Journeys, buildings and rivers, making a mess and getting lost: The curriculum metaphors we teach by
Written by: Caroline Godfrey
7 min read
CAROLINE GODFREY, ASTON UNIVERSITY, BIRMINGHAM, UK
Why curriculum metaphors are important and why they are important now
Some readers may be surprised to encounter an evocation of the importance of metaphors in a journal dedicated to the work of practising teachers. Metaphors, however, have been found to hold enormous power when it comes to shaping our beliefs and perspectives and they can unconsciously mould our views on a whole range of social and cultural issues, such as mental health, academic research and gender policy, to name but a few (Adams, 2023). Thibodeau and Boroditsky (2011), for example, demonstrate that news reports utilising metaphors can subtly affect the way in which readers reason about the methods that should be employed by authorities to deal with crime. Exposure to the ‘crime as a beast’ metaphor led participants in Thibodeau and Boroditsky’s (2011) study to propose catching and incarcerating criminals and implementing harsher enforcement laws. Alternati
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