module specification

The module aims to:

• familiarise students with different dimensions of a curriculum;
• encourage students to appreciate the interrelatedness of learning, pedagogy, assessment, curricular statements and educational policies;
• introduce students to the historical, spatial, political, cultural and ideological locatedness of educational policies and how these influence and shape educational provision;
• equip students with the understanding to critically analyse curricular provisions and educational processes;
• enable students to contribute to the review and development of educational provision within their own professional context.

The module will begin by critically analysing the processes of teaching, learning and assessment. Understanding of these processes will be used to analyse the English National Curriculum as an exemplar of official statement of intent and a framework of curricular provision. This will involve critical discussion of the historical, political, social and ideological circumstances that paved the way for the introduction of a centralised curriculum in England and Wales.

Students will be introduced to the problematic of human knowledge and learning from philosophical, psychological and socio-political perspectives and the implications of this for curriculum design and policy. They will be provided opportunities to engage different models of curriculum planning. The module will encourage students to engage with and interrogate the philosophical bases of these models and evaluate the implications for learning, pedagogy and assessment.

Focus is given to analysing some recent national and international curricular policies and frameworks. Students will be encouraged to analyse these policies using some of the key insights and understandings acquired during the course of the module.

The module will also include a briefing on the assignment, and feedback sessions involving a workshop in which students present and discuss aspects of their essay for in-class peer and tutor review; and a personal tutorial to give feedback on their assignment.

Learning Outcomes LO1 - LO4

Lectures and seminars delivered, once a week, in three hours blocks in the evenings. These contact sessions will be accompanied by some opportunities to extend understanding and analysis of key ideas and issues in the virtual learning space for the module.

On successful completion of this module, the students will be able:

1. appreciate and understand different perspectives on learning;
2. demonstrate awareness of the dynamic and contingent nature of educational policies, curricula and learning provisions and how these might be affected by a range of contextual processes;
3. demonstrate a sound understanding of key dimensions of a curriculum and use this to analyse educational policies and provisions;
4. review curricular provision in specific educational contexts.

Indicative assessment tasks for this module, one selected from the following options:
• critical appraisal of the curricular provision, pedagogic practices and assessment regime of an educational institution;
• critical analysis of a recent educational policy;
• theoretical essay – curriculum critique and construction

Formative assessment though tutorials in relation to the assignment

Core Texts:
Brighouse, H. (2006). On education. London New York: Routledge

Leach, J and Moon, B (2008) The Power of Pedagogy London: Sage

Ross, A. (2000), Curriculum: Construction and Critique. London: Falmer Press.

Other Texts:

Apple, M. (2018) The Struggle for Democracy in Education, London: Routledge. 
   
Broadfoot, P. (2007) An Introduction to Assessment, London: Continuum.

Dardar, A., Baltodano, MP, and Torres, RD (2017) The Critical Pedagogy Reader (3rd ed), London: Routledge.

Flinders, DJ and Thornton, SJ (2017) The Curriculum Studies Reader (5th Ed), London: Routledge

Freire, P., (2004), Pedagogy of Hope: reliving Pedagogy of the oppressed, London: Continuum

Fullan, M., (2001), Leading in a Culture of Change, New York: Jossey-Bass

Giroux, H., (2001),  Theory and Resistance in Education: towards a pedagogy for the opposition, Westport, Conn.: Bergin and Garvey

Goodson, I. (ed.) (1994) Studying Curriculum: Cases and Methods. Buckingham: OU Press.

Green, B (2018) Engaging Curriculum: Bridging the Curriculum Theory and English Education Divide London: Routledge.

Hoque, A. (2015), British-Islamic Identity Third-generation Bangladeshis from East, London: IOE Press

Illeris, K. (ed.) (2018 2nd Ed) How we learn: learning and non-learning in school and beyond. Learning theorists ... in their own words, London: Routledge.

Kelly, A. (2009) The Curriculum: Theory and Practice (6th Edition). London: Sage.

Lave, J. & Wenger, E. (1991) Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation, Cambridge University Press

Marsh, C. J. (2009) Key Concepts for Understanding Curriculum, 4th edition, London: Routledge.

Piaget, J. (1955) The Child’s Construction of Reality, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

Rogoff, B. (1990) Apprenticeship in Thinking New York: Oxford University Press

Stenhouse, L. (1975) An Introduction to Curriculum Research and Development. Oxford: Heinemann.

Scott, D. (2007) Critical Essays on Major Curriculum Theorists. London: Routledge.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978) Mind in Society, Harvard University Press

Watkins, C and Mortimore, P (1999), What do we know? In Mortimore, P (Ed) (1999), Understanding pedagogy and its impact on learning, London: Paul Chapman

Journals

Journal of Curriculum Studies
Curriculum Inquiry
Curriculum Journal
Curriculum Review
Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy
British Journal of Sociology of Education

Websites:

DfE (2011) The Framework for the National Curriculum: A report by the Expert Panel for the National Curriculum Review, [online] URL: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/framework-for-the-national-curriculum-a-report-by-the-expert-panel-for-the-national-curriculum-review, (accessed 20.3.18).

Dewey, J, works by:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/852 (accessed 20.3.18)

Fullan, M. Motion Leadership
https://michaelfullan.ca/handouts/ (accessed 20.3.18)

Wenger, E. Home page
http://wenger-trayner.com/etienne/ (accessed 20.3.18)