Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Julia Schmidlin
EDUC 3501
Aaron Stout
September. 27th, 2017
Curriculum Ideology Reflection
There are four curriculum ideologies that have developed throughout the study of
education. These ideologies are known as Scholar Academic, Social Efficiency, Learner
Centered and Social Reconstruction. Many instructors and teachers often find themselves leaning
towards one of these perspectives, which is ultimately shown in their styles of teaching.
However, what is commonly debated is the degree in which a particular ideology influences the
construction and execution of a learning experience for students. I believe that certain ideologies
can definitely impact the structure of a lesson, however teachers should be flexible with the way
they present material, so their students can have a better chance of retaining the information. It is
important that teachers develop their lessons with a clear structured format (beginning, middle
and end) to act as a point of reference for students. However, what impacts a students
experience in school the most is when teachers present information in a way that aims to fill all
the learning needs of each student; whether that be visual learners, kinesthetic, etc. Therefore,
using an ideology as a basis for teaching can be beneficial for both the teachers and students, yet
an ideology or teaching outlook should not be the sole factor that contributes to the execution of
a learning experience.
After completing research on these ideologies, it is obvious that they influence the way
people think about curriculum. When teachers analyze the different ways to approach
curriculum, they are encouraged to develop their own philosophies on teaching. There are some
clear differences between the ideologies. For example, Scholar Academics focus more on the
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intellect. Contrastingly, Learner Centered individuals focus more on the needs of students and
promoting individual growth (Schiro, 2008 p. 4-6). Although these ideologies express two very
different opinions on teaching, there has been an attempt to have these ideas cooperate with each
other, rather than compete (Schiro, p. 9). This would allow students to have more variety in their
I found that I had mixed feelings with some elements pertaining to each ideology. For example, I
agree with the Scholar Academic ideology that it is the teachers job to convey their knowledge of
different disciplines to the students and that they should give students a participants knowledge
rather than an observers knowledge. However, I dont think there should be a hierarchal
standard, where you are categorized depending on how knowledgeable you are. This could be
discouraging for some students and may limit their motivation to succeed. This just goes to show
that one shouldnt base their teaching style on one perspective, rather use each of these
ideologies as guides to formulate your own opinions. I understand that this is a challenging thing
to accomplish and the Schiro (2008) article describes just how difficult it would be by stating, It
is as though four great magnets tug on all of us who are interested in education, pulling us in four
different directions (p. 9). I think that teachers need to experiment using different ideologies and
techniques within their teaching and simply see which methods work best in their classroom.
All students learn and retain information differently, so it is important for teachers to
explore different teaching styles and see which ones works best to create an optimal classroom
environment. For example, if a teacher walked into their classroom with a Scholar Academic
mindset, they would only focus on making sure that students were expanding their knowledge on
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the different academic disciplines and moving their way up the hierarchal levels of learning. Of
course, it is important that students advance academically, but teachers should also be aware that
learning is unique to each individual and that growth will occur at an individual rate. With this
approach, students may be more focused on gathering and memorizing as much information as
they can, rather than actually absorbing the content theyre learning. In contrast to this, if a
teacher were to have a Social Reconstructionist mindset, they would focus more on preparing
students for the challenges they will face in society and less on developing their knowledge with
the different disciplines. Scholar academics would argue that students will not be prepared for
their future at all if they dont have enough knowledge on the academic disciplines. Both of these
outlooks are valid and should be used, however there should be a balance between all ideologies
so that students can have more of a positive learning experience and be more engaged with the
material.
One way that I think could help with balancing the ideologies is by including as much
peer collaborative work as possible. A Scholar Academic would view group work as a positive
practice since students are able to participate and develop their knowledge together. Learner
Centered would similarly find benefits to group work as its putting the attention on the students,
where they can learn from one another and grow at their own pace. Social Efficiency and Social
Reconstructionist ideologists would also see group work as a positive method because it
encourages students to take on responsibilities and communicate, which are skills that will
Overall, when looking at the four ideologies, I think using one or more perspectives can
be beneficial when constructing a lesson. All teachers have different philosophies and beliefs on
teaching, so using such ideologies as a guide when creating lessons can be helpful. However,
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teachers should be conscious over how they present information; making sure that their students
retain and absorb what is being taught. It is easy for a Scholar Academic teacher to be focused on
delivering knowledge to their students, but they need to be just as concerned over how their
students are developing individually and what specifically their students need in order to
succeed. As discussed, there are pros and cons to all of the ideologies, so it is important that
current and future teachers examine all of them before implementing them into their teaching.
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Works Cited
Schiro, M. S. (2008). Curriculum Theory, Conflicting Visions and Enduring Concerns:
Introduction to the Curriculum Ideologies. Na: Sage Publications.