What is Curriculum in the CIE context?

What is Curriculum in the CIE context?

1. Explicit Curriculum- what is stated clearly and in detail, what we can see

   • the advertised menu of the school
     • Subjects stated clearly for students, parents and stakeholders
       • timetables of subjects for the day show the range of subjects students will engage in and time given to these.
         • Timetables show the value of time given to the arts, a small amount usually at the end of a day.
           • information conveyed to students that the arts are used for rewards, as a break from thinking, and deals with feelings
   • Children mustdelay gratification - structure and demands on teachers

2. Implicit Curriculum -what is suggested though not directly. Implied. What is felt.

   • materials used and structure of the classroom
     • Are the materials being used in the classroom critically analysed to create a classroom environment that is imaginative and creative?
       • We need to cultivate initiative in our students learning, not just asking the students to do what we want them to
         • we need to provide opportunities for our students to be intrinsically motivated, to set goals, make mistakes, reconsider and keep trying
           • We want our students to generate their own ideas, possibilities and actions, we don't want them to do everything they think we want them to do.
             • Competitiveness in the curriculum can help with progress of ideas and solutions in creativity and imagination, but collaboration would be a more helpful focus in our classrooms.
   • As a parent, the implicit curriculum of a school is how I choose the right school for my children. It is the feeling I get that permeates throughout the school establishment. If the teachers allow for creative and imaginative thinkiing and act that way themselves in their organisation of policies, classrooms and activities, then students will be given many opportunities to be creative and imaginative thinkers.

3. Null Curriculum- What don't we teach at school?- When we as teachers don't consider all the perspectives and processes necessary to foster wisdom, weaken prejudice and use a range of thought modes.

   • Our students must be given the opportunities to use both sides of their brain, in all subjects, not just in the Creative Arts.
     • Our student's thinking should not be rule-abiding.
       • Schools have a role to provide a curriculum that allows students to think creatively, to imagine and to analyse others creativity. If we do not provide opportunities for this, then we are withholding some of the greatest joys of intellectual ddiscoveryfrom our students.