TY - JOUR
T1 - The national curriculum vs. the ideal curriculum
T2 - acknowledging student learning interests
AU - Araneda, Daniel
AU - Guzmán, María Angélica
AU - Nussbaum, Miguel
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2019/5/4
Y1 - 2019/5/4
N2 - For many students, school is a place that makes no sense; a place where students’ interests are not reflected in the curriculum. Using mixed methods research, we developed an instrument that identifies student interests. This instrument was applied in a pilot study that considered 10th-grade students from three schools in Santiago, Chile. We compared student interest and national curriculum for different factors and established how well aligned these are. The results reveal that private school students prefer subjects that require greater cognitive development, related to Young’s powerful knowledge. Students from voucher schools, on the other hand, prefer to develop their knowledge of the arts and physical education, both of which are subjects they tend to enjoy. These findings are coherent with Bernstein’s theories. This pattern is also repeated when comparing high-performing students with their low-performing counterparts, regardless of school type. The findings of this study not only help identify which subjects the students want to study, but also to understand the reasons behind their preferences. Understanding these reasons is key for developing a more contextualised curriculum that makes more sense to the students.
AB - For many students, school is a place that makes no sense; a place where students’ interests are not reflected in the curriculum. Using mixed methods research, we developed an instrument that identifies student interests. This instrument was applied in a pilot study that considered 10th-grade students from three schools in Santiago, Chile. We compared student interest and national curriculum for different factors and established how well aligned these are. The results reveal that private school students prefer subjects that require greater cognitive development, related to Young’s powerful knowledge. Students from voucher schools, on the other hand, prefer to develop their knowledge of the arts and physical education, both of which are subjects they tend to enjoy. These findings are coherent with Bernstein’s theories. This pattern is also repeated when comparing high-performing students with their low-performing counterparts, regardless of school type. The findings of this study not only help identify which subjects the students want to study, but also to understand the reasons behind their preferences. Understanding these reasons is key for developing a more contextualised curriculum that makes more sense to the students.
KW - Subject choice
KW - curriculum
KW - inequalities
KW - student voice
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85056198287&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/03054985.2018.1531749
DO - 10.1080/03054985.2018.1531749
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85056198287
SN - 0305-4985
VL - 45
SP - 333
EP - 349
JO - Oxford Review of Education
JF - Oxford Review of Education
IS - 3
ER -