Curriculum Conceptions

With the world constantly evolving and trying to keep up with the new generations, it is clear what concepts of curriculum continue to be popular and why certain ones fade out. With all educators having the same overall goal in mind, there is no one-size fits all when it comes to curriculum. These concepts need to be used together to achieve these high academic standards being asked of students and educators. From the readings, here is what I have concluded about the five mainstream concepts of curriculum. 

All 4 concepts have one major thing in common. As Schiro (2013) states, “Curriculum design is concerned with the nature and arrangement of four basic parts: objectives, content, learning experiences, and evaluation.”

Self-actualization

McNeil (2009) describes self-actualization as the humanistic curriculum in which the focus is to help students be what they want to be. In the school setting, this means “activities that are exploratory, puzzling, playful, and spontaneous-all of which are vital for innovation and self-renewal.” This concept of curriculum focuses on developing the children to their fullest potential while helping children find their identity. 

Although, Vallance (1986) addresses that self-actualization has suffered the most, “losing its saliency to the changes of a society that has become increasingly practical and job-oriented in its demands on the curriculum,” I argue that self-actualization, or now replaced by personal success or personal commitment to learning, is now on the rise. With the new acceptance in today’s society of mental health, self-love, and being unique, schools are driving to provide students with growth mindsets and allowing each student to learn their own way. 

Social Reconstruction

As Eisner & Vallance (1974) state, “Social reconstructionists typically stress societal needs over individual needs; the overall goals of education are dealt with in terms of total experience, rather than using the immediate processes which they imply.” In summary, as Vallance (1986) states, "social reconstructionism is a curriculum in which students are empowered to criticize and improve society." Social reconstruction has continued to improve and evolve since the 1970’s due to new conservative values being introduced to education like restoration of prayer. As Sowell (2005) outlines about the social relevance-reconstruction concept, the focus to prepare students “for living in an unstable, changing world, and to reform to society” is needed in today’s world with issues like recessions, diseases, wars, inflation, climate change, ect. 

Technology

According to Eisner & Vallance (1974), curriculum as technology is “concerned not with the processes of knowing or learning, but with the technology by which knowledge is communicated and "learning" is facilitated.” With technology continuing to be the center focus of everything in today's world, I don’t see this concept dying out. In fact, I see it becoming one of the most popular mainstream concepts in the future. As Vallance (1986), mentions in A Second Look, computer literacy is now mentioned as a basic cognitive skill needed by all children. This generation of students needs to be computer literate to survive in today’s world and future.

Academic Rationalism 

The Academic Rationalism concept of curriculum is “concerned with enabling the young to acquire the tools to participate in the Western cultural tradition and with providing access to the greatest ideas and objects that man has created” (Eisner, E & Vallance, E, 1974). McNeil (2009) adds that in “an academic curriculum knowledge is organized in ways that are best for learning a particular subject matter and for introducing students to the big questions that drive inquiry in the academic disciplines.” Vallance (1986) sums it up with the idea that academic rationalism is just assigning mastery of the knowledge learned through education. Academic Rationalism will continue to stay in education because content continues to update around Western culture traditions and introduce relavent subject matter to students like sex education, drug abuse, and survival skills.

Feminist Pedagogy

The one concept that has faded out over time is the Feminist Pedagogy concept introduced by Pratt (1994). The Feminist Pedagogy concept “focuses on a more equitable balance among gender-related characteristics and interests.” I think it is clear that this curriculum that was built more towards women does not work in a classroom with both genders of students. 

After gathering a clear understanding of the different concepts of curriculum, I felt it was clear which concepts I use in my own practice for planning, instruction, and assessment. Overall, since I am a virtual school, the concept of technology is used for curriculum planning, instruction, and assessment. I plan and align my lessons based off our virtual online curriculum that the students use and instruct students on blackboard collaborate. Recently, I have been trying to create a student-centered classroom where my students are discovering and learning on their own. This also means allowing assessments to have choice and allowing the students to show mastery of a concept in whichever way is best for their own learning style. I think overall, the concepts of self-actualization and technology are most frequently used in my classroom. Personally, as an educator, I have a big focus on the development of cognitive process in my classroom as well. I am a big believer in teaching skills that students can transfer to all subject areas and use outside of school to succeed in society and in education. 

Sources:

Eisner, E., & Vallance, E. (Eds.). (1974). Five conceptions of the curriculum: Their roots and implications for curriculum planning.In E. Eisner & E. Vallance (Eds.), Conflicting conceptions of curriculum (pp. 1-18). Berkeley, CA: McCutchan Publishing.

McNeil, J. D. (2009).  Contemporary curriculum in thought and action (7th ed.).  Hoboken, NJ:  John Wiley. Pages 1, 3-14, 27-39, 52-60, 71-74.

Schiro, M. S. (2013).  Introduction to the curriculum ideologies. In M. S. Schiro, Curriculum theory: Conflicting visions and enduring concerns (2nd ed., pp. 1-13). Thousand Oaks, CA:  Sage.

Sowell, E. J. (2005). Curriculum: An integrative introduction (3rd ed., pp. 37-51). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Vallance. (1986). A second look at conflicting conceptions of the curriculum. Theory into Practice, 25(1), 24-30.