International Baccalaureate or IB
Considering that the school follows the IB curriculum, one would assume that it followed a learner-centered (Schiro, M. S., 2013, pp.8.) ideology, that is it focused on the “…on the needs and concerns of individuals” Schiro, M. S., 2013, pp.8.). And “Learning is thus considered a function of the interaction between a person and his or her environment.” (Schiro, M. S., 2013, pp.9).
In this case one would have the model of curriculum as experiential learning. “Instead of regarding curricula narrowly as formalized classroom content or prescriptive learning objectives, it may be useful to think of them more holistically as programs for experiences.” (Su, S, 2012). One would also have students having a say in development and evaluation of the curriculum.
However, in my opinion it followed the Social Efficiency (Schiro, M. S., 2013, pp.8.) ideology, in the sense that the focus is to fulfil the “…needs of society (or the client).” (Schiro, M. S., 2013, pp.8.). My chief focus is ‘client’, that is the parents who constitute the larger society where the school is set up. The curriculum developers and enforcers try to follow the learner-centred model, however it is in the boundary of Social Efficiency model.
It may come as a shock as the philosophy of IB completely contradicts the Social Efficiency ideology.
If looks closely, one can see that the “…teachers decide what students are supposed to learn, why they are learning it, how they are supposed to learn it, what assignments they will be doing as well as what books they will be reading. Essentially, the teacher controls everything in the classroom.” (Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 2016) And this is due to an inherent fear in the mind of displeasing the client that is the ‘parent’. Education is largely determined by what pleases the parents as they are the clients and teachers are the expenses.
In order for the school to be more learner-centred, two modifications are required:
(1) Move to a structured middle school experiential program, such as IB-MYP (Middle Years Program). This would give a scaffolding for the teachers to work within as it is very well described and also has evaluation in built in it.
(2) The school could move away from dependence on parents’ fee for its sustenance. It could develop ways to raise its own money and hence be more self-sufficient. Then the ‘client’ would not be so powerful as to affect the curriculum that the school ought to run.
In conclusion, the school ought to apply the learner-centred model to align itself to the philosophy. For that it needs to work on a dual manner of creating a scaffold and developing self-reliance.
References
1. Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, (2016). Retrieved from https://www.arjonline.org/full-text/american-research-journal-of-humanities-and-social-sciences/comparison-for-curriculum-ideologiesIborganization.
2. International education, (n.d.).. Retrieved from https://www.ibo.org/
3. Schiro, M. S. (2013). Curriculum theory: Conflicting visions and enduring concerns (2nd ed.). Retrieved from: https://talkcurriculum.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/schiro-m-2013-introduction-to-the-curriculum-ideologies.pdf
4. Su, S. (2012). The Various Concepts of Curriculum and the Factors Involved in Curricula-making. Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268348184_The_Various_Concepts_of_Curriculum_and_the_Factors_Involved_in_Curricula-making
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