Unit 6 kn & curr a,b,c

Course 4: Knowledge &
Curriculum
Module 3
Unit 6: Making of
Curriculum
1
B.Ed Regular Univ of Mumbai 2015-17 course 4: Knowledge & Curriculum CC by SA
22/07/15

Module 3: Unit 6: Making of
curriculum
• a) Translation of curriculum into text books
• b) Role of Representation and non-
representation of various social groups in
curriculum making,
• c) Concerns for curriculum making in context
to power embedded in various structures of
society and knowledge.
2
B.Ed Regular Univ of Mumbai 2015-17
course 4: Knowledge & Curriculum CC by
SA
22/07/15

Unit 6a) Translation of curriculum into text books
Four ways of approaching curriculum theory and practice:
• Curriculum as a body of knowledge to be transmitted.
• Curriculum as an attempt to achieve certain ends in students
– products.
• Curriculum as a process .
• Curriculum as praxis. ( practice, as distinguished from theory.)
• "modern political praxis is now thoroughly permeated with a
productivist ethos“ or accepted practice or custom.
for example "patterns of Christian praxis in Church and society“)
• Reference - Smith, M. K. (1996, 2000) ‘Curriculum theory and
practice’ the encyclopedia of informal education,
www.infed.org/biblio/b-curric.htm.
• From : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curriculum
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Translation of curriculum into text books
• the "written" curriculum does not exhaust the
meaning of curriculum, it is important
because it represents the vision of the society.
The "written" curriculum is usually expressed
in comprehensive and user-friendly
documents, such as curriculum frameworks;
subject curricula/syllabuses, and in relevant
and helpful learning materials, such as
textbooks; teacher guides; assessment guides.
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Translation of curriculum into text
books
• In some cases, people see the curriculum
entirely in terms of the subjects that are taught,
and as set out within the set of textbooks, and
forget the wider goals of competencies and
personal development.[16]
• This is why a curriculum framework is important.
It sets the subjects within this wider context, and
shows how learning experiences within the
subjects need to contribute to the attainment of
the wider goals.[15]
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• Reference15-
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/29259
• Reference 16-
https://books.google.com/books?id=qILGb7xc
XFIC&pg=PA13
• From -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curriculum
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Unit 6b) Role of Representation and non-
representation of various social groups in
curriculum making,
CURRICULUM AS REPRESENTATION
• The concept of representation as it is used in cultural
analyses is closely linked to the investigations of Michel
Foucault, particularly to his formulation of the concept
of discourse. Foucault focused specifically on the
notion of representation in The Order of Things. There,
however, ‘representation’ has a rather restricted
meaning, referring to the episteme of the historical
period that Foucault called the ‘classical epoch’:
roughly, the seventeenth- and eighteenth-centuries.
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• the use of the notion of representation made
by cultural analysis. Discourses and
representations are located in a strategic field
of power: ‘the formation of discourse and
genealogy of knowledge must be analysed not
from the point of view of types of
consciousness, from modalities of perceptions
or from ideological forms, but from the tactics
and strategies of power’
• (Foucault, 1994, III, p. 39).
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Unit 6b) Role of Representation and
non-representation
• Representation is not a passive field of mere
register or expression of existing signifieds.
Neither is representation simply the effect of
structures that are external to it: capitalism,
sexism, racism. The different social groups use
representation to forge their identity and the
identities of other social groups.
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http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/
10.1080/14681369900200055 page 13
• Representation is not, a leveled field of play.
Through representation, decisive battles of
creation and imposition of particular signifiers
are fought: representations are crossed by
relationships of power.
• Identity is, therefore, actively produced in and
through representation: it is precisely power
that gives identity its active, productive
character.
10B.Ed Regular Univ of Mumbai 2015-17 course 4: Knowledge & Curriculum CC by SA22/07/15

Unit 6b) Curriculum as representation
• To understand the curriculum as representation
means also to emphasise that the rhetorical
resources that govern its knowledge which do not
have merely function of disseminating
information or its effects, but the mobilization
that curriculum makes of these resources is
closely linked to relations of power.
• From -
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/1
4681369900200055 page 26
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Representation in curriculum and text
books- implications.
• In the institutional mechanism of printing the
text books and choosing content for the
curriculum, the government keeps the goals
and aims of education . It promises that
education which satisfies the constitutional
obligations . Hence that content which
ensures representation of the marginalized
and diverse minority groups becomes a
challenge.
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Unit 6c) Concerns for curriculum making in context to power
embedded in various structures of society and knowledge.
• The properties of power that are relevant for
our discussion may be summarized as follows:
Social power is a property of the relationship
between groups, classes, or other social
formations, or between persons as social
members. Although we may speak of personal
forms of power, this individual power is less
relevant for our systematic account of the role
of power in discourse as social interaction.
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Unit 6c) Power as social interaction
• Power distribution, which also involves various forms
of power sharing, there is the important dimension of
resistance: Dominated groups and their members are
seldom completely powerless. Under specific
socioeconomic, historical, or cultural conditions, such
groups may engage in various forms of resistance, that
is, in the enactment of counter power, which in turn
may make the powerful less powerful, or even
vulnerable, typically so in revolutions.
• Therefore, the enactment of power is not simply a
form of a action, but a form of social interaction
• http://www.discourses.org/OldArticles/Structures%20
of%20discourse%20and%20structures%20of%20power.
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Power as social interaction
• power agents may be powerful in social
domains like —politics, the economy, or
education or in specific social situations as in
the classroom or in court.
• power distribution, which also involves
various forms of power sharing, there is the
important dimension of resistance:
Dominated groups and their members are
seldom completely powerless
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Power Distribution
• Under specific socioeconomic, historical, or
cultural conditions, such groups may engage
in various forms of resistance, that is, in the
enactment of counterpower, which in turn
may make the powerful less powerful, or even
vulnerable, typically so in revolutions.
Therefore, the enactment of power is not
simply a form of a action, but a form of social
interaction
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• The exercise and maintenance of social power
presupposes an ideological framework. This
framework, which consísts of socíally shared,
interest-related fundamental cognitions of a
group and its members, is mainly acquired,
confirmed, or changed through
communication and discourse.
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• It should be repeated that power must be
analyzed in relation to various forms of
counter power or resistance by dominated
groups (or by action groups that represent
such groups), which also is a condition for the
analysis of social and historical challenge and
change.
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NEED TO CONSIDER VARIOUS SOCIAL GROUPS IN
CURRICULUM CONSTRUCTION
• The following guidelines may help
• 1. To sensitize the entire country to the problems and
issues faced by certain groups
• 2. To foster bonding and ensure a sense of fraternity
• 3. To fight insular forces which threaten the unity of India
• 4. to find viable solutions to social problems
• 5. to reduce animosity and mistrust among groups by
building trust, co-operation and credibity
• 6. to build healthy social climate by ensuring an unbiased
secular approach
• 7. To avoid influence of “culture of power” and “power
distribution” for profit
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According to Focault’s theory
• Power exists everywhere, acts everywhere and it has
the ability to to shape people’s behavior
• Power is a producer of reality , it produces domains of
objects and rituals of truth
• According to Focault , power & knowledge comes from
observing others , where people accept power put on
them , rules get accepted and docility comes in. The
tendency of power to get accumulated where power
and knowledge reinforce each other. Thus the social
order get fabricated due to the influence and
penetration of power.
• Try finding put power and knowledge connect from the
field of education and politics.
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• The implication of Focault’s theory is that when
groups of people control knowledge , theey can
also oppress them.
• There are very high possibilities of curriculum
construction to propogate control through
education, hence curriculum
• In the era of RTE and universalisation of
education, the chances are that education could
be distorted , controlled through personal agenda
which could harm the society.
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In this respect the concerns can be
addressed through the following:
• Curriculum must inculcate critical thinking
• Curriculum must emphasize values specially
those of Dr B Ambedkar. Promote values like
humanism and tolerance
• Develop vocational skills in the curriculum to
address the power due to socio-economic divide.
Follow Mahatma Gandhiji’s life centered
education
• Curriculum should not get distorted due to power
but it should empower the students and learners
to be able and be a resource to the country.
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Approach to curriculum concerns
• The teachers can create positive curriculum
and make responsible citizens by showing the
good use of power and knowledge connect.
The values of justice and economic prosperity
should be held high in curriculum. Hence
critical thinking , decision making and effective
communication will ensure that power is not
an impediment to progress but works towards
empowerment to all.
22/07/15
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