‘The world can only be as equal as the knowledge that it is built upon’: Towards a curriculum of justice
Written by: Tom Silkstone
6 min read
TOM SILKSTONE, INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF DERBY, UK
Knowledge is always subjective, intimately linked to those who both create and/or inherit it (Foucault, 2001). The curriculum reflects the nation’s values and ambitions for its young people. Its epistemologies cannot therefore be understood without accounting for the many cultural, political and economic dynamics within its design (Paraskeva, 2011). Social-reconstructionists argue that the curriculum should encourage critical consciousness to prepare students to challenge injustice by exploring the many dimensions of their experiences. They argue such injustices have been built structurally, many based on Eurocentric knowledge and culture (Andrews, 2021), and thus the curriculum is believed to instil particular views in its students that uphold these structures. Here, the notion that education is designed to maintain certain interests provides an outset through which I consider how the curriculum might be reassembled mo
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This is a fantastic article! Well written and informative for a teacher and EdD student like myself. Thank you. Simona