Curriculum Inquiry 44卷2期文章

1. Getting a Grip on the Classroom: From Psychological to  Phenomenological Curriculum Development in Teacher Education  Programs

Author: Justin A. Garcia and Tyson E.  Lewis
Source: Curriculum Inquiry, 2014, 44(2):  141-168
Abstract: A major field of psychological research in  education concerns the relationship between teachers' beliefs and their  practices. A contested yet fairly consistent assumption underlying this  literature is that the beliefs that teachers hold concerning the educational  profession directly and/or indirectly affect their practices in actual  classrooms. Because of the assumed causal power of beliefs, teacher education  programs should therefore help students clarify their beliefs concerning best  practices, which in turn will help foster more consistent and reasonable  practices in their future classrooms. Thus the underlying model of excellence is  a critically self-reflective teacher. Using a phenomenological lens, we argue  that this approach to teacher education is flawed in two respects: (1) the  intellectualist approach misses prepropositional forms of meaningful coping and  dealing with an environment that define everyday teaching and (2) does not  adequately describe what constitutes “excellence.” In conclusion, we suggest  teacher education curricula shift from promoting teaching as critical  self-reflection to promoting tactful coping.

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2. Contextualizing the Tools of a Classical and Christian  Homeschooling Mother-Teacher

Author: Melissa Sherfinski
Source:  Curriculum Inquiry, 2014, 44(2): 169-203
Abstract: This  article reports on the resurgence of classical and Christian education in the  United States. This education has been especially popular with evangelical  homeschooling mother-teachers. It seeks to cultivate the biblical virtues of  truth, goodness, and beauty through contemplating scripture. The curriculum  relies on the ancient Trivium tools of knowledge, understanding, and wisdom in  order to do this. The inquiry seeks to examine the contexts surrounding a  mother-teacher's classical and Christian educational practice guided by two  questions: (1) Why and how does an evangelical homeschooling mother-teacher use  classical and Christian tools? (2) What are the possibilities and challenges of  classical and Christian homeschooling for an evangelical mother-teacher? This  curriculum is illustrated with the portrait of April Greene, an evangelical  homeschooling mother-teacher of two preteen boys. April enacted agency through  the complex and dynamic development of her children and herself. April engaged  the Trivium using bricolage, making educational meanings by picking and choosing  from available resources and tactics to suit her purposes of intellectual and  Christian identity formation. She moved beyond the borders of the official  curriculum to create unofficial practices as well. These choices allowed her to  negotiate the requirements of evangelical identity and the fact that living and  leading in the world may require some knowledge of popular culture. April  experienced possibilities related to classical and Christian curriculum,  pedagogical tools, and mother-teacher identity. Classical and Christian  education also presented a number of difficulties for April regarding cost,  time, child agency, perspective taking, isolation, and gender burden. April's  identity and agency as a mother-teacher reflected her intense devotion. She  struggled with competing roles and expectations while thriving on the unique  challenge of becoming an evangelical homeschooling mother-teacher.

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3. Teachers' Cultural Maps: Asia as a “Tricky Sort of Subject Matter”  in Curriculum Inquiry

Author: Peta Salter
Source: Curriculum  Inquiry, 2014, 44(2): 204-227
Abstract: The refocussing of  Australia–Asia relations is manifest in a combination of national policy moves  in Australia. Parallel shifts have been made in Europe, the United States,  Canada and New Zealand. In Australia, the curricular response to this shift has  become known as “Asia literacy.” This study is drawn from a wider project that  explores representations of Asia literacy in both espoused and enacted policy.  Teachers in this study are welcoming of Asia literacy, however lack confidence  in their ability to engage with it as “tricky sort of subject matter” that  requires significant theoretical work to “know Asia,” and “Asian culture” in an  “authentic” way. A seemingly insurmountable barrier is created by assumptions  that knowledge of Asia can be discretely inserted into curriculum. Critical  reflection on residual imperial notions that are evident in such assumptions can  in turn open new possibilities to theorise curricular responses to Asia  literacy.

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4. Teachers, Curriculum Innovation, and Policy Formation

Author: Nina Bascia, Shasta Carr-Harris, Rose Fine-Meyer and  Cara Zurzolo
Source: Curriculum Inquiry, 2014, 44(2):  228-248
Abstract: It is commonly understood that policy  makers make curriculum policy and teachers implement it. Some teachers, however,  have been in on the ground floor of curriculum policy development. Driven by  events in their life histories and teaching contexts, these teachers develop and  teach original course material in their own classrooms. Over time they begin to  work collaboratively on further course development, secure organizational  support to ensure adequate resources and legitimacy to disseminate these new  curricular forms, lobby for course acceptance by educational jurisdictions, and  help establish course infrastructure such as teacher professional learning  opportunities and textbooks. In other words, in some cases, teachers may  participate actively in every stage of policy development and practice. This  article discusses the phenomenon of teacher-driven curriculum innovation as a  process of individual, social, and political evolution. It describes three cases  of secondary-level courses developed by teachers in Ontario, Canada, and  formalized in district or provincial policy. In doing so, the article extends  the notion of teacher agency from its established arenas of classrooms and  schools and into the realm of policy making.

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5. Social Studies as a Means for the Preparation of Teachers: A Look  Back at the Foundations of Social Foundations Courses

Author: Benjamin M. Jacobs
Source:  Curriculum Inquiry, 2014, 44(2): 249-275
Abstract: This  document-based historical study looks back at the early years of the social  foundations of education program that originated at Teachers College, Columbia  University, in the 1930s–1940s, and focuses on the sociopolitical, intellectual,  and educational currents that helped bring it about. Drawing on archival  materials and published monographs by the field's original practitioners and  later observers, this study situates the emergence of social foundations at  Teachers College on the heels of the development of social studies in secondary  schools. The study suggests that many of the same rationales that undergirded  social studies were applied to social foundations, with the belief that future  citizens should be endowed with the capacity to solve contemporary social  problems based on the wisdom of the ages, the realities of present-day  circumstances, and the tools of critical analysis. Consequently, foundations  courses such as Teachers College's pathbreaking Ed.200F were broad, synthetic,  and interdisciplinary in design, so that students could apply all the critical  tools of social science research to the various problems of society at once. In  the end, social foundations was essentially a program of social studies for  educators: the ed school phase of social education writ large. Appreciating the  shared origins and fates of these two educational enterprises can help us  understand what may be done to revitalize social education in an age when it  increasingly has become marginalized in schools and teacher education programs  alike.