ECS 210 Curriculum as a cultural and social practice September 18, 2015

 This class invites you to critically think about: ◦ Why are there different understandings of curriculum (i.e., definitions and approaches)? ◦ Why some understandings of curriculum are better known than others? ◦ Identify the values, beliefs, goals and purposes of education that different understandings of curriculum endorse. ◦ What understanding of curriculum you seem to endorse? How these understandings are likely to shape the teacher you want to be and the teacher you can be?

 The word curriculum has its roots in the Latin word currere, which means a course to be run, referring to a formal course of study that the students follow.  The idea of curriculum has always existed; however, the idea of curriculum development (the careful planning of school learning) is relatively new.

Franklin Bobbitt (1876 – ?) Considered the father of the field of curriculum studies 1918

 Professor of educational administration whose speciality was making systems more efficient.  Endorser of the efficiency movement, a school of thought that sought to identify and eliminate waste in all areas of the economy and society (and education was not the exception) through the development and implementation of best practices.  Bobbitt approached curriculum as a managerial system that if well-implemented would succeed in meeting societal needs.

"Education is a shaping process as much as the manufacture of steel rails." John Franklin Bobbitt

Are Bobbit’s ideas over?

Bradford L. Smith Microsoft Executive Vice President “The future of the economy depends on getting people with the right skills to match the next generation of jobs.” Debating the purpose of schools World Economic Forum, Global Risks, Switzerland, 2011

Ralph Tyler ( ), 1949 behavioral psychologist

 1. What educational purposes should the school seek to attain?  2. What educational experiences can be provided that are likely to attain these purposes?  3. How can educational experiences be effectively organized?  4. How can we determine whether these purposes are being attained? (Tyler, 1949, p.1). 1949

 Ralph Tyler advised president Harry Truman (1945–53) on reforming the curriculum at the service academies in  Under president Dwight Eisenhower (1953 – 1961), Ralph Taylor chaired the President’s Conference on Children and Youth.  The Lyndon Johnson Administration (1963 –1969) used Tyler’s advice to shape many of its education bills and programs.

Is Tyler’s conception of curriculum development a thing of the past? What may be some problems with his linear conception of curriculum?

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