School and Society
School and Society
What development must consider
- The relationship between education and society.
- The relationship between education and the growth of learners.
The two-way relationship
- A school exists within a social context.
- Culture affects and shapes the school and its curriculum.
- The school, through its curriculum, can alter society, and society can mold the school.
The rule
- Curriculum cannot be meaningfully developed or delivered without reflecting on the school-society relationship.
Culture flows into the school and shapes what it teaches, but the influence does not stop there. The school flows back out into society, shaping it in turn. The relationship runs both ways, and a developer who sees only one direction will misjudge what a curriculum can do.
What development must consider
Curriculum development requires careful thought about the social setting, and two relationships in particular.
The first is the relationship between education and society: how what a school teaches connects to the wider world the learners belong to. The second is the relationship between education and the growth of learners: how schooling fits the way young people actually develop. A curriculum has to answer to both, serving the society and fitting the learner at the same time.
The relationship runs both ways
The heart of this foundation is a two-way relationship. Three statements capture it.
- A school exists within a social context. It is never a sealed box. It sits inside a community, an economy, and a culture, all of which press on it.
- The culture affects and shapes the school and its curriculum. This is the inward direction, already seen: a society’s way of life decides much of what the school teaches.
- The school, through the teaching of its curriculum, can alter society, and society can mold the school and its curriculum. This is the outward direction, and the new point. What a school teaches goes on to shape the citizens, workers, and leaders who remake the society.
So the influence loops. Society shapes the curriculum; the curriculum shapes the next generation; that generation reshapes society; and the cycle continues. A reconstructionist leans hard on the outward direction, treating the school as an agent of change. But even a traditional curriculum participates in the loop, whether it means to or not.
Culture shapes the school, and the school can reshape culture
Society molds the curriculum, the curriculum molds the next generation, and that generation reshapes society. The influence loops in both directions, not just one.
The rule for developers
The foundation ends with a rule worth keeping. A developer cannot meaningfully consider the development or the delivery of a curriculum without reflecting on the relationship between school and society. Strip away that reflection and the curriculum floats free of the world it is meant to serve.
This is why the socio-cultural foundation is not an optional add-on. Every choice about content and method is also a choice about which society the curriculum is for and what it might do to that society. The developer who keeps the school-society loop in view designs with both eyes open.
Never develop or deliver a curriculum without reflecting on school and society
Every choice about content and method is also a choice about which society the curriculum serves and what it may do to that society. The relationship is not optional to consider.
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