Why some conceptions of curriculum continue to be used over time or are considered to be mainstream approaches, while others are not? Explain your interpretation of conceptions of curriculum and how you can use them as tools or frameworks to analyze planning, instruction, and assessment within your specific context of practice.

The curriculum provides a framework for learning and teaching. It is the content of schooling. Conception of curriculum is when you explore a curriculum through different point of views. Curriculum often focuses on social, culture, and individual needs.

There are five conceptions of curriculum:

1. Humanistic / Self-actualization: According to McNeil (2009), “[t]he humanistic curriculum supports the American ideal of individualism, helping students discover who they are, not just shaping them into a form that has been designated in advance” (McNeil, 2009, p. 3).

2. Social Reconstruction: Sowell (2005) expresses that “[t]he social relevance-reconstruction conception stresses education in the larger social context where societal needs dominate both subject matter and individual needs” (p. 41). It also believes that “…… curriculum should prepare people for living in an unstable and changing world” (Sowell, 2005, p.41).

3. Cognitive Processes Approach “… is intended to sharpen students’ intellectual processes and help them develop cognitive skills for studying virtually anything” (Sowell, 2005, p. 45). It focuses on:

- The development of thinking skills

- Self-assessment integral to learning

- Opportunities for student s to actively construct knowledge for themselves

- Learning environments that develop cooperative problem solving

- Skills that are learned in the context for real problems

- Learner-centred, teacher-directed management

- Outcomes that ensure all students have learned to think

(Sowell, 2005, p.46).

4. Curriculum as Technology “seeks to make learning systematic and efficient. …. The focus is on the technology by which knowledge is communicated and learning is facilitated, rather than on the individuality of the learner or the content itself (Sowell, 2005, p. 48).

5. Academic Rationalism is “primarily concerned with enabling the young to acquire the tools to participate in the Western cultural tradition and with providing access to the greatest ideas and objects that man has created” (Eisner & Vallance, 1974, p.12).

I believe that some conceptions of curriculum continue to be used over time or are considered to be mainstream approaches is because these curriculums focus on the different needs in the society including cultural needs and individual needs. In Canada, each province or territory has its own Ministry of Education. They provide an official curriculum to guide students and educators for learning and teaching. The curriculum in British Columbia has been redesigned to meet the changing needs of students. Students today need skills and competencies that will help them thrive in a fast-changing world. BC’s redesign redesigned curriculum aims to personalize learning, making it more student-centred and flexible. I believe that BC’s new redesigned curriculum is based on both academic and self-actualization conceptions of curriculum. We as teachers often also uses the cognitive processes approach when we plan and implement activities in the classroom.

According to Eisner & Vallance (1974), self-actualization is a child-centred approach, and it focuses on content. This approach emphasizes on personal growth and helps the individual discover things for himself.

The BC curriculum is focused on the competencies to ensure students are engaged in learning opportunities instead of memorizing facts. The “Know-Do-Understand” framework supports deep learning.

The BC redesigned curriculum includes 3 core competencies that students need to develop in order to engage in deep and life-long learning. These core competencies are at the centre of the new curriculum redesign in BC. They are communication, thinking, personal and social core competencies.

Communication Core Competency:

The Communication competency encompasses the knowledge, skills, processes and dispositions we associate with interactions with others.

Thinking Core Competency:

The thinking competency encompasses the knowledge, skills and processes we associate with intellectual development… Thinking competence includes specific thinking skills as well as habits of mind, and metacognitive awareness.

Personal and Social Core Competency:

The Personal and Social competency is the set of abilities that relate to students' identity in the world, both as individuals and as members of their community and society.

My interpretation of conceptions of curriculum through reading Module 1 helps me to understand the different perspectives when looking a curriculum. As Ornstein & Hunkins (2013) states a curriculum approach reflects our views of schools and society (p. 2). As teachers, we need to use the different approaches of conceptions of curriculum to analyze our curriculum when planning, instruction, and assessment. For example, we can use these conceptions as a framework when we are creating our yearly plan in September, implement lessons and give instructions using Eisner & Vallance’s academic curriculum and assess students with self-assessment integral to learning (cognitive processes approach). I believe that our classrooms are heavily focus on student-centred approach, which emphasizes on personal growth and helps the individual discover things for himself. As a teacher, considering each child as a unique learner has helped me gain a better understanding of their different learning styles. Each student has played a significant role in guiding the way that I approach the idea of a classroom which I believe should be a safe, positive, inclusive and age-appropriate environment for learning.

References:

Eisner, E., & Vallance, E. (Eds.). (1974). Five conceptions of the curriculum: Their roots and implications for curriculum planning. In E. Eisner & E. Vallance (Eds.), Conflicting conceptions of curriculum (pp. 1-18). Berkeley, CA: McCutchan Publishing.

McNeil, J. D. (2009). Contemporary curriculum in thought and action (7th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley. Pages 1, 3-14, 27-39, 52-60, 71-74.

Ornstein, A. C., & Hunkins, F. P. (2013). Curriculum: Foundations, principles, and issues (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson. Read part of Chapter 1, pp. 1-8.

Sowell, E. J. (2005). Curriculum: An integrative introduction (3rd ed., pp. 37-51). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Vallance. (1986). A second look at conflicting conceptions of the curriculum. Theory into Practice, 25(1), 24-30.