Mary James on the National Curriculum

Mary James' ideas on the curriculum

This week, I decided to focus on Mary James, a secondary school teacher with views on Gove's changing education system and the limitations of the current canon. Throughout this article, we are able to see how the Acts enforced by the government have impacted the texts studied within the national curriculum, along with how the curriculum has changed from the 1970s to present day.

This allows us to see how a secondary school teacher may view the national curriculum, through things such as pedagogy, (the methods of teaching and thinking of teaching as a subject - being something you must learn, develop and critically assess), along with projects such as the HCP that have influenced techniques of learning over time.

'Learn a new culture' - TedTalk

I decided to look at this Ted Talk to understand different views of culture, from the eyes of someone who has travelled around the world and witnessed different cultures, in order to get an overview of the meaning of culture, not specifically in relation to literature, but from a wider perspective.

Notes made from the video:
- lived in Spain for 2 years
- lives in Norway
- greetings different in other cultures (eg greeting - hello vs asking question)
- born in French speaking Canada
- people behave and communicate differently in different countries
- helps people to see things both from their own culture and from different cultures
- 'learning to be comfortable in what is uncomfortable'
- culture is our mental programming which tells us what are good behaviours or bad behaviours
- subculture - organisational cultures
- all cultures have rituals and norms that we need to respect and if you want to feel part of that group you need to adapt your own behaviours
- outer shelf of culture and the inner shelf of culture
- make people understand the world despite cultural differences
- 'see the world not based on what in means in your own culture, but based on what it means in the cultures of others'
- the lens through which your brain sees the world shapes your reality - change the lens to see the world in someone else's perspective

Secondary Data - the 'Curriculum Campaign'

I decided to look at different articles this week, on a campaign made by teachers and students from an East London school, to show just how much impact one group of people can have over others, (such as exam boards), in changing the curriculum.

Articles on the 'Curriculum Campaign'

These statistics show how inequality of gender and ethnic minorities are presented in the UK, with novels within the English curriculum not reflecting the population of people, and students being taught this work, with it being aimed to a more Westernized audience.

Primary Research Plan

Primary Research Plan

When considering how to conduct my primary research, I firstly wanted to ensure that I was reaching an audience that would help me to further my ideas within the dissertation, aiming to look at both teenagers and teachers in order to get an account of how both view the current curriculum, either through asking them to name poems/novels that they have studied, or giving them a short answer questionnaire to collect data on the changes they wish to see in the future.

I aim to ensure that my primary research is both reliable and valid through reaching out to these two samples, and limit leading questions to get honest answers.
Along with this, I plan to ensure that the questionnaires have good ethics, allowing the right to withdraw, and giving a debrief on completion of the research (outlining the title of study, thanks, purpose of the study, rationale for any deception, confidential, right to withdraw data, enquire about any possible distress, contact details)