Transforming Curriculum for A Culturally Diverse Society

Etta R. Hollins

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781135469498
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

The intention of this book is to engage educators in transforming the public school curriculum for a culturally diverse society. This means more than including knowledge about diverse populations. It means reconceptualizing school practices through debate, deliberation, and collaboration involving the diverse voices that comprise the nation. Certain key questions must be addressed in this process:
* What should be the purpose of schooling in a culturally diverse society?
* Who should be involved in curriculum planning and what process should be employed?
* How is the actualized curriculum differentiated?
* What is the relationship between school practices and the structure of the larger society?
* How should the curriculum be evaluated? The authors of the essays in this book address critical perspectives from which a framework is constructed for a discourse on planning curriculum for a culturally diverse society. In a substantive introduction, Hollins presents the major themes and overall goals of the book and describes how the readings in each of the four parts are linked to each other and to these themes and goals. Each part begins with critical questions and an overview to provide a framework and a focus for the readings that follow, and concludes with suggested learning experiences.

CHAPTER ONE

Introduction

Etta R. Hollins

This chapter describes how this book may be used as a framework for discourse on curriculum planning in a culturally diverse society. It is organized into four parts that address the purpose of schooling, curriculum planning, curriculum differentiation, and curriculum evaluation. The framework presented here addresses (a) the impetus for curriculum change, (b) representative participation, (c) systematic inquiry, and (d) informed practice. Each of the areas discussed includes examples and, where possible, supporting research and theory.

The perspectives presented in this book address different aspects of the curriculum including the explicit or planned, the implicit or hidden, and the null or omitted. Curriculum is defined as all of the learning, routines, and interactions that occur among all participants as a function of schooling, whether planned or not, which inform and shape responses to the environment within and outside of school. This definition is predicated on the premise that there is (a) a reciprocal and constitutive relationship between the practices and values in school and those found in the larger society and (b) at least a contributory relationship between the students' home-culaire and productive school practices.

The school curriculum legitimates knowledge, perspectives, values, and interactions and relationships among people and institutions. The planned curriculum is overt and intentional in what is legitimated. History, English, and science content are examples of the planned curriculum. The implicit curriculum is indirect in that what is legitimated is culturally, socially, and institutionally embedded and may be incorporated into school practices without planning or thought. For example, competition and individualism are values held in the larger society that permeate school practices without requiring much thought or planning. The null curriculum mainly consists of knowledge valued by marginalized groups and may be omitted from the curriculum as a matter of routine. The null curriculum helps to maintain and perpetuate the existing societal structure. The omission of the history and culture of ethnic minorities is an example of the null curriculum. Historically, this omission has been part of the acculturation or Americanization process aimed at eliminating cultural identities and practices that are not “mainstream middle-class European American.” The authors in this book make various aspects of the curriculum explicit, thereby providing opportunities to examine critical issues important to transforming the curriculum for a culturally diverse society.

IDENTIFYING THE IMPETUS FOR CHANGE

Curriculum change is usually aimed at improving the academic, psychological, or social outcomes of schooling. The desire to improve the outcomes of schooling may be motivated by (a) local or national economic needs or changes in technology, (b) specific societal concerns or issues such as health and public safety, and (c) internal or external threats of a political nature. For example, recent technological advances in the computer industry have had a significant influence on the school curriculum. Many high schools and some elementary schools have the latest computer hardware and software. Computer programs direct academic study in many areas including language arts, science, and social studies. Students use computers for compiling and organizing data for a variety of purposes, for communicating with other students at different locations, and for general word processing. Much planning has been done to ensure that the school curriculum adequately prepares young people for the information age in which computers are expected to be indispensable.

An example of societal concerns with health issues involves AIDS education. Some public interest groups and school districts have developed curriculum guides and information packets for educators and students about AIDS. Some groups such as health care workers and educators may be more concerned with preventing the spread of AIDS than with social or cultural values and practices and may advocate controversial practices such as the dissemination of condoms to high school students or needles to confirmed drug addicts. Other groups may be more concerned with morality than with preventing the spread of this disease and may be opposed to such practices as the dissemination of condoms or needles to drug addicts. Tension over curriculum content resulting from differences in value perspectives is common in public education. In this instance, the conflict is over whether to include the null curriculum (AIDS education) as part of the explicit curriculum. The values inherent in the implicit curriculum are in opposition to practices advocated by some groups.

Differences in value perspectives and the increased tension produced may be more evident in situations involving a potential internal political threat. For example, cultural pluralism, a concept that emerged as a social and political response to the influx of immigrants from southern and eastern Europe during the colonial period, was revitalized during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s (Pratte, 1979). Each case represented a political threat of civil unrest and in each case the concept was controversial. The conceptualization of multicultural education as we know it today is an outgrowth of the Civil Rights Movement and is based on the earlier concept of cultural pluralism.

The multiculturalists contend that national unity can co-exist with cultural pluralism where diverse groups retain visible aspects of their original cultural heritage. They advocate a multicultural curriculum that includes multiple perspectives and the accomplishments of all groups within the society (Banks, 1991/1992). Traditionalists argue that an emphasis on ethnicity is a threat to national unity. They advocate a common curriculum that includes noteworthy contributions from different groups (Ravitch, 1991/1992). The multiculturalists argue that the common culture is the dominant culture and excludes the fair representation of ethnic minorities. Despite the debate between the traditionalists and the multiculturalists, multicultural education has influenced all areas of the public school curriculum.

The impetus for change in the school curriculum may come from many different sources. Cultural diversity within the society is a significant impetus for curriculum change, although the topic is too general to develop a vision for planning. The authors in this book present issues that when synthesized in deliberation, collaboration, and planning have the potential for generating a vision for enduring systemic change, which will transform the curriculum to meet the needs of a culturally diverse society.

REPRESENTATIVE PARTICIPATION

Once the decision is made to change or alter the curriculum a planning or study group is formed. In the first chapter in Part II, Schwab (1983) describes in detail the composition of the planning group along with the attributes, roles, and responsibilities. In summary, Schwab's planning group includes the following:

1. teachers with innovative ideas who represent the area of the curriculum to be addressed, and at least one who represents an area that may be directly or indirectly affected by the proposed changes;

2. The principal;

3. a chairperson;

4. community representation;

5. student representation;

6. an academic advisor who is a professional academic with extensive knowledge of the field being addressed (occasional attendance at meetings);

7. a research advisor (occasional attendance at meetings); and

8. a social science consultant such as a psychologist, sociologist, or ethnographer (occasional attendance at meetings).

Schwab describes four commonplaces in curriculum planning including the teacher, the student, the subject matter, and the milieu. Each member of the planning group should have expertise in at least one of the four commonplaces of curriculum planning. Schwab recommends that the size of the planning group should be about nine regular members, although the size may vary depending on the size of the school and the availability of individuals for membership. For example, in small schools all of those who will use the curriculum may be involved in the planning process. In large schools, involving two or three teachers who will use the curriculum may be sufficient.

The chairperson of the curriculum group is primarily responsible for facilitating collaboration, deliberation, and decision making. The chairperson helps group members overcome both biases and stereotypes in their interactions with each other and limitations in their knowledge and awareness related to the task at hand. He or she also supports and ensures equal participation of all group members in collaboration, deliberation, and decision making.

In describing the composition of the curriculum planning group, Schwab does not address the representation of those from culturally and ethnically diverse backgrounds, different social class levels, those with different physical or intellectual attributes, or a balance in gender. In transforming the school curriculum for a culturally diverse society it is important to develop an inclusive structure for curriculum planning where diverse groups experience equity in representation and power in determining the purpose, values, and outcomes of schooling. Individuals representing different populations served by the school should be knowledgeable about the group's aspirations, expectations, experiences, perceptions, practices, and values. These individuals may be members of the groups represented or closely associated with these groups in ways that provide similar insights. Including culturally diverse populations need not increase the size of the curriculum planning group. Cultural diversity can be represented within the categories of group membership Schwab describes. For example, some of the teachers participating in the curriculum group may come from different cultural or social class backgrounds and may be able to represent the values and interests of these groups.

SYSTEMATIC INQUIRY

Systematic inquiry entails the use of multiple approaches and multiple sources to gather data related to school practices and their impact on the students served, their teachers, and the larger society. This includes qualitative and quantitative research and a thorough review of the research and theoretical literature. Inadequate or inappropriate inquiry or data gathering can result in curriculum planning based on inaccurate or incomplete information. Thus, the design of the curriculum may be seriously flawed and the desired outcomes may be inappropriate or unattainable.

Schwab's four commonplaces are important areas for inquiry. For example, it is important to understand how teacher perception and other factors such as social interactions and relationships in the classroom influence the actualized curriculum; how students respond to the subject matter presented and to the learning experiences provided by teachers; how subject matter is framed and whether this varies from one student population to another; and how classroom and school practices are related to the values and practices in the students' home-cultures and communities. Ethnographic techniques of inquiry can produce important insights into relationships among the four commonplaces. Existing ethnographic data related to the curriculum project should be reviewed. Ethnographic techniques may be employed to collect additional data needed for curriculum decision making.

Approaches and Sources

Part III provides examples of reports from ethnographic studies that provide important insights for curriculum planning, which are directly related to Schwab's four commonplaces. For example, the study by Anyon (1980) addresses all four commonplaces. Observations in elementary school classrooms serving students from five different social class levels show how teachers' perceptions of children's social status influences the presentation of the curriculum. In this case the teachers take into consideration the social milieu from which the children come to reframe the curriculum in a way that denies access to socially valued knowledge and skills. Lipka (1991) reports a case study that also addresses all four of Schwab's commonplaces. Extensive observation of a Yup'ik Eskimo teacher whose students share his culture reveals the relationship between values and practices in this classroom and those in the students' home-culture and community. Lipka shows how the teacher reframes the curriculum to include content that is familiar to the students and how social interactions in the classroom are consistent with values and practices in the Yup'ik culture. The interaction...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• 1 Introduction
• Part I: The Purpose of Schooling
• Part II: Curriculum Planning
• Part III: Curriculum Perspectives
• Part IV: Assessment And Evaluation
• Author Index
• Subject Index