Ever since the concept of formal schooling took place, there has been an extensive deliberation about the curriculum and the role of the teacher - student in its development and delivery. The extreme positions have been a curriculum designed by the teacher and the learners, to one that has been designed by high level authorities – many times without the proper expertise to do this - who decide what students should learn. This dialogue has often been linked to the aims of education. There were those who argued for a “child-centered” curriculum, others opposed this approach on the grounds that it was insufficient for the education of students. However, it was undeniable that the nature of the students must have a place in the curriculum.
This time, our blog debate will consider the following questions, to what extent the curriculum:
- Incorporates the culture of the environment, so that knowledge is gained by meaningful learning?
- Supports individual development and learning achievement while giving consideration to national development?
- Is sensitive to social inequities - gender, socio-economic status, thus providing the variety of learning opportunities that will support achievement for all?
- Prepares children for lifelong learning?
- Prepares children for a productive adult life and for meeting the challenges of a changing world or being able to shape their own destinies?
van den Akker, J., & Boersma, K. (1993).
Hello everyone!
ResponderEliminarAccording to "Assessing curriculum effectiveness" By Van den Akker, J., y Boersma, K. (1993). I have to say something related with the questions that the teacher proposes:
1. I consider that knowledge will be effective in the sense what students want to learn and how much are they willing to learn. It means, not only the culture but the student’s interests which are part of the culture, complement the achievement of the educative ends.
Taking into account all of the above and accepting the premise that teaching English as a foreign language implies not only teaching grammatical structures and vocabulary, but also a whole series of cultural components that are different according to the context where the process is carried on teaching-learning process, we have to keep in mind a lot of something to think about in the activities or tasks to prepare the class.
2. "Education is the true lever for individual progress, the best way for social mobility and the right strategy to win our future. Education will be the backbone of my government." (Copyright reserved)
In Colombia exist a process called "Stages of annual performance evaluation" where educational strategies take place in order to do some changes and implement new things that improve our educative field. This involves the following components:
-Planification and organization.
-Execution or development of the process.
-Analysis of results.
-Individual and institutional monitoring and improvement.
All of these aspects allow us to reflect how individual contributions support the National development.
3. Differences in academic performance due to socioeconomic characteristics are so marked that even at the university level, gaps in student scores are maintained as they are compared by socioeconomic strata.
For example, high school students are more likely to get the best deals in the labor market, either because of their good academic performance or by other more complex social dynamics (networks, accumulation of social capital, family contacts, etc.) During their professional life.
This seems to indicate that education in Colombia is not helping to reduce the socioeconomic differences of the students, but, on the contrary, they help to accentuate them.
4. Our Ministry of National Education points out: "For a first inclusive and permanent education.
Early childhood care lays the foundation for human development and contributes to equalizing development opportunities for all from birth. Early childhood, education and integrality."
Excuse me but Colombia has many interesting ideas and beautiful ideals which are only in words. What about our reality? Is it true? Why are many people who were to the elementary school and high school or one of them, and are they now working as a maid, as a watchman or even as a waiter? It is assumed that Colombia ensures a lifelong education. Maybe these people acquire modals, ideologies that come from ethical or religion subjects or something like that but what happens in Educational field? Why people forget that once upon a time they were at School ...
5. For me, it's a controversial issue. I just want to say something: Colombian education prepares its people with a poor mentality; People who working more for the "process of the country" than for the own. The curriculum is evaluated "constantly," but in terms of benefiting the world's leading power: $. This poor reality, this educational field is dying and we are feeding the corruption. Hey! we have the future in our hands; change the curriculum, leave your mark, change education and create a better future!
EliminarGood evening
It is very true the things that Marcela say and I like her conclution but for me, to began to talk about curriculum we need to be realistic, because one thing is the concept curricula and another thing is the reality about students that live every day in the school or the students that cannot go to this place for different reasons.However, Moore (2001) says some thing special: "Design a curriculum that validates, promotes and protects certain "current values" into the future who decides what kind of society "we" want." and I as professor add: we need to train teachers that can incorporate the culture of the enviroment, incorporate the individual development, that are sensitive to socal inequities, that can prepares children for lifelong learning and adult life to meet the challenges of a changing world.
In the same way, in the annex fourteen is including in the curriculum design proposed the concept of fathers and mothers of family, and in the family as principal basis to create the man; therefore, teachers and family must to work together to obtain a effective curriculum in our country.
All of the questions have a valid point in which they speak about all the things we lack of. I would say yes to all the questions, but let's give it a try making a question to what the proffesor posted.
ResponderEliminar1. What is considered meaningful learning? isn't it a paingful learning meaningul? Specifically of what are we talking when we say " A meaningful learning"?
2. If you educate someone strongly in co-working is he still able to manage himself ? Let's see the other face. As we analyzed what has happened in history, isn't it the fanatic running for the individuality who has caused all of human tragedies? In other words, if we concentrate in co-working, is he or she still strong to rule himself or herself?. And if concentrate into the individual education, aren't we somehow educating tyrants?
3. This one is very funny. Colombia hasn't give a damn about it. If we try to reach the nature of our schools and our universities. We will understand, that is not even an issue. How you can tell it?, well pick a book of history and see what daily happens in our society.
4. Not at all. Universities pensums are changed almost 3-5 years. Which can be a good, but it makes us question about how worthy is the knowledge we are getting.
5.No, it prepare us for a schematic job. However there is still the problem, since many of the companies, schools, politicias, etc. Claim every now and then, that every graduated they get from the universities, they have to re-teach them to work. The question is still unconcluded.
It is very funny (for me) the way you decided to answer those questions, since it embraces certain realistic logic but on the other hand, it contains generic issues about what happens in our complex country. Remember! (I am pretty sure you are aware of this) the history is not the same in the whole country (From La Guajira to Amazonas) and the cases and stories depend on the socio-economic stratus. This last aspect is something worrisome in terms of what you mentioned in the third point. We all know (or at least we should know) that economists, lawyers, engineers and so on have been in charged of constructing the way of life and everything it concerns in Colombia most of the times for many years, for instance: the National Ministry of Education (just to say). I do not want to put them in the same package, but I cannot avoid the vision of humankind and progress they have.
EliminarAccording to the Standards, students in Colombia spend their first 3 years of school as A1 level (CEFR), 4 years (4°-7°) as A2, and 4 years (8°-11°) as B1. I think it is not a significative progress taking into account that colombian students spend 11 years studying English.
ResponderEliminarAccording the program Colombia Bilingüe, the goal for 2018 is increase the English level of grade 11 students in pre-intermediate B1, from 2% to 8%, and from 7% to 35% to students who are in B2 basic level.
Among the strategies proposed in the program are that 1,400 teachers of English with intermediate level B2 enter the system in temporary plant for three years, and that 1,400 native foreigners teach English in 9 °, 10 ° and 11 ° in the focused educational institutions. It is here when I wonder if the goals proposed by the program really match the needs of bilingualism that the environment offers us and an increasingly globalized world. I am also struck by the strategies to achieve them, because I believe that the curriculum lacks vision and the solution is not specifically the recruitment of native foreigners, but an adjustment directly to the curriculum.
I believe that the curriculum fails because the ministry of education has not come to the real reason why it is important to train in a second language, and contextually for Colombia, in English.
If I understand meaningful learning well, then it is a learning which comprises both the previous experiences with the new ones to reach a new learning. Now, with that clear, let us consider the curriculum is done by members of the society it will be applied to so it is true that the curriculum indeed does have a grasp of the environment.
ResponderEliminarChildren are prepared to be what these people envision and therefore get acquainted with all of the things related to society. They will probably be indirectly led to take certain decisions concerning their lives too.
Now, one of these questions I consider complex and that is because sometimes I have the feeling children are not prepared to continue learning but to learn what society thinks they need to know and that is it.
Hello Esteban, I am very confused with your answer. First, are you saying that as curriculum is created by member of the society it encompases our cultural reality. Well, let me tell you that for me your are wrong, if people who creates curriculum have a clear vision of our needs, education maybe did not have such a big gaps. Besides, to get to know Colombian context is necessary to investigate and invest a lot of resources such as: money, time, space among others and this is a issue in which colombia's government have not invested responsability and commitment. Until Colombia's government do not think in education as the only opportunity to construct a better society this country is not going to progress.
EliminarMoreover, it is possible that many children comply wih the requirement of the currently system but if this were complety 100 % sure, many of the population including us should have a better formative development because this is the vision from our rulers.
And finally, yes those questions are complex but not for the answer but because in my opinion we are ashamed to confront our social reality.
Okay, answering to the questions, I would say:
ResponderEliminar1. Incorporates the culture of the environment, so that knowledge is gained by meaningful learning?
As John Dewey said:"the belief that all genuine education comes about through experience does not mean that all experiences are genuinely or equally educative". Well, that it comes from culture, and the inmediate social background of the student does not imply that the student will have a better experience with learning, or will interact better with knowledge, because of many factors, one of those factors is motivation, and the psychological state of the child, if the child comes from a difficult environment or is shy or insecure,his or her learning is not going to be the same. So, only culture is not the solution to the problem. And, in our country, this kind of happens, at least the policies try to include indigenous population, and aim to a more contextualizaed approach for teaching and learning,but education needs to be less centralized, and consider other territories that need more attention and intervention by the government.
2. Supports individual development and learning achievement while giving consideration to national development?
Ummm,the imperative individualism of our times affects education, and sometimes there is no space for real collaborative learning in schools, to compete is more important than sharing knowledge with others. So, I think that there is a training on how to compete and surpass others, and this kind of education detaches students from an ideal of nation, from a true love for the country they live in, because there is no a feel of belonging to a place, there is just a desire to surpass everything, and please oneself. So,normally, competition is what we see on schools.
3.Is sensitive to social inequities - gender, socio-economic status, thus providing the variety of learning opportunities that will support achievement for all?
No, because in our country there is a big gap between public and private education, there is a lot of stratification in our society,so not everyone can have the same quality of life, or the same education. Also, Colombia is one of the most corrupt countries, which makes things more unequal.
4.Prepares children for lifelong learning?
I think, no. Because, nowadays education still being just too memoristic, and a memoristic education is not meaningful at all, there is no experience with knowledge, so that's something we need to consider and foster as future teachers: longtime learning, through motivation and well planned activities.
5.Prepares children for a productive adult life and for meeting the challenges of a changing world or being able to shape their own destinies?
"Shape their own destinies", it is difficult to do such a thing. I think, no. why? Because, many times students get scolarships, and they have to do degrees they hate, or dislike, because they did not receive a good orientation, many times at schools everything is just too appart from reality and practical life that a student can finish school and he or she can get overwhelmed with a big amount of information that they did not have, because at school the only thing they were doing was memorizing things, and losing their critical capacity to face life and make decisions.
Greetings again, dear colleagues.
ResponderEliminarIn order to address this set of questions about the core issues any suitable curriculum should attend according to Van den Akker, Boersma and common sense, let us confront Annex 14 (Suggested English Curriculum: Guidelines and pedagogical principles) with the realities faced by formal schooling in Colombia:
1. Incorporating the culture of the environment: Annex 14 states that learning in general, as well as foreign language learning in particular, takes place when speakers interact and cooperate among them, recognizing cultural models, especially the ones of the foreign language culture, as ways to approach to others in situations resembling everyday life and allowing a meaningful use of language. Conversely, the reality of Colombian educational institutions shows that languages and their cultures of origin are classified according to the possibilities they allegedly offer in terms of career success and international mobility and, thus, foreign language learners tend to assume different paths which can eventually determine whether they are included or excluded from the global and national set of education, job and welfare opportunities.
2. Supporting individual development, learning achievement and national development: According to Annex 14, the Basic Learning Rights and the Suggested English Curriculum from 6th to 11th grades can be conceived as tools for students to reach a proficiency level in English which allows them to communicate, interact and share knowledge, as well as to raise human and professional capabilities, contributing along with teachers and educational institutions to the construction of the bilingual country we all want and to the achievement of being the best educated country of the region. Nonetheless, the local implementation of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment, for instance, has become an imposition of borrowed language policies and an enforcement of international standards and tests which have downgraded and excluded the voices and views of local representatives, such as the board members of Universidad de Antioquia, who finally decided not to validate and to adhere to the scheme of the National Bilingual Program and its long-term goals.
3. Being sensitive to social inequities: Annex 14 assumes equity as one of its crosscutting themes, taking it as a tool which will guarantee the effective enjoyment of all students’ right to have a quality education with equal opportunities and making it depend on the organization of goals, objectives, contents, learning standards and other elements of the teaching and learning of English in a sequence and approach which result pertinent to the students, their institution, their region, the country and the world.
Unfortunately, in this so called Suggested English Curriculum, along with the absence of references to local culture and its ethnic minorities, there is a systematic exclusion of specific methodologies and rubrics to assess observational and cooperative problem-solving which are, for instance, the ways most Colombian indigenous communities evaluate their group members. So, where are the pro-equity and the pro-diversity approaches here? Do these Basic Learning Rights only apply for majorities?
4. Preparing children for lifelong learning: According to Annex 14, it is required that learning materials include topics in a holistic way, taking into account the most relevant contents of the different academic subject areas; in addition, those materials must be suitable to the age and cognitive development of students, preparing them to successfully interact in diverse contexts of their daily life. In this regard, the reality of Colombian educational institutions offers plenty of possibilities for such lifelong learning preparation, in all of which what truly matters is how many academic degrees you can add to your résumé before being removed from the job market due to your high ageing rates and from the educational system due to your low purchasing power.
Eliminar5. Preparing children for a productive adult life, for meeting the challenges of a changing world and for shaping their own destinies: From the set of abilities for the 21st century, proposed by Trilling and Fadel (2009), Annex 14 mentions a subset of abilities for work and life, including flexibility and adaptability, initiative and self-direction, productivity and responsibility. In this sense, the reality of children in Colombian educational institutions, where this Suggested English Curriculum has been actually imposed, can be understood as a whole ecosystem of inspiring values and theoretical principles eventually reduced to efficiency rates and deemed to the perpetuation of job competitiveness and career training.
We have been taught (most of us in Colombia) to focus on our own success and satisfaction no matter if we are part of a collective, not to accept mistakes when things are not working. That success and satisfaction is summarised in the objectives we propose to develop something (big or not), that is why most of the time, what we propose is shaped to the same language used in our context to solve issues. This language seems to be created based on the economic world: Productivity, adaptability, competence, goals, profits, system and so on.
EliminarAlong with that, I consider that proposing things we believe as "reliable" on and on is easier (to continue with the model in this country) than trying to change the scheme established long time ago. The most powerful (I think): the socio-economic gap that has to do with the strong power entrepreneurs have.
Some questions can be answered with a "definitely not", because Colombia needs to implement realistic policies and curriculum guidelines, plus create conditions for "an education for everyone", a true education for everyone, because, there is education in many places, but where is the quality of that education? Is it really an education of quality that ensure self-development and professional orientation, an education that will lead to a good adult life? A contextualized education, in terms of educating for a good life, for a practical knowledge of the world?
ResponderEliminarI consider that this is not happening, because there is a big difference between oficial and private education, because not all children can access to school with the same resources. Finally, Colombia's education is not overcoming traditional methods of teaching; with a traditional learning, children cannot learn for life, due to memorisation, learning for answering a test is way too different of learning to attain certain goals at the end of a teaching-learning process.
Good afternoon to everyone, and so on, concerning to our matter of the day I would start questioning first, if in Colombia the changes that have been proposed and carried in educational matters, are actually thought from an environmentally correct perspective.
ResponderEliminarConcerning Colombian education, I would say that we still don't know deeply our environment, and even there are lots of reasearch about how colombian education moves around, we seem to be still confused about the horizons that fit the best to our necessities in educational terms. Meaningful learning may need not only to incorporate the environment as a tool, but as a part of something bigger that is compound of many other elements as the culture of building knowledge among pairs. On the other side, I would say there is much to say of a country that seems not to be very concerned about the students' processes of learning (taking in account our low performance on international tests) which suggests there is no longer a good transmission of culture and other social constructs in appropriate ways. Also, even there is an effort for making education absolutely free, we still need to answer to lots of educational necessities, as being capable of offering widely over the country the minimum conditions for learning to happen. Maybe, in our schools we need to develop an speech that suggest kids a more critic conscience over the different matters that affect not only education but also, our country. Maybe, people who gets throughout colombian education system, is not week prepared for real life... But, what is it of real life? We need to form students that often, get to appreciate those different conceptions of reality and society.
Post by Julián Zapata:
ResponderEliminarThe following post is not looking forward answering these questions, but giving a personal consideration towards these concern-questions.
For my point of view, curricular design has been seen as a "laboratory" to do with elements that can be "adopted", added and subtracted from and to the must-have students' pensum or ideal pensum. Sometimes teachers and experts have failed upon adding too much information and specialized content to those curricula as an attempt to follow and be on track of international tendencies. As a well-known example we have the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) and countless of partnerships with British Council and US Embassy; nevertheless, far in past German Missions.
Besides and going back to the 90's, the Ministry of Education and the government itself have tried to reach out the inclusion of diversity (issued in the National Constitution as Pluriethnic and Pluricultural country) and new show-up features as gender equity, sexual orientation diversity, and forth, to the curriculum. However, the society itself is not prepared enough to face these emergencies. We are so attached to the tradition that it very complicated to unplug from it and adapt ourselves to the new issues of our reality as globalise and pluricultural nation.
Finally, towards assessing effectively new outcomes in our education systems still being far reaching because of our traditional, well established "modus operandi". If we want generate substantial transformation, it is mandatory to begin transforming the traditional lifestyle we currently have. How? by beginning transforming our spotted population: students and whole educative community. in order to change, we have to change ourselves as teachers and cultural ambassadors.
Good evening everyone.
ResponderEliminarBefore dealing with the questions I would like to refer to the concept of curriculum as something that manages every singlee detail that surrounds the school, it is a matter of knowing the multiple definitions the word curriculum has, so then working with it is easier and more applicable. So as a summary from every definition of the word let's say that curriculum is context; a context that is given by every situation and is constantly changing.
1.Culture has always been the ideal for teaching and learning in every school, because culture refers to diversity and there is where everyone in the society fits.
2.Development is not a matter to be questioned in terms of individuality or cooperation; school works on both aspects to to grow as an integrative system that creates knowledge and habits.
3.Every single aspect that deals with the educational system will be considered important for a significant change that could mean an addition for the curriculum as something that needs to be taught, because it's necessary.
4.The education system is focused on what could be useful for the student, but the curriculum as context should add things about the lifelong learning, which is something is not easily taught and obviously goes out of the classroom.
5.Regarless to the last point I stay in my position when I say that the school should teach about what life is about, because living by experiencing is good for own enrichment of knowledge, but it would be even more effective if someone teaches what is ok to be done and what is not.
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ResponderEliminarBeing realistic sometimes is quite difficult in this country. We are a country that has been feed of ideals over decades and citizens have learnt to live in that way.Thence, sometimes it looks like it is better to carry/copy things from other communities or countries.
ResponderEliminarIn that way, joining the culture of the environment should be one of the basis for building a curriculum; based on the context we could ask: how are we educating? why? and what for? in order to give a coherent education for solving the students' necessities as well as for teaching them how to overcome inequalities, social segregation, and so on; students who critique the system and control their own learning process, students enable to be more independent; who conscious that the professor is not the only knowledge provider. I could not generalize about this matter due to the comprehension of curriculums are adapted in different ways in every school, however, as we can be testifiers of some of the educational system' failures, sometimes in our schools we have descontentualize teaching; students are obligated to follow incoherent contents without any meaningful joint.
As pre-service teachers, we usually sort to the guidelines in order to understand what we should teach and what for, that some of them are obsolete to our changing society or but in those attempts to follow all those theories, we misunderstood it and they are translated in our classes into fairly different conceptions.
Maybe all those tasks assigned to the system are not an inherent matter of the educational context.
Good night everyone!
ResponderEliminarWe really could not generalize the ideas that are intended to encompass within the curriculum. We have a premise that education obeys culture, their relationship is unidirectional, therefore, all the needs stipulated at the national level are those that," luckily", are included within the curriculum. Consequently, the curricular structure will always benefit the social organization of the country, even if these are not the needs of the population. As we can see, education in Colombia is limited to technical and technological study, implying that the continuous training of Colombians is not based on knowledge but on production. It may be difficult to understand the components that make a curriculum useful, but because of their complexity, this merits teachers and people in the educational community to decide what is feasible and necessary for the creation of the curriculum. Likewise, the curriculum should be relevant to its population. Although we are part of the same country, we all live in different contexts that obstruct or make possible in pedagogical exercise.
It's funny that politicians, economists and engineers decide what is better for education when they forgot what it means being educated.
Good evening classmates.
ResponderEliminareyond answering each question, I can say as a way of reflection that the way to achieve better results is quite simple, but it implies a profound change in the educational system. We need to dedicate basic education to develop the capacity for thinking, creativity, problem solving, analysis and skills to communicate and coexist. Unfortunately this will not be possible as long as we do not completely transform the current training of teachers, the curriculum and the pedagogical model that still exists in most educational institutions in Colombia.
It is high time we all understood that education is too important for the political class to make decisions and define public policy exclusively. We need to increase the pedagogical leadership of the rectors and promote the ongoing formation of teachers.
I can finally say that in Colombia, instead of developing essential communicative competences for life, such as reading, writing, or elaborating coherent oral discourses, we continue to emphasize things as impertinent for children as grammar and orthographic rules that do not dominate or Our greatest writers. The problems that today solve our students in math and science, are terrifyingly boring, mechanical and irrelevant, for them and for the country.
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ResponderEliminarHello classmates ,
ResponderEliminarWell, according to the questions about the curriculum I can say that:
First, Is very important the context in the educational system and this is a problem that Colombia education has, that does not see it as important as it is because we can see it reflected in the incorporation of many educative models from another parts of the world that here is a third world country in which many children even does not have something to eat, clothes to go to school or even the right materials to study is impossible that a educative model implemented for example in countries such as : England, Finland, Japan among other in which the needs are very different is going to work here. Maybe I could agree with the incorporation of some aspects of another educative models but not in the whole application of a educative system in our society.
Secondly, I believe that teachers could put importance in both aspects, the individual ad the national development but for achieving this, teacher have to be prepare, have to investigate and need to be an active and pro-active person not a passive one. Hence, teachers need to feel the passion for teaching and more relevant, the passion for lerning, leaving aside the image that teachers know everything.
And Thirdly, Students as teachers need to be aware of the responsability that both have ; teachers because they have to educate children in a very unequal society; kids in which in a future are going to be able to confront the reality and change it in a positive way, and students, because with all the problems society and teachers have, they must take advantage of all the significant things that they could find even in a difficult situation.
Good evening everyone.
ResponderEliminarFirst, I would like to say something that could seem out of topic, and is the value that the Curricular Guidelines give to English language, as a matter of stratification: only those that speak English can acess to better opportunities, and other benefits, but this is related with the tendency of curriculum of fostering exclusion, rather than promoting the inclusion of the different national languages in the curriculum,the study and understading of this cultures which basically being ignored.
There is no a praxis comitted with the knowledge and heritage of other cultures, it seems that the government is only interested on developing education on big cities, but leaving aside remote communities, that need resources and support. So, it is difficult to hold an idea of equity in a country that give privileges to a foreign language, instead of taking care of national languages, also it is sad to see how some young people have to leave their dreams, because they cannot afford University, so there is an urgent need to re-build curriculum, and institutional practices to get a country truly concerned for education and equity.
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ResponderEliminarI think the principle of education is a constant reflection about what is teaching in the school today and what challenges be expected to us. It is completely different theory and practice. In spite of the government regulation, teacher is who decided how to manage the class or the procedures during the time of class, “in a certain way is autonomy to decide” Nevertheless, the reality is different teacher does not have voice in the decisions because there are some “experts” planning a curriculum without his voice because his image is in crisis. Although in Colombia have been many changes in education, it needs working on implementing politics to keep the quality in education but is required that teacher involving on the changes strengthen his preparation and his leadership. Curriculum should respond depend on the context in this case the Colombian curriculum should take into account the real necessities of each group of students, his genre, personal development, style and rhythm of learning, his social conditions, it is not only teaching content, I think it is important keep in mind cultural aspects.
ResponderEliminarAccording to Brown (2012) the author mention curriculum assumption and compare traditional curriculum development with emerging EIL assumptions. Curriculum should consider the context of students. “He talks about that traditionally, curriculum developers have assumed (a) that students need to learn English of native speakers (b) that educated NSs of English should serve as a model and standard, (c) that big C American or British culture should be taught, and (d) English is the primary language for access to global information. p.147 Respect to this cite I think that curriculum should consider the specific context and focus on it and keep in mind his own culture to teach a language.
Curriculum should take into consideration significant learning in the daily pedagogical reflections, teaching for a big challenges, preparing for live with others and respond to the context.
Hello everyone.
ResponderEliminarTaking into account the followed questions, I would like to comment about the true problems of the curriculum in Colombia, because in most of the cases the questions and problematics proposed are accomplished in the theory, but not in the practice.
First problem: It is hard to get a meaningful learning in an education in where teachers are not worried for the knowledge gaining but for the grade. As I said in a previous comment in “THE EVALUATION PROCESS IN THE FOREIGN LANGUAGE CURRICULUM” many teachers are not interest in the learning acquisition of their students, they are only worried to promote them to the next grade. It is because school is not prepared to assist social, economic and cultural hindrances that are interfering with the learning process.
Second problem: It is hard to achieve the objectives of the courses when students do not have the same perspective of education. In this country there are a lot of social, cultural and economic inequities, therefore students have different motivations and expectation not only to all the curricular mesh but to each specific class. Due to that diversity in the schools, the teaching would be also diversified.
Third problem: Education system does not educate to happiness, it only does it to productivity. Although time ago Colombian high schools are included in their curriculum technic education, it is only a way to educate people for productivity, because with the title obtained there, students only would work as any middle-class worker. Although these techniques are very useful and develop a level of critical thinking and proficiency to well perform in a field of knowledge, it is only the beginning; it should be articulated to university education, and not all the students have the opportunities to get it.
ResponderEliminar• Students tend to internalized in a better way the knowledge that is transmitted through things inside their context, it means, when the teaching-learning process takes place while taking into account the contextual needs that surround the individual may become meaningful, for instance when they learn languages through the music that motivates them, when art is presented in a kind format that covers their culture; that may lead to a meaningful learning and could probably lead to a new conception of how they are to interact with the language through culture.
• I really have to agree with Jackeline when she poses that “the imperative individualism of our times affects education”, and based on that is where rely many of the issues around education and the interactions which take place within the learning process, and it is precisely because we are taught to be focus on our own path through not only the educative environment but also outside, it means, egocentric people. Curriculum should foster and be persistent on transforming individuals into social ones, those that care about how knowledge is constructed collaboratively, but that work is not going to happen in a blink of an eye, it imply a process in which we all are called to participate.
• One thing is what appear written on a text but another quite different is the reality. Education tend to be exclusive in despite of the many forms it tries to brake with that conception, and it will maintain that way since education keeps been conceived as and unreachable goal.
• It’s quite hard to ensure that it will prepare children for all the issues around their future, since education seems, at some point, to be very focused on determined aspects that are decided for an external community in relation to the educative context. This construction, the one that takes place within the educative environment, shapes students’ subjectivities aiming to particular needs that are not necessarily the students’ needs.
I think the principle of education is a constant reflection about what is teaching in the school today and what challenges be expected to us. It is completely different theory and practice. In spite of the government regulation, teacher is who decided how to manage the class or the procedures during the time of class, “in a certain way is autonomy to decide” Nevertheless, the reality is different teacher does not have voice in the decisions because there are some “experts” planning a curriculum without his voice because his image is in crisis. Although in Colombia have been many changes in education, it needs working on implementing politics to keep the quality in education but is required that teacher involving on the changes strengthen his preparation and his leadership. Curriculum should respond depend on the context in this case the Colombian curriculum should take into account the real necessities of each group of students, his genre, personal development, style and rhythm of learning, his social conditions, it is not only teaching content, I think it is important keep in mind cultural aspects.
ResponderEliminarAccording to Brown (2012) the author mention curriculum assumption and compare traditional curriculum development with emerging EIL assumptions. Curriculum should consider the context of students. “He talks about that traditionally, curriculum developers have assumed (a) that students need to learn English of native speakers (b) that educated NSs of English should serve as a model and standard, (c) that big C American or British culture should be taught, and (d) English is the primary language for access to global information. p.147 Respect to this cite I think that curriculum should consider the specific context and focus on it and keep in mind his own culture to teach a language.
Curriculum should take into consideration significant learning in the daily pedagogical reflections, teaching for a big challenges, preparing for live with others and respond to the context.
I think the principle of education is a constant reflection about what is teaching in the school today and what challenges be expected to us. It is completely different theory and practice. In spite of the government regulation, teacher is who decided how to manage the class or the procedures during the time of class, “in a certain way is autonomy to decide” Nevertheless, the reality is different teacher does not have voice in the decisions because there are some “experts” planning a curriculum without his voice because his image is in crisis. Although in Colombia have been many changes in education, it needs working on implementing politics to keep the quality in education but is required that teacher involving on the changes strengthen his preparation and his leadership. Curriculum should respond depend on the context in this case the Colombian curriculum should take into account the real necessities of each group of students, his genre, personal development, style and rhythm of learning, his social conditions, it is not only teaching content, I think it is important keep in mind cultural aspects.
ResponderEliminarAccording to Brown (2012) the author mention curriculum assumption and compare traditional curriculum development with emerging EIL assumptions. Curriculum should consider the context of students. “He talks about that traditionally, curriculum developers have assumed (a) that students need to learn English of native speakers (b) that educated NSs of English should serve as a model and standard, (c) that big C American or British culture should be taught, and (d) English is the primary language for access to global information. p.147 Respect to this cite I think that curriculum should consider the specific context and focus on it and keep in mind his own culture to teach a language.
Curriculum should take into consideration significant learning in the daily pedagogical reflections, teaching for a big challenges, preparing for live with others and respond to the context.
“When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life” John Lennon
ResponderEliminarWhen I ponder the way in which the Colombian system designs the curriculum I only ask this:
Do we understand which is the value of what is being taught today?
How students are assuming and learning what schools provide for their lives?
I think we do not comprehend the students’ expectations when they go to school, because we are trying to train a person according to with what a system defines is appropriated for their learning. That is to be a competitive person in a globalized world, which excludes the essence of life, to give sense and meaning to the reality; to know how to make decisions,… considering the own destiny.
We ought to reflect more the significance of the school system, which does not guide the students’ realities.
I strongly agree with you, because sometimes I feel that the government just wants to impress the international community with a (supposedly) complete and good curriculum, but in reality, it fails to be appropriate enough for our context and that is how it should be. For example, I have a cousin who lives in a small town of Antioquia and it is obligatory to learn English there. Sometimes, she says things like: “I do not see the point of learning English here, I don’t need it. It is not like I am going to talk in English with the cows and the pigs”.
EliminarHaving said that, why does not the government apply a curriculum that potentiates each context's characteristics? In the case of my cousin, instead of making English mandatory, they should be giving more importance to the learning about agriculture or something like that.
When we speak, or mentioned the word “curriculum”, we need understand many things, topics; for example like the questions that we have in this educative blog. But, the another big problem is: Why sometimes the curriculum is bad? Because while it is searching change whatever problem at institution, the another problems are forgotten.
ResponderEliminarBecause for that, is necessary think from the children, until the young boys that are studying there. So, from the age is the first problem, the first difference, because is not equal teach and form the thought of the children, that try to change the young boys thought, because they have been thinking equal many years and hardly they will change the point of view. Also, the social inequities and racism between young boys is more frequently, the children don´t know what is it, they don´t have friendship for money. So, Finally I think that about this topic we can show one long list of examples or trying to answer exactly if the curriculum is equal for all educative system, generos,ages, etc…