ECS 203 Blog Post #3- Tegan Naumann

According to the Levin article, how are school curricula developed and implemented? What new information/perspectives does this reading provide about the development and implementation of school curriculum? Is there anything that surprises you or maybe that concerns you?

    In Curriculum Policy and the Politics of What Should be Learned in Schools Ben Levin describes the curricula being built by different people which include the government, teachers, experts in certain fields... But overall the government has the larger authority of the curriculum and what it is supposed to be composed of. The school curriculum goes through a long process of getting produced that can take up to several years. It brings together experts and sector representative to create a draft. Teachers and staff are also included in this as well but they do not get much authority. They will also look at the old curriculum to see what they can add on to, improve or cut out of the education system. Everything is organized by government officials and then can be released but sometimes it is release as a plot and then added onto later. This article provides different views that teachers have and struggles that are seen in the classroom. Levin states, "A Canadian public opinion poll a few years ago found that people wanted more of every subject in the school curriculum, but did not want a longer school day or year" (Levin, p. 14). This states that there is simply not enough hours in a day to get to everyone's needs. Therefore we must choose wisely about what should be taught and pout in the curriculum. One concern that I do have is how elementary teachers do not have the correct education or background in certain subjects that they have to teach. This is worrying for the education of the students and for the future that their ongoing education. Because of this the students might not get the proper education and therefore effect their future and might fall behind.

After reading pages 1-4 of the Treaty Education document, what connections can you make between the article and the implementation of Treaty Education in Saskatchewan? What tensions might you imagine were part of the development of the Treaty Education curriculum?

    One connection between the two articles were that the government was overly involved compared to the teachers and parents. Elders and treaty people should have been more included in creating this because they are unbiased, witness it first hand and can choose what they want taught about their culture and history. Some tension that could have came were the government creating wrong and hurtful ideas about Indigenous people of Canada. another things that can arise is when should we start educating the students on the history of the First Nations peoples of Canada or where we should start. We have to think about ways to put treaty education into the curriculum that will come out with positive aspects. It is important to have different people get a say in creating the curriculum because it gives this a chance at seeing different perspectives and ways to approach certain topics.