How and Who Decides What Knowledge Is Worth? Ideology, Social Order and the Politics of Curriculum Policy-making

What is curriculum? Subject matter Guidelines of what to teach Subject matter Expectations (students should know and to measure) Content designated as important by society/values Ever changing and evolving Collection of ideas and knowledge Decided by ME Mandated Strict set of guidelines needed to be followed. Knowledge “older generations” want to pass down Educational-based to scaffold or guide students education Provincially mandated guidelines to achieve consistency Tells teachers what students should be able to do/learn. Can be interpreted differently Teachers and governments think is important content for higher education and for life. Monday’s lecture Wednesday’s lecture

Objectives: Understanding curriculum as public policy. Exploring “the politics of curriculum” through the proposed K-12 financial literacy school curricula. Practicing approaching school curricula as texts filled with contrasting ideological stances and different visions of a good education and of a good society. “There is no neutral text. All texts represent a particular perspective”

Benjamin Levin Deputy Minister of Education, Manitoba, 1999 – 2002 Deputy Minister of Education, Ontario, 2004 – 2007 and from 2008 – 2009 Until 2013, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Education Leadership and Policy at the University of Toronto

Curriculum as politics and public policy Learning to See Curriculum as a place of struggle Over what? The kind of society we want to live in (Mouffe, 1992).

Curriculum as politics and public policy Policies govern just about every aspect of education—what schooling is provided, how, to whom, in what form, by whom, with what resources” (Levin, 2008, p. 8). “Curriculum concerns what is taught—a fundamental aspect of schooling and thus of public policy” (Levin, 2008, p. 8). “Policy is inextricably connected to politics and the attempt to separate them is unhelpful to understanding or action” (Levin, 2008, p. 8). “Politics is the primary process through which public policy decisions are made” (Levin, 2008, p. 8).

The Politics of Curriculum Educational Curriculum Policies Teaching Educational Policies Curriculum Politics

Who is aware of any newly introduced school curricula in any Canadian province?

Among the most debatable K-8 learning outcomes: Grade 1: teaches proper name for genitalia (e.g., penis and vagina). Grade 3: visible and invisible differences. Concern: discussion of homosexuality and same-sex families. Grade 5 and 6: prevention of sexually transmitted infections. Concern: talking about intercourse. Grade 8: factors influencing one’s sexual activity (e.g., delaying, peer-pressure, risk of pregnancy). February 23, 2015. Ontario Education Minister Liz Sandals presents the revised Health and Physical Education curriculum at a press conference at Queen's Park in Toronto What Ontario students will learn in new sex-ed classes? http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/02/23/what-ontarios-students-will-learn-with-the-updated-sex-education-curriculum.html

Parents and students protest Ontario's new sex-ed curriculum outside Premier Kathleen Wynne's constituency office on May 4, 2015.

Saskatchewan K-12 Financial Literacy Curriculum

How is this new financial literacy curricula being designed and implemented?

K- 12 Financial Literacy Curriculum

Your turn: Practicing approaching school curricula as texts

The politics of the Financial Literacy Curriculum: How does the Junior Achievement understand financial literacy? What perspectives/understandings seem to be missing? How does the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce understand financial literacy? What perspectives/understandings seem to be missing?

The politics of the Financial Literacy Curriculum: What subject? What content should be taught? Ideology: What societal forces may contribute to put forward the proposed new curriculum? Power: Who benefits? Why? Actors: Who is involved? What interests and perspectives the actors involved may want to advance?

Emphasis of Financial Literacy Programs: Teach youth about managing personal finances (e.g., managing a checking account, credit building). Teach children about budgeting their money. Teach entrepreneurial skills (marketing, business planning, team building and the importance of social responsibility. Teach children the role of business.

World Economic Forum (Davos, Switzerland, 2011) “The increase in inequality is the most serious challenge for the world… [and] I don’t think the world is paying enough attention” Min Zhu, Special Adviser at the International Monetary Fund

It is the international institution committed to improving the state of the world through public-private cooperation.

What are the top trends facing the world in 2015?

“In developed and developing countries alike, the poorest half of the population often controls less than 10% of its wealth.”

Should financial literacy teach about socio-economic inequality, of the complex causes and consequences of what it means to be poor and what it means to be rich?

Financial Literacy: Our Critique What role does financial literacy seems to play in the provincial government economic growth plan? How do the Junior Achievement and the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce understand financial literacy? What perspectives/understandings seem to be missing? What view of a financial literacy person does financial literacy programs seem to endorse and to educate for? Why? How does the introduction of the proposed K-12 financial literacy education becomes an instrument to reproduce a particular social order? How is that social order imagined?