I have recently embarked on a professional learning and development journey. I am currently enrolled in my second postgraduate course (MEd in Advanced Teaching) and in an ISTE course. My first unit for the MEd course focuses on curriculum theory and development. One of the questions posed is what does the word curriculum mean to you?
In the broadest sense, the curriculum includes all the course offerings and other experiences which have relevance to the student’s attainment of specified academic goals. It is contended that the curriculum is most meaningfully conceptualised as being a “path from here to there”’ and it is best defined as a small set of ideas which comprise a means of structuring the association of the student and the teacher, toward the aim of nurturing the personal development of the student.”
Sprandel, D. (1975)
The more I read Sprandels take on curriculum, the more I started to wonder about the unseen-hidden curriculum that may or may not work towards the “nurturing the personal development of the student” In my own context, our focus has shifted radically to creating other experiences, in particular through our experiential learning programme, our more systematic approach and intentional planning to focus on Learner Profiles , ATLs (Approaches to Teaching and Learning) and in the IBDP CAS (which is not formally assessed). Whilst all these are requirements within the framework of IBDP schools, I still see much room for improvement.
- How are our units (the content) guiding students in deeper and more meaningful personal development?
- How is their learning personalised?
- Do our plans incorporate real-world issues and if/when they do, are they only stand-alone units?
- Are we doing enough cross-curricula planning?
- What are the pedagogical approaches present in our classrooms?
This is where the articulation of the curriculum needs to be reviewed. I suspect many schools are missing the chance to make it trans/interdisciplinary across numerous subject areas. Too many subjects and teachers for that matter are working in isolation.
References
Creativity, activity, service | International Baccalaureate® – International Baccalaureate®. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.ibo.org/programmes/diploma-programme/curriculum/creativity-activity-and-service/
MYP: From principles into practice. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://ibpublishing.ibo.org/server2/rest/app/tsm.xql?doc=m_0_mypxx_guu_1409_1_e&part=3&chapter=4
Sprandel, D. (1975). A Definition of Curriculum. Improving College and University Teaching, 23(3), 180-183. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/27564857