (1968), for example, maintained that the social experiences of schools enable students to learn those norms and characteristics which are both necessary to and inherent within adult public life. He identifies four specific norms which are transmitted though schooling, namely: independence, achievement, universalism and specificity. Jackson (1968) is less explicit in his functionalism and appears, at least initially, to be concerned about the school’s role in maintaining social order. He contrasts the hidden curriculum with the ‘official curriculum’ of schooling and describes how the crowded nature of the classroom requires students to cope with delays, denials of their desires and social distractions: Here then are four unpublicised features of school life: delay, denial, interruption and social distraction. (Jackson, 1968, p. 17) 178 HIDDEN CURRICULA These coping requirements give rise to norms and values which each student must comply with in order to progress satisfactory through the school. In short, schooling satisfactorily teaches conformity to students rather than creativity, since the former brings the ‘reward’ of satisfactory negotiation of school life. Jackson concluded that although teaching conformity was the antithesis to official curriculum goals, it nevertheless had a function in preparing students for the real world of hierarchical power relations, which for him, were ‘facts of life’ to which all people were required to adapt. For this reason, his work has been located, ultimately, as part of the functionalist perspective (Giroux, 1983; Lynch, 1989). Functionalist accounts have been criticised on a number of grounds. They assume, for example, an oversimplified, consensual relationship between school and society (Lynch, 1989). They also present students as over-determined, passive recipients of hidden curriculum messages (Lynch, 1989) and they do not address the potential significance of the hidden curriculum in the maintenance of class (Sharp, 1980) and sex (Stanworth, 1981) inequalities in society. The Liberal Perspective The liberal perspective views the hidden curriculum in a very different way to functionalists. It considers the hidden curriculum to be those taken-for-granted assumptions and practices of school life which although being created by various ‘actors’ within the school (for example, teachers and students), take on an appearance of accepted normality through their daily production and reproduction. Many liberal critiques of schooling, therefore, set out to expose those unquestioned and ‘hidden’ aspects of school life such as: school rules and codes of discipline; learning organisation (for example: streaming; mixed ability), and teacher-student relationships and interactions. They seek to make explicit the assumptions on which everyday practices come to light and describe the process of how these practices are created and maintained in classrooms. Hargreaves (1967) and Lacey (1970) studied the streaming practices of schools as a form of learning organisation. Whilst the official view of streaming is that it provides an appropriate learning milieu for students of differing abilities, these authors both found that once streams had been created, students, took on the ‘identity’ of the stream, leading to underachievement in the ‘lower’ stream classes. David Hargreaves (1978) explored the role of space and time in classrooms. He found that these implicit aspects of school life were a symbolic expression and reproducer of the power-relation between teachers and students. For example, teachers’ freedom of movement, central positioning, greater work space and control over the structuring, allocation and control of time within the classroom were evident, conveying messages about ‘appropriate’ teacher-student relations. Although Hargreaves suggested that some teachers do challenge dominant patterns of space and time usage, through 179 ALAN SKELTON adopting, for example, alternative seating arrangements, he suggests that these are exceptions to the prevailing pattern found in schools. Whilst a considerable amount of liberal scholarship focuses on exposing the assumptions behind school practices and uncovering teachers’ latent controlling devices, some studies within this perspective have shown how school practices are negotiated between teachers and between teachers and students. A number of studies, for example, have shown that teachers respond differently to school definitions of acceptable practice. Some inwardly conform, some outwardly comply and some seek to redefine school definitions (Becker, 1970; Woods, 1981; Scarth, 1987; Skelton, 1990). Woods (1979) also identifies a number of different modes of student adaptation to teachers’ attempts to exert control over the classroom which he calls: conformity; ritualism; retreatism; colonisation; intransigence and rebellion. A number of other studies have concentrated on student responses to educational experiences and have demonstrated that students ‘decode’ the official rhetoric of educational institutions and focus on what they really need to do to survive and succeed (Becker et al, 1961; Holt, 1964; Snyder, 1971). These studies demonstrate how the liberal perspective takes a different view of people in relation to society compared with the functionalist perspective. Drawing on the philosophical roots
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Journal of Curriculum Studies Research Critical Teaching in Classrooms of Healing: Struggles and Testimonios
    https://curriculumstudies.org E-ISSN: 2690-2788 Journal of Curriculum Studies Research June 2020 Volume: 2 Issue: 1 pp. 95-111 Critical teaching in classrooms of healing: Struggles and testimonios Brian C. Gibbs* * The University of North Carolina at ABSTRACT Chapel Hill, School of Education, Chapel Using testimonio methodology, this article describes the Hill, North Carolina, USA. testimonio and struggle of two Chicanx activist social studies E-mail: [email protected] teachers teaching in a large urban high school serving socio- economically poor Latinx students. Both teach critically, Article Info working to develop their students’ understanding of how their Received: April 24, 2020 ethnic and community histories contrast with larger historical Revised: May 16, 2020 narratives. Both teach the racism, misogyny, and homophobia Accepted: May 16, 2020 rampant in American history by connecting it to the present. They also engage a culturally sustaining pedagogy to give 10.46303/jcsr.02.01.6 students strength from their cultural inheritance. Each approached this differently, one developing an ethnic studies This is an Open Access article distributed course, and the second developing a circulo de hombres, and under the terms of the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 embedding a youth participation action research. Each teacher International license. tackled critical teaching and healing simultaneously from (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by- different perspectives yielding a variety of accompanying nc-nd/4.0) struggles. KEYWORDS How to cite Ethnic studies; critical pedagogy; social justice teaching; Gibbs, B. C. (2020). Critical teaching in restorative justice. classrooms of healing: Struggles and testimonios. Journal of Curriculum Studies Research, 2(1), 95-111.
    [Show full text]
  • Understanding the Use of Learner-Centered Teaching Strategies by Secondary Educators
    Walden University ScholarWorks Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies Collection 2020 Understanding the Use of Learner-Centered Teaching Strategies by Secondary Educators Carmen M. Cain Walden University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies Collection at ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Walden University College of Education This is to certify that the doctoral study by Carmen M. Cain has been found to be complete and satisfactory in all respects, and that any and all revisions required by the review committee have been made. Review Committee Dr. Heather Caldwell, Committee Chairperson, Education Faculty Dr. Michelle McCraney, Committee Member, Education Faculty Dr. Barbara Schirmer, University Reviewer, Education Faculty Chief Academic Officer and Provost Sue Subocz, Ph.D. Walden University 2020 Abstract Understanding the Use of Learner-Centered Teaching Strategies by Secondary Educators by Carmen M. Cain MA, University of Mary, 2016 BS, University of Mary, 2000 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education Walden University June 2020 Abstract Use of learner-centered teaching strategies (LCTS) in the classroom practices improves academic achievement. Secondary educators do not consistently demonstrate the use of these strategies. The purpose of this study was to investigate how secondary educators were using LCTS in their instruction and what support they perceived to need to use such strategies.
    [Show full text]
  • EXPLORING the HIDDEN CURRICULUM WITHIN a DOCTORAL PROGRAM a Dissertation Submitted To
    “IT’S NOT ALWAYS WHAT IT SEEMS”: EXPLORING THE HIDDEN CURRICULUM WITHIN A DOCTORAL PROGRAM A dissertation submitted to the Kent State University College and Graduate School of Education, Health, and Human Services in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Rachel Elizabeth Foot August, 2017 © Copyright, 2017 by Rachel E. Foot All Rights Reserved ii A dissertation written by Rachel E. Foot B.A. (Hons), University of the West of England, 2000 M.Sc., Clarion University, 2003 Ph.D., Kent State University, 2017 Approved by __________________________________, Director, Doctoral Dissertation Committee Alicia R. Crowe __________________________________, Member, Doctoral Dissertation Committee Joanne Kilgour Dowdy __________________________________, Member, Doctoral Dissertation Committee Tricia Niesz Accepted by __________________________________, Director, School of Teaching, Learning Alexa L. Sandmann and Curriculum Studies __________________________________, Dean, College of Education, Health James C. Hannon and Human Services iii FOOT, RACHEL, E. Ph.D., August 2017 TEACHING, LEARNING AND CURRICULUM STUDIES “IT’S NOT ALWAYS WHAT IT SEEMS”: EXPLORING THE HIDDEN CURRICULUM WITHIN A DOCTORAL PROGRAM (pp. 315) Dissertation Director: Alicia R. Crowe Ph.D. The purpose of this qualitative, naturalistic study was to explore the ways in which hidden curriculum might influence doctoral student success. Two questions guided the study: (a) How do doctoral students experience the hidden curriculum? (b) What forms of hidden curricula can be identified in a PhD program? Data were collected from twelve doctoral students within a single program at one university. Participants took part in three sets of semi-structured interviews and data were analyzed using a cross-case analysis. Findings suggest that doctoral students experience mixed messages related to the values and norms of the program when the intended, explicit curriculum is contradicted by a hidden curriculum.
    [Show full text]
  • Postmodern View of the Hidden Curriculum
    Georgia Southern University Digital Commons@Georgia Southern Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of Fall 2007 Postmodern View of the Hidden Curriculum Linda W. Dickerson Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd Recommended Citation Dickerson, Linda W., "Postmodern View of the Hidden Curriculum" (2007). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 455. https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/455 This dissertation (open access) is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of at Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 1 A POSTMODERN VIEW OF THE HIDDEN CURRICULUM by LINDA DICKERSON (UNDER THE DIRECTION OF WILLIAM REYNOLDS) ABSTRACT This dissertation will address the hidden curriculum and the impact that it has on the contemporary classroom. In the twentieth century, America is facing a variety of crises, one being the state of the national educational system, and part of this crisis is the public image that the educational system presents to the public eye through the hidden curriculum. Every institution has a public image or the side of it which first meets the eye, but often these images are deceptive. Schools present a public image in that schools teach much more than they claim to teach and they complete this task through rules, curriculum, and responses to all events and situations. The hidden curriculum actually functions in the open through the practices of the school, and is only hidden in the fact that these practices go unacknowledged by teachers, administrators, parents and students.
    [Show full text]
  • Download Download
    » JAAACS Home » Article Archive Volume 6 July 2010 » Editorial Statement » Call for Manuscripts A Southern Treasure » Author Guidelines » Editorial Board William F. Pinar » Review Board University of British Columbia » Submit An Article Place becomes an important means of linking particularity to the » Contact JAAACS social concerns of curriculum theory. Joe L. Kincheloe (1991, p. 21) Joe L. Kincheloe died suddenly on December 19, 2008, cutting short an astonishing career that traversed the history of education to curriculum studies and critical pedagogy. It is a body of work that merits our sustained and critical attention, as it articulates the key concepts and issues with which many of us have grappled during the past twenty years. One place to begin the study of Kincheloe’s work is Shreveport, Louisiana, where I met Joe in 1989. At that time I was chair of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at LSU-Baton Rouge with jurisdiction (technically, not practically) over teacher education at LSU-Shreveport, where Kincheloe taught courses in the history of education. Joe and I hit it off from the start, deciding to collaborate first over doctoral course offerings at Shreveport1 and then over the concept of “place.” Still in shock over the move from Rochester, New York (where I had taught from 1972-1985) I was relieved to find a receptive and engaging Joe Kincheloe. Even with his East Tennessee upbringing and doctorate from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, Joe agreed with me that Louisiana demanded, well, explanation. The uniqueness of Louisiana not only pointed to its own peculiar history and distinctive multi-culture, it underscored the particularity – including the historicity (Roberts 1995, p.
    [Show full text]
  • Leaders in Curriculum Studies Leaders in Curriculum Studies Leaders in Curriculum Intellectual Self-Portraits
    B_SENSE001-2_LIES 2_Short PB.qxd:B_SENSE001-2_LIES 2_Short PB.qxd 30-03-09 16:55 Pagina 1 14,732 LEADERS IN EDUCATIONAL STUDIES LEADERS IN EDUCATIONAL STUDIES Leaders in Curriculum Studies Leaders in Curriculum Studies Leaders in Curriculum Intellectual Self-Portraits Edmund C. Short Studies University of Central Florida, Orlando, USA and Intellectual Self-Portraits Leonard J. Waks (Eds.) Temple University, Philadelphia, USA Edmund C. Short and Leonard J. Waks (Eds.) In the 1950s and 1960s school teaching became a university-based profession, and scholars and policy leaders looked to the humanities and social sciences in building an appropriate knowledge base. By the mid-1960s there was talk about a “new” philosophy, history, and sociology of education. Curriculum thinkers such as Joseph Schwab, Dwayne Heubner and Paul Hirst initiated new intellectual projects to supplement applied work in curriculum. By the 1970s the field was in the process of re-conceptualization, as a new generation of scholars provided deep critical insights into the social, political and cultural dynamics of school experience and templates for renewal of curriculum research and practice. In this book, 18 leading curriculum scholars since 1970 who remain influential today present the fascinating stories of their lives and important new contributions to the field. They trace Leonard J. Waks (Eds.) Edmund C. Short and their early experiences in teaching and curriculum development, creative directions in their work, mature ideas and perceptions of future directions for the field. Each chapter contains a list of works chosen by the authors as their personal favorites. This book offers an ideal companion to courses in curriculum studies and a guide for scholars seeking to understand the main currents in this field today.
    [Show full text]
  • Curriculum Studies
    Journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Curriculum Studies Curriculum Studies: What is The Field Today? José Augusto Pacheco University of Minho Abstract This article offers a reflection on a central question: what is the curriculum studies field today? To an- swer this question we need to consider the state of the field as a powerful and analytical instrument to frame the curricular movements, namely from the contributions of the different authors, whose texts have been a strong influence on the construction of the curriculum field. Firstly, we identify some texts referring the state of the field of curriculum studies to then explore their connection with the historical periods in the field with, for example, the Tyler Rationale, Reconceptu- alization and Post-reconceptualization. Secondly, by analyzing the main texts of the four most knowledgeable curriculum theorists – Pinar, Apple, Goodson and Young - we observe the state of the field by discussing the importance of their ideas for an understanding of the changes within the curriculum field. Finally, we reflect, as others have claimed to do, about the worldliness of curriculum studies by fo- cusing on its globalization and diversity, as two referents of the contemporary discourses about the curriculum. To synthesize our ideas we explore some notions of the curriculum and refer to questions related to the curriculum, such as the nature of the curriculum, elements of the curriculum and cur- riculum practices. Introduction In this article, we offer an account of the state of the field of curriculum studies in order to answer our central question: what is the field today? Talking about the various moments in the history of curricu- lum studies, we provide a summary of the work of several scholars, highlighting some of the tensions that have characterized the evolution of curriculum studies.
    [Show full text]
  • The Curriculum of Capitalism: Schooled to Profit Or Schooled to Educate
    Georgia Southern University Digital Commons@Georgia Southern Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of Spring 2011 The Curriculum of Capitalism: Schooled to Profit or Schooled to Educate Douglas O. Carroll Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd Recommended Citation Carroll, Douglas O., "The Curriculum of Capitalism: Schooled to Profit or Schooled to Educate" (2011). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 528. https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/528 This dissertation (open access) is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of at Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 1 THE CURRICULUM OF CAPITALISM: SCHOOLED TO PROFIT OR SCHOOLED TO EDUCATE? by DOUGLAS O. CARROLL Under the Direction of Grigory Dmitriyev ABSTRACT Utilizing a critical pragmatist framework for analysis of the United States public school education, the research suggests the United States public education system perpetuates a curriculum of Capitalism linking with democracy; yet social Capitalism remains remarkably undemocratic as the experience of race, class, and gender contradict the curriculum of public schools. The consequence of these contradictions is perpetuation of racist or sexist stereotypes, a distinct class system delineated by financial, educational, and techno-wealth, a heightened if not profound sense that the American ideal is no longer within reach or a political sham. In sharp contrast to conservative theories of education and the move to standardize education, progressive educators do not believe in disassociating classroom experience from the sum of the accumulated experience of the individual.
    [Show full text]
  • Hidden Curriculum As One of Current Issue of Curriculum
    Journal of Education and Practice www.iiste.org ISSN 2222-1735 (Paper) ISSN 2222-288X (Online) Vol.6, No.33, 2015 Hidden Curriculum as One of Current Issue of Curriculum Merfat Ayesh Alsubaie Department of Educational Leadership, Research and Technology, K-12 Leadership, Western Michigan University, 1903 W Michigan Ave, Kalamazoo, MI 49008 Abstract There are several issues in the education system, especially in the curriculum field that affect education. Hidden curriculum is one of current controversial curriculum issues. Many hidden curricular issues are the result of assumptions and expectations that are not formally communicated, established, or conveyed within the learning environment. Thus, awareness of hidden curricular issues becomes a consideration, which has negative and positive influences. Keywords: Curriculum issue, hidden curriculum, positive and negative impact. 1. Introduction Understanding the influential factors at work within learning environment in the school or the classroom is a growing area of interest. Hidden expectations, skill sets, knowledge, and social process can help or hinder student achievement and belief systems. A hidden curriculum refers to the unspoken or implicit values, behaviors, procedures, and norms that exist in the educational setting. While such expectations are not explicitly written, hidden curriculum is the unstated promotion and enforcement of certain behavioral patterns, professional standards, and social beliefs while navigating a learning environment (Miller & Seller, 1990). This argumentative study is investigated how hidden curriculum issue transpired in learning environments of institutional and organization systems. Therefore, this paper will focus on the scholarly literature to show the hidden curriculum as the one of the problems, which most common in the curriculum.
    [Show full text]
  • Teachers' Beliefs About Issues in the Implementation of a Student
    AAH GRAPHICS, INC. / (540) 933-6210 / FAX 933-6523 / 05-25-2003 / 14:36 Teachers’ Beliefs about Issues in the Implementation of a Student-Centered Learning Environment Susan Pedersen Min Liu Teachers’ implementation of Concurrent interest in learning guided by a technology-enhanced student-centered constructivist perspective and advances in com- learning environments (SCLEs) will be puter technology have led to a renewed interest affected by their beliefs about effective in student-centered learning (Land & Hannafin, practices. In order for student-centered 2000). Student-centered learning requires stu- programs to be used as intended, designers dents to set their own goals for learning, and must be aware of the key issues that will shape determine resources and activities that will help their implementation and the beliefs teachers them meet those goals (Jonassen, 2000). Because hold about these issues. This case study students pursue their own goals, all of their ac- examined 15 teachers’ beliefs about tivities are meaningful to them. student-centered learning as they implemented A variety of approaches fit beneath the Alien Rescue, a computer-based program for umbrella of student-centered learning, includ- middle school science that was designed to ing case-based learning, goal-based scenarios, create a SCLE in the classroom. Considerations for the design of similar learning by design, project-based learning, and programs are offered. problem-based learning. Common to these dif- ferent approaches is a central question (Jonassen, 1999) that creates a need for certain knowledge and activities. This question may be stated or implied, and can take a variety of forms, includ- ing a problem, an issue, a case, or a project.
    [Show full text]
  • Understanding the BARRIERS Posed by the Hidden Curriculum
    Understanding the BARRIERS posed by the hidden curriculum Project team: Clare Smyth, Deniz Fujita, Rose Day, Rebecca Munday, Suzi Rockey, Shivani Bhatt, Alex Westlake, Hannah Muskett, Kristi Dingwall, Anna Mountford-Zimdars, George Koutsouris – for info contact [email protected] Our students’ perspective • ‘I grew up in a culturally diverse and considerably deprived city in the old industrial Midlands. [The university] was a culture shock to my system; it is overwhelmingly white and regularly gripped by racism scandals’. • ‘I knew going back into education as a mature student was going to be difficult and I was going to be different, but nothing prepared me for being ignored and pushed to the outside of the group’. University lecturers’ construction of the ‘ideal’ undergraduate student (Wong & Chiu, 2018) 30 social science lecturers from two post-92 universities in England (semi-structured interviews conducted between 2016-17) Personal and academic skillsets that are desirable of students: • Preparation • Engagement • Commitment • Being critical • Reflective, and • Making progress The ability to achieve high grades rarely mentioned as important • young • white • social The implied • British student • able-bodied (Stevens, 2007; Ulriksen, 2009) • living away from home • without financial worries • or family/ caring responsibilities The third space (Bhabha, 1994) ‘A metaphorical space in which differing cultures meet: e.g. the classroom where home and school cultures practically converge’ (Elliot et al, 2016, p. 740). ‘The hidden rules Hidden Curriculum of the game’ (Portelli, 1993) Hidden Curriculum is a term coined by Jackson (1970) to describe a tendency of school curricula to reproduce the inequalities of wider society.
    [Show full text]
  • On Facts and Values: an Analysis of Radical Curriculum Studies Sy Daniel I? Liston
    EDUCATIONAL THEORY Sprin 1986, Vol. 36, No. 2 0 1986 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois On Facts and Values: An Analysis of Radical Curriculum Studies Sy Daniel I? Liston Curriculum theorizing has focused on how curricula ought to be constructed (prescriptive theory) and, to a lesser extent, on how curricula are formulated and implemented (explanatory theory).’ There is a chasm separating the two approaches. The first type of theorizing focuses on questions of what ought to be and employs normative and instrumental appeals, while the second approach examines what is and utilizes de- scriptive and explanatory theories. Generally curriculum theorists and analytically oriented philosophers have emphasized the distinct and heterogeneous features of each type of endeavor. This “traditional” position argues that one can never derive an ought from an is: that is, for example, one cannot derive what knowledge ought to be taught from a description of existing curricula. Furthermore, it is often argued, decisions over what knowledge ought to be taught are the outcome of individual value preferences. Curricular choices are reducible to individuals’ values.‘ Finally, proponents of this position usually maintain that an investigation of the facts can be assessed objectively and should not be influenced by social or political values. Truth is to be found independent of ideological beliefs. Recently Marxist (radical or ~ritical)~theorists of curriculum have taken exception to many of these “traditional” propositions. These writers argue that the reputed separation between questions of fact and questions of value is simply mistaken. There are two distinct but related strands to the critical position.
    [Show full text]