Learning, Curriculum and Life Politics: the selected works of Ivor F. Goodson
Coming to Curriculum
My perception of matters at the time was evident in the articles I wrote. These were pioneering comprehensive schools - our chance was to define new curricula which engaged all pupils and could lead towards 'education of all'. I believed passionately (and of course still do) in the right of all children to a full education. I also believed the rhetoric of comprehensive schooling, the provision of equal educational opportunities for all abilities and social classes. Given this (no doubt naive) belief the task before us was clear. We had to define a new range of school curricula and new examination syllabuses that would cover content and themes which engaged all pupils. My own involvement in defining new curricula in urban and community studies was part of this optimistic project of re-definition.
When I moved to take up a new post as Head of the Faculty Humanities in Milton Keynes, I spent a great deal of time defining new curricula in this way. A new 'O’ level in Community Studies was defined and accepted by the examination board in the first year. My outline plan for the Faculty was fairly explicit about my curriculum values at this time.
The prerequisite for involvement in the academic work of the faculty, or in the community within and without the school, is a sense of personal confidence and dignity. Hence we place the student and his experience at the centre of the learning process; we acknowledge that we cannot teach without him learning, cannot devise objectives without considering his motivation.
The Faculty of Humanities has two main objectives:
1) In giving the student a sense of their own uniqueness and dignity to aid their self-knowledge and self confidence. This requires:
a. some exploration of the student's own life experience so far, and,
b. the use of learning strategies which allow the student some autonomy in directing their own learning.
2) To involve the students in the emerging communities of Milton Keynes and the school. To aid them in identifying with their new environment and in using its communal facilities.
