1. Key Concepts for Understanding Curriculum: Colin J Marsh
Chapter 19:
Curriculum Theorizing

2. Politically Sensitive Questions
What should count as knowledge? As knowing? What does not count as legitimate knowledge?
Who defines what counts as legitimate knowledge?
Who should control the selection and distribution of knowledge?
Think ahead to chapter 21:
How does this relate to the postmodern world?

3. Three Types of Curriculum Theories
Prescriptive Theorizers
Descriptive Theorizers
Critical-Exploratory Theorizers

4. Prescriptive Theorizers
creates models for curriculum development to improve school practice
Prescriptive Theorizers

5. Tyler’s Rationale/Process
Curriculum should be a rational process:
Select objectives
Select learning experiences
Organize learning experiences
Evaluate

6. Evaluation of Tyler Approach
Advantages
Practical and useful
Focus on student behaviors for devising objectives
Disadvantages
Individual teachers have limited flexibility (Is this really a disadvantage???)
Does not adapt to specific needs of students

7. Descriptive Theorizers
Identifies the process of how curriculum development takes place, especially in school settings
Descriptive Theorizers

8. Walker’s Rationale/Process
Curriculum should be a natural process:
Platform
All who are involved come together and share ideas
Deliberation
Discussion and consensus seeking
Design
Decisions (based on steps 1 and 2)
Result: Curriculum (and materials)

9. Evaluation of Walker Approach
Advantage
Consensus
Disadvantage
“Too many cooks can spoil the soup.”
(Remember “Show Me”???)

10. Critical-Exploratory Theorizers
examines deficiencies in past practices
considers curriculum in broad intellectual and social contexts (i.e., not classrooms and schools)
Critical-Exploratory Theorizers

11. Critical-Exploratory Theorizers
Two focuses
Connection between school and ‘social order’
Constructivism
Reconceptualism (1970s and 80s)
Opposed to rational, scientific approaches
They thought they were “new and better”.
Philosophical (and very confused)

12. Evaluation of Reconceptualism
Advantage
Raises a few interesting questions
Disadvantages
Unscientific (no legitimate research)
Often illogical
Fixation on race, sex, multiculturalism, and politics

13. Postmodernism and the Curriculum
Chapter 21
Postmodernism and the Curriculum

14. What is ‘Postmodernism’?
Modernism (late 1800s & 1900s)
Philosophy focused on democratic values, equality, and scientific analysis.
Postmodernism
American radical leftists of 1960s and 1970s
Anti-scientific, “multiculturalism", "feminism", "deconstructionism", etc.

15. Modernism Postmodernism
Irrational
Anti-science
All values subjective
Anarchic, totalitarian
Chaotic, fragmented
Totally subjective
Progress not possible
Rhetorical, all is belief
All is subjective
Anthropocentric
Rational
Scientific
Universal values
Democratic
Organized
Objective
Progress
Critical analysis
Objective truth
Reality exists

16. Example: What is it?

17. What does it mean for curriculum?
Open curriculum to reflection by both teachers and students
Personal “stories” of teachers and students have a place in the curriculum
Norms and values need to be deconstructed (especially about race, gender, ethnicity, and politics)
Encourage reflection on body, mind, and spirit
Promote ‘holistic’ inquiry into relationship between person and his/her inner and outer environments.
Promote diverse methods of learning and expression (beyond numeracy and literacy)

18. Slattery’s 8 Perspectives
Historical: Reinterpret history based only on subjective experiences
Aesthetic: Focus on non-rational aspects of people
Social Criticism: “Deconstruct” truth, knowledge, and political systems
Cultural Analysis: Technology is bad

19. Slattery’s 8 Perspectives
Radical Eclecticism: Accept radical views
Cosmological Dialogue: Search for ‘personal harmony’ with the universe
Global/Environmental: Green
Reconceptualize: Focus on race, gender, class

20. Benefit
Focus on individual students
Criticism
Illogical and Self-Contradictory: It is a theory that denies the coherence of theory. (Barrow)
Useless: Has contributed nothing. (Green)
Dangerous: Leads to amorality and abandonment of the intellect (Green)

21. Conclusion (from the Book)
Postmodernism asks questions and therefore may lead to dialogue about assumptions of current schooling and curriculum planning.
Also, asking questions may lead to new perspectives and approaches to curriculum development.