What do you think should be the purposes and priorities for the new curriculum?

What do you think should be the purposes and priorities for the new curriculum?

According to (Jenkins and Shipman 1976:26) ‘A curriculum is the formation and implementation of an educational proposal to be taught and learned within the school or other institution and for which that institution accepts responsibility at three levels: its rationale, its actual implementation and its effects.’ (Bartlett and Burton, 2015)

I believe that Personal growth is a priority for the new curriculum and has a large impact on a student if given correctly at a young age. The importance of personal growth should be taught at a young age or even subconsciously by teachers about how developing oneself, having an open mindset and being able to branch out into unfamiliar environments is important as it is one of the key factors along with learning skills, gaining knowledge and having a sense of citizenship. These factors are all holistic because if the child grows as person then the child is able to gain new skills, learn and have a wider understanding of cultures and values, as they allow a child to develop well so they are prepared and ready for the next stage in their education or lives as ‘Essentially education studies is concerned with understanding how people develop and learn throughout their lives.’(Bartlett and Burton, 2015 p.6)

As mentioned before, how these factors interconnect this is also agreed from a functionalist perspective (Durkheim, 1947), where they think that society is interconnected therefore norms and values must be similar which all operate for an integrated society and though every individual is different they should understand all cultures and their values. I have found that one’s culture can promote personal growth an example of this could be how in the UK responsibilities and skills are developed as you experience life normally compared to a less developed country such as Bangladesh as their culture is very different they have less opportunities than others and a poor education system and those in better developed countries such as the ones in the UK have equal chances. In a less developed country such as Bangladesh, in their culture you are expected to go into a full time job to provide for your family and just earn money with little time and motivation for education which my dad himself had experienced from the age of 15, so they had to develop and mature quickly due to their responsibilities. Also for women in general though they usually have more responsibilities than males and the fact men are more favoured once they reach the work place, knowingly females still tend to work harder as they are brought up to do so and achieve better educational attainment, ‘Girls achieved better pass rates than boys at all levels in this academic year, with 62.5 percent achieving 5* GCSEs A*-C grades or equivalent in England’ (2017)

Personal growth and skills also coincide, as in order to grow you must have experiences which provide you with skills helping you to develop and participate in new things. After a variety of abilities gained they therefore give assistance to you growing further as you venture out with confidence due to current skills aiding you to experience more, where you then pick up more skills giving an individual limitless possibility, as their skills enhance personal growth.

Personal Growth is similar to self-regulation as Therapist Johnson, found self-regulation is how a person exerts control over his or her own responses so that they can use this for further development and reach goals (2009).  Personal growth happens with all experiences and most likely self-regulation also occurs. Play is an example which involves the both as its an experience which helps you develop as an individual as you learn skills and understand different environments and use your abilities differently a child is also regulating. Vygotsky found that play is a way for a child to suppress their immediate impulses but also play requires one to observe and restrain themselves due to certain rules that there may be (Vygotsky 1967, 14). This shows how the child can learn from such a young age rules and understand that they must follow them ‘voluntarily follow rules that dictate which actions are consistent or not with each specific role’ (Elkonin, 1978) as they know the end result is success, so this shows how growth can be enforced by using positive reinforcements.

                                 

Reference List

 Bartlett, S and Burton, D. (2015) Introduction to Education Studies.3^rd edn. London: Sage.

Bowring, Finn. (2016) ‘The individual and society in Durkheim: Unpicking the contradictions’. European Journal of Social Theory, Vol.19(1), pp.21-38.

Elkonin, Daniil B. 1978. Psychologija Igry [The Psychology of Play]. 2005a. preface to “The Psychology of Play” [Ot avtora: biografia issledovanni], trans

Johnson, Laura. (2009) Emotion Regulation: The 25th Character Strength. Online at: http://personalgrowthinformation.com/emotion-regulation-the-25th-character-strength/

The Statistics Portal. (2015) GCSE pass rates in all State-funded mainstream schools in England in 2014/2015, by pass level and gender. Online at : https://www.statista.com/statistics/282462/gcse-results-in-england-by-pass-level-and-gender/