Reflecting on My Philosophical and Theoretical Position in Curriculum
Introduction
Throughout the courses CUR 8110 and 9510, I have had the opportunity to pursue philosophical and theoretical positions that inform curriculum design. Initially, my understanding was largely theoretical and focused on the curriculum as a reflection of social values, beliefs and ideals. My recent experiences in these courses included analyzing political influences on education funding and how resources are allocated for public schools. My perspective has changed a bit. The development of curriculum now appears to be impacted to a big degree by political and social influences.
Curriculum as a Reflection of Social Values
In my previous reflection, I looked back on how I believed curriculum embodies values and priorities. The experience of redesigning a social studies curriculum to include diverse perspectives appreciate the importance of multicultural education (Pourdavood & Yan, 2020). But my recent experiences in analyzing political influence on education have revealed to me that curriculum can be manipulated to serve political ends. Different sites and political-educational blogs have shown me how political...
Indeed, one of the biggest revelations from this course is the intersection of curriculum with political elements. For example, my research on how funding is allocated revealed...
…calling for curricula that are inclusive and responsive to the actual needs of learners. I see myself as being an active participant in the design of curricula. I see it as something that really needs to be done, so that the old inadequate approaches do not limit student success.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the experiences in this course have given me a lot to think about and in that sense have impacted my take on how to approach the development of curriculum and how it is actually shaped by socio-political factors. I want to continue exploring how curriculum development can be addressed more effectively to reflect the diversity of our student body and…
