Why something being 'in the curriculum' often fails to translate into classroom practice because we lack visibility - let alone accountability - of what is actually taught.
This disconnection between the mandates of education authorities and the practice of teachers in schools is something I have been very interested in looking more into lately, so thank you for for shedding some light on this. I’ve previously come across Cuban’s idea of the teacher as a 'street-level bureaucrat', which seems very relevant here.
I wonder whether what we call 'curriculum implementation' is really just teachers deciding, under real constraints, what actually gets taught.
I'd be interested to hear your opinion - if that’s the case, how should accountability systems respond without just pretending the gap doesn’t exist? Many thanks for your thoughts on this topic
Prioritisation is key to solving this problem. Between the curriculum authorities and governments the History curriculum might need a bit of pruning to allow this to happen. Don’t forget in many states this is Humanities. So what and why is really important so that those with less expertise can deliver.
This disconnection between the mandates of education authorities and the practice of teachers in schools is something I have been very interested in looking more into lately, so thank you for for shedding some light on this. I’ve previously come across Cuban’s idea of the teacher as a 'street-level bureaucrat', which seems very relevant here.
I wonder whether what we call 'curriculum implementation' is really just teachers deciding, under real constraints, what actually gets taught.
I'd be interested to hear your opinion - if that’s the case, how should accountability systems respond without just pretending the gap doesn’t exist? Many thanks for your thoughts on this topic
Prioritisation is key to solving this problem. Between the curriculum authorities and governments the History curriculum might need a bit of pruning to allow this to happen. Don’t forget in many states this is Humanities. So what and why is really important so that those with less expertise can deliver.
Come for the straight talk on curricula, stay for the Eye of Sauron literary footnote.
This is such an excellent commentary on this problem.