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Philosophy and the curriculum principles

The New Zealand Curriculum says the curriculum principles are ‘foundations of curriculum decision making … They are particularly relevant to the processes of planning, prioritising, and review’.

As such, teachers of philosophy should have them very much in mind when planning programmes of teaching and learning.

This might mean, for example:

High expectations

  • Taking care to establish and maintain classroom protocols that ensure that all students can contribute in the confidence that they will be heard and supported.
  • Insisting that students clarify what they mean if not clear, and that they back their opinions with sound arguments and evidence.
  • Teaching students to recognise and challenge assumptions and ask questions.

Treaty of Waitangi

  • Ensuring that the achievement of Māori students is taken seriously.
  • Ensuring that the bicultural perspective is examined before the multicultural perspective.
  • Finding out about the kind of learning environments and interactions that tend to bring out the best in Māori students (engaging perhaps in appropriate professional learning).
  • Valuing the cultural knowledge of Māori students (including by using and displaying te reo in the classroom).
  • Making use of themes, contexts, and questions that are of particular significance, interest or relevance for Māori students.
  • Consulting with Māori teachers, students, whānau, and community.

Cultural diversity

  • Learning something of significance about each of the cultures represented in the class and using this knowledge to connect with students.
  • Encouraging the students to explore the philosophical richness of the diverse cultures and traditions represented in the class.
  • Choosing contexts that can be explored from different cultural perspectives (for example, ownership and kaitiakitanga, language, land/seabed, education).

Inclusion

  • Ensuring that students who are ‘different’ for whatever reason are safe, and their contribution valued.
  • Accustoming students to identify and their own and others’ prejudices, and to critique them.

Learning to learn

  • Allowing students to exercise their initiative, and to follow their passion in searching for wisdom.
  • Involving students in the selection of contexts and philosophical questions to explore, etc.
  • Being transparent about assessment, and coaching students so that they are able to effectively self- and peer-assess.
  • Encouraging students to reflect regularly on their own and others’ learning, and to learn from their mistakes.
  • Encouraging students to make use of the insights of philosophical inquiry in their own lives.

Community engagement

  • Inviting family and whānau contributions to philosophical discourse (for example, via homework tasks, or a family/community member coming along to class).

Coherence

  • Creating philosophy programmes that use unit/achievement standards from different learning areas or subjects.
  • Selecting contexts for philosophical exploration from a wide variety of areas (for example, science, commerce, history, English, mathematics, the arts, technology).
  • Surfacing development of the key competencies.
  • Exposing students to pathways to further learning (tertiary, career choices, personal and community decision-making).

Future focus

  • Encouraging students examine what is, and imagine what could be.
  • Ensuring that the future aspect of contexts and concepts (for example, freedom and responsibility) is explored.

< Back to pedagogy

Last updated October 24, 2011



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