★ 9.3 MEANING OF CURRICULUM ENGAGEMENT :-
Curriculum, as we have understood till now is usually a prescribed course of a study that schools are expected to follow. It covers the content that is to be covered in course of study. A curriculum also recommends teaching methods that help to achieve the set objectives. Thus, you can say that curricula, to some extent, defines and directs what should be taught in schools, how should it be taught, and what to expect from the learners. On the other hand, you would agree even though curriculum makers may set their objectives through curricular documents, it is the school which is the actual site of any curriculum implementation and engagement.
Curriculum Engagement occurs when the learning process helps in realizing the goals of a prescribed curriculum. Engagement is not just the involvement of the sole individual in learning; rather, learning is the vehicle for the individual’s engagement with a community and with society at large. Schools must provide opportunity to their learners to engage meaningfully in learning. In order to be engaged learners, they must see the value of learning, they must see their own potential as learners, and they must have access to resources for learning.
Thus, Schools play crucial role in curricular engagement. Many educationalists and reformers therefore believe that the context of school defines and shapes the real meaning of the curriculum. In this section, we will see the role of school and schooling in curriculum engagement.
★ 9.3.1 Role of School Philosophy - 1 :-
Through the earlier units of this block, we have understood that the premise of any curricular document is centred on what knowledge is worth teaching to the learners. The fundamental concern of any curriculum is to give a framework of what should be taught and what is worthwhile to learn. As a result one can say that curriculum attempt to provide an understanding of the nature of education.
However, if you try analyse the functioning of any school with an analytically, you would realise that there exist multiple layers of understandings related to learner’s expectations. Suppose, if you ask your learners about why they come to school and what would they like to learn? You would realise that different learners hold different expectations. Some aspire to get well educated, for some education is synonymous to taking informed decisions while some would associate it with empowerment. These predominant thoughts with which learners come to school set their expectations.
On a finer analysis of learners expectations, you would also realise that they assign roles to each component of schooling. A classroom is typically considered as a site for serious work while a playground may be seen as a site of enjoyment. However, on the other hand, a child wishing to pursue career in sports would ascribe to a playground as a site of learning and growing. These multiple expectations forms dispositions related to the role of school in the life of learners.
The scope and nature of curriculum gets articulated through the practices and ideologies of the site of its implementation, which is the school. School differ from each other in terms of their needs of their learners, the available resources community in which it is located, school environment, management committees of the school and the competence of the teachers. The social and cultural aspects of schools set boundaries and definitions of a curriculum.
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★ 9.3.1 Role of School Philosophy - 2 :-
Each school redefines the implementation of the curriculum through its actual practices. For instance, by studying the timetable of a school you will be able to understand the ideology of the school related to scholastics and non-scholastic areas. The school which places subjects like Mathematics, languages, sciences at the first half of the day strongly believes in the old school of building mental faculties through study of disciplines.
Another school whose timetable is based on thematic work visualises a blended mode of curriculum, amalgamating the scholastic with the so-called non-scholastic areas. One can, thus, say that school becomes a mirror that reflects the vision and mission of the curriculum. The actions of a school point out the decisions that the school has taken related to its curriculum. It would hence, not be incorrect to say that each school defines and develops its own curricula to a certain level. Let us consider an example here.
A school called Techie Kids located at the centre of a metropolitan city is equipped with advanced technological devices and the teachers are expected to use these devices in their classrooms. The school adopted project-research pedagogy wherein the learners are expected to search online resources while doing their assignments. On the other hand, another school, The My Learning School located in the same area, with similar student strength believes in the philosophy of learning-by-doing. This school also adopts projectwork as a strategy of learning but encourages students to experience things on their own, through their own senses and draw their learning through their observations
As you can compare, both the schools, though follow the same aim, have adopted different strategies for learning. Though both the schools come under the ambit of the same standard National Curriculum, their ideologies differentiate their strategies of following the curriculum. The first school relies on technology as a medium for learning whereas the latter school follows an experiential methodology.
Check Your Progress
Notes : a) Write your answers in the space given below.
b) Compare your answers with those given at the end of the unit.
1) How do you think the ideology of a school effect the implementation of curriculum in a school?
★ 9.4.2 Resources (Library, Laboratory, School Playground Etc.) - 1 :-
The physical resources present in the school, support the implementation of the planned curriculum. Though one may not see a direct relation between curriculum and the physical conditions of the school, but these influence in the fulfillment or non-fulfillment of the perceived goals. There are evidences that support the role of various factors such as library, laboratories, playground and the school’s neighbourhood in students’ achievement. Based on your experience do you also feel that absence or presence of these facilities effect in the learning of learners? Have you ever realized how these facilities contribute in a learners school life? The condition of science laboratories, classroom furniture, playground, library have direct relation with students’ achievement.
♦ (i) Classrooms
You would agree that inadequate and unhygienic classroom conditions would discourage anyone to enter the classrooms. As teachers you would also like to take classes in good comfortable environments. Learners have to spend many hours in a classroom, therefore it is important for the school that their classrooms are cleaned every day and there is proper ventilation in the classrooms. A space for each child to sit comfortably and work must be ensured. You would have noticed that overcrowded classrooms, especially in early grades is a major source of poor achievement. You can even display learners’s work on the walls to make them feel attached to the classroom.
♦ (ii) Playground
Besides the classrooms, learners also need space to enjoy, to experiment and to learn on their own. They need a good playground where they can play and enjoy the school premises. Playgrounds are places where learners get the freedom to enjoy, vent out their energies and to be with their friends. It is important that learners feel attached to the natural surroundings and use them as part of their learning. The teachers can use the playgrounds for playing games, teaching through games and also for learning science. For example, in the recent drive by Delhi Government to teach learners about plants, they have asked each school to write the biological nomenclature of every tree present in the playgrounds. Learners, unknowingly, have started to recognise the names and benefits of trees in their lives.
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★ 9.4.2 Resources (Library, Laboratory, School Playground Etc.) - 2 :-
♦ (iii) Laboratories
Learners are inquisitive by nature and want to learn everything by experimentation and experience. Laboratories are places where learners learn to experiment and do things on their own. Nowadays, educationalists have started to promote learning by doing and experimentation as a pedagogy for almost every subject. They urge schools to establish laboratories for science, language and mathematics. A well-equipped laboratory where instruments are easily made available to the learners invites them to learn on their own. If you want your learners to excel and to understand a concept better, allow them free access to laboratories and make sure that the required material is also available to them.
♦ (iv) Library
Along with equipment to experiment, learners also need books and other reference material to learn. Learners use libraries for seeking life-long opportunities and to enhance their learning gaps. It is through school libraries that learners get opportunities to access information and develop their competencies. Libraries, thus play a crucial role in encouraging to learners developing as responsible citizens. Learners need place to study on their own, to read more and to self -learn. Libraries that provide access to good books, magazines and journals enhance learners’s learning.
Now- a- days a lot of material is available online too. Learners need guidance to skim through these to identify and locate good meaningful material. The librarian and teacher should be able to help learners browse through the internet and make judgement on the quality of the content. Librarians can make lists of good websites and display it in the library. Besides books, libraries can also have digital material such as educational CDs and videos. These audio-visual aids definitely help in learning.
★ 9.4.3 School Culture and Climate - 1 :-
The importance of school culture and its climate have a direct link with the performance of learners. Learners are quite poised and would want their schools to have conducive and safe learning environment. School that maintain an ordered, disciplined atmosphere without being rigid and oppressive leave a positive mark on the learners’s learning.
Besides providing good infrastructural facilities, a school has to also ensure a psychologically conducive environment that would let learners participate without fear. It is the ethical responsibility of every school to provide learners with safe surroundings that motivates them to come to school. This is promoted by establishing a healthy relationship between students-teacher, teacher-administrators and teacher-parents.
School should ensure that their learners have a freedom to express their feelings with their teachers, teachers should be aware of abilities and difficulties of each child and provide feedback on their behaviour. In other words, we can say that the teacher, the learner and the parents should work as collectively for healthy development of learner.
Discussions on school climate often begins and end with learners’s safety and classroom participation. A truly positive environment is not characterized by ensuring physical safety and comfortableness of the child. It should rather be determined by the values that are present in the school. The vision, values, beliefs and assumptions of a school are what define its climate and environment. A strong and positive culture serves several functions such as fostering the efforts and productiveness of each child’s inner resources, valuing each child’s potential and in maintaining collegial relationships among all.
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★ 9.4.3 School Culture and Climate - 2 :-
Schools send their vision of organizational culture through their enactments. They send signals of their organizational culture through the roles and responsibilities that they define for their students and teachers. For example, schools that regard athletic success to be paramount would send signals of promoting sportsmanship, valuing the importance of games, structuring their teaching around sports and pushing learners towards physical fitness. Their organizational culture will reflect their bend towards sports. On the other hand, schools that are centered on academic excellence will revere academic competitions and intellectual efforts.
The culture of a school - positive or negative - in an offshoot of its vision, values and beliefs. The actions, rituals, ceremonies and gatherings of a school are closely aligned to its beliefs and values. To illustrate, a school that values the work done by learners would hold exhibitions to showcase their students’ projects. On the other hand, there are schools, where administrators would talk of positive values and beliefs but fail to follow them in their actions. For instance, school want its teachers to be resourceful and up-to-date with their content and pedagogic knowledge but would not hesitate to send their teachers for any professional development workshops.
Schools which practice what they believe in make sure that their ideology gets reflected in their working too. In one of the schools, the principal and the teachers addressed their students in a strange manner. They identified their students as “Class of 2020”- the year in which the batch will pass out from the school. Whenever a visitor asked the students about their class, the students would, invariably, tell them about year in which they would enter the college. The students were also confident of the courses that they would like to pursue in their college.
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★ 9.4.3 School Culture and Climate - 3 :-
While talking with the Principal it was found that school values its alma mater most and they were very proud of their students and their achievements. They even displayed the names and degrees of all the students who had passed out from the school. They believed in preparing their learners for future and this ideology was obvious from all the actions of the school.
Similarly, in a government school of Chattisgarh, the teachers taking extra effort while giving feedback on their learners’s work. Each class was found with its walls full of learners’s worksheets. Beneath each learner’s work, suggestions given by teachers as well as learners were written. The display was open for all and every learner was encouraged to give suggestions to their friends. The teachers told us that in their school assessment was not a hidden task. All learners participated in this process. The display of students’ work and the idea of evaluating and feedback was a symbolic way of representing trust within teachers and students.
♦ Check Your Progress
2) List of the infrastructural facilities that you think make any school conducive for learning.
3) Which aspects of school culture and climate influence the execution of curriculum goals?
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