Teachers as curriculum arbiters and
navigators
Presented by Professor Valerie Harwood
Lecture developed by Dr Samantha McMahon
Sydney School of Education and Social Work
The University of Sydney
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This week we are focusing on:
teachers – teaching – curriculum
How do we think about this…?
How do we think about teachers and curriculum
and knowledge?
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The lecture
–
–
–
–
Excerpt from the start of the reading
What might the simile in the lecture title mean?
What you know impacts what you do (and how you teach)
Arbitration, navigation and teachers’ knowledge of
curriculum
– Arbitration, navigation and teachers’ knowledge of learners
Two channels of teacher education – content and pedagogic reasoning.
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The following slide contains an excerpt from the start
of this week’s reading by Comber & Kamler (2004).
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“Well, as I said before, it has a lot to do with work ethic of the parents, and
although the Early Years program is very structured and doesn't leave a
whole lot of room for teacher error, you're always going to need the support
of parents, and if the parents aren't giving as much support, the students
won't show it in their work. You know it from class to class. You see groups
of children in my class that are doing the best. I've met their parents, they've
all come and made themselves very known to me, and just through speaking
to them you know what goes on at home and you know that they do have a
stronger work ethic and help their kids at home as well. I think that's huge.
The parents do need to help. We've got structures in place to teach at school,
but then it needs to be backed up at home.”
(Marc, cited in Comber and Kamler, 2004, p.298)
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Teachers as curriculum arbiters and navigators
What might the simile in lecture title mean?
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ARBITER (noun):
1. gen. One whose opinion or decision is authoritative in a matter of debate; a
judge.
2. spec. One who is chosen by the two parties in a dispute to arrange or
decide the difference between them; an arbitrator, an umpire.
3. One who has power to decide or ordain according to his[sic] own absolute
pleasure; one who has a matter under his [sic] sole control. Also fig
4. ǁ arbiter elegantiarum, arbiter elegantiae [Latin, lit. ‘judge of elegance’:
Petronius Arbiter was the elegantiae arbiter of Nero's court (Tacitus Ann. xvi.
18)] , a judge of matters of taste, an authority on etiquette.
(Oxford Online Dictionary, 2018a)
In what way might teachers be considered arbiters of
curriculum?
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NAVIGATOR, n.
1. A person who navigates.
a. A sailor, esp. one …responsible for directing the course of a particular vessel.
b. a person who plots and directs the course of an aircraft or spacecraft.
c. A person who directs the course of a motor vehicle; a person who map-reads
for, or gives directions to, the driver of a motor vehicle.
3. Computing. Categories »
a. A person who searches large computer databases…
b. A program which searches for and locates data about a specified topic from
the Internet or other data collection; …any program or device designed to help
a user move around an interface, program, etc. (Oxford Online Dictionary, 2018b)
Discuss: In what way might teachers be considered navigators
of curriculum?
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–
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What you know impacts what you do (and how you teach)
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Trevor Gale, Carmen Mills, Russell Cross
This idea of the relationship between knowing and doing is at the centre of
educational thinking and practice. In 2017 these three academics released a
theoretical paper demonstrating the centrality of knowledge and belief in
pedagogic work especially, now.
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This work by Gale and colleagues affirms that what we believe and know impacts what we
do as educators in the community and in the classroom.
OUR CHOICES about what and how we teach something craft different learning
opportunities and educational experiences for our students. This makes our decisions as
educators important ethical and political actions.
WAIT – what do we mean by political? One way of thinking about the political is to think
about the ‘polis’, the idea of people together, contributing. The idea of the polis is discussed
in rich detail by Hannah Arendt.
For Arendt (1968) the purpose of the political,
“…would be to establish and keep in existence a space where freedom as virtuosity can
appear. This is the realm where freedom is a worldly reality, tangible in words which can be
heard, in deeds which can be seen, and in events which are talked about, remembered…
Whatever occurs in this space of appearances is political by definition...” (p.154–5)
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349
Gale et al.
Figure 1. Elements of Pedagogic Work: belief, design, action.
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(Gale et al. 2017, p.349)
pedagogy are represented by Figure 1 below and discussed in
the sections that follow.
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Attempts to define “good” teaching as the basis to evaluate and improve the professional standards of teachers has
gained traction across OECD nations, particularly in the
You don’t have to understand in detail this diagram – it is being used to
show that educator knowledge and beliefs are at the apex, sitting at the
top of the triangle on current theorizations of pedagogical work.
This reminds us that whilst examples in this lecture might be specific,
the issue is foundational to contemporary educational practice.
We use our knowledge and beliefs as chief currency in our work as
curriculum arbiters and navigators.
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Curriculum arbitration, navigation and teachers’ knowledge of
curriculum
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Image caption
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Building a case for multiple ‘ways of knowing
Drawing
on ideas
from
Michel
Foucault
•
Discourse, discipline, knowledge.
•
What each of these pictures represented was a certain discourse (or way of
knowing and talking) about eggplants.
•
Multiple knowledges of eggplants J.
•
Discourses do stuff! They form objects, inform how we say things, form concepts
AND strategies (Foucault 1972).
•
Discourses limit the sayable, repeatable and doable (Kendall & Wickham, 1999)
•
Discourses do this, in part, by providing you with a position in relation to the
‘thing’ to be known.
•
What you know => tells you something about who you are (your positionality) =>
What you say and do.
(see also, McMahon & Harwood, 2016)
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(see also, Foucault 1972, Gutting 2003)
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For a botanist the eggplant is
an object of study, a thing to
be understood. In this case
the scientist is positioned as
the knower of eggplants.
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A farmer will view the eggplant
as a thing to be nurtured and
protected from threats such as
birds, insects and extreme
weather. They might position
themselves as protectors of the
eggplant
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Image caption
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A dietician might see the eggplant as merely the
sum of its nutritional parts, a single piece in a
informational jigsaw piece for them to manipulate
when providing dietetic advice to a patient. They
might position themselves as eggplant problem
solvers.
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Image caption
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The economist will think of the
eggplant in terms of data. And
themselves as data analysts.
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For the chef, the eggplant is a material to be manipulated and used
in the construction of culinary their arts. They may consider
themselves eggplant artists?!?!?!
Image caption
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The different ways of knowing give each of our knowers a different subject
position in relationship with the eggplant:
•
•
•
•
•
expert,
protector,
problem solver,
data analyst,
artist.
So what happens if each knower is given a kitchen knife and an eggplant?
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The chef would never pick up a knife, then
carefully and slowly vertically dissect the
eggplant then pull out a piece of paper and pencil
to draw the seed placements … but a botanist
would (and they would use a scalpel).
The chef would gladly and expertly wield a
kitchen knife to shape the eggplant appropriately
for incorporation in this art. Diced, sliced etc.
But the farmer would never think to pick up a
knife or plunge a knife into the thing they may be
protecting it from all damage so it may fully grow
before selling it at market.
The dietician and the economist arguably
wouldn’t ever think to pick up a knife in their
professional dealings with eggplants information.
The limits of what you know (or discourses or
ways of knowing) impacts what you say AND do.
Image caption
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Knowing yourself, your knowledge and your
positionality as a teacher is a very important
starting point in deciding how to teach the
curriculum content to students.
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This is what Year 6 students have to know about food and fibre production and management and its relationship to
health and wellbeing. Question: Will all primary school teachers go about teaching this content in the same way?
YOUR
POSITIONALITY,
PRIOR
KNOWLEDGE AND
Disciplinary
PREDISPOSITIONS
as a teacher
MEANS YOU WILL
READ THIS
DOCUMENT IN A
UNIQUE WAY.
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(Screenshot with overlay:
https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/resources/curriculumconnections/dimensions/?Id=46751&Subjects=45760&Subjects=45758&
Subjects=45721&Subjects=45753&Subjects=45720&isFirstPageLoad=f
alse)
The
University of Sydney
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Two year 6 classrooms…
Classroom #1 Foody, creative arts, predisposed to the creative process – you might respond very differently
to this content elaboration compared to a teacher who has strengths in science and experimental design /
controlling variables.
The first teacher might ask to work in groups to design and develop a way of making eggplants presentable
and palatable to younger eaters;
Classroom #2 Solve a maths problem that involves comparing and contrasting the health benefits of
swapping out a single ingredient in a recipe (different nutritional values of chicken v. eggplant parmigiana,
then ask you to repeat this ‘change one variable’ evaluation on a recipe of your choice).
“Equipment” to the first teacher might be cookie cutters, spiral peelers, food processor and an entire kitchen
pantry, whilst in the second it might mean supermarket brochures, kitchen scales and a calculator).
–
–
–
Do you think students in one of these classrooms are getting a better educational ‘deal’ compared
with the other classroom? Are there any equity issues here?
If everyone know the same outcome is it okay that different teachers will teach it differently? Why?
Has to
In what ways were these two teachers arbiters or negotiators of curriculum? (maybe think back on
those definitions from the start of the lecture)
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Key messages
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– What you know impacts what you
say and do. (Discourses do stuff!)
– Each discourse places you in a
particular relationship to the
thing you know (‘subject
position’ or positionality).
– Positionality impacts your decisions
of how to interpret, curate and
teach curriculum.
– This impacts learners. So, teacher
knowledge and teacher
decisions matter in ethical and
political ways.
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Curriculum arbitration, navigation and teachers’ knowledge of
students
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Would you coach basketball the same way if:
– Your team are top of the national
basketball league
– Your team normally plays national
netball but are training for a
charity basketball match
– Your team are wheelchair users
– Your team are octogenarians?
– Your school is trying lunchtime
basketball instead of detention
and your team has been in
significant trouble with classroom
teachers that morning.
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Why? Why not?
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Getting out of deficit: Pedagogies of reconnection
(Comber and Kamler, 2004)
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Marc turns around to Willem (Comber & Kamler, 2004)
In the beginning
“New knowledge”
Then…
Deficit understandings
of families when he
hadn’t met the parents.
“never completing
writing tasks”,
“little motivation toward
reading books from the
provided book boxes”,
“simply disinterested in
set work” (p. 299)
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Marc turns around to Willem (Comber & Kamler, 2004)
In the beginning
“New knowledge”
Deficit understandings
of families when he
hadn’t met the parents.
The non reader can
read!
“never completing
writing tasks”,
“little motivation toward
reading books from the
provided book boxes”,
“simply disinterested in
set work” (p. 299)
Parents work ethic is
not so bad!
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Then…
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Marc turns around to Willem (Comber & Kamler, 2004)
In the beginning
“New knowledge”
Then…
Deficit discourses
The non reader can
regarding families
read!
when he hadn’t met the
parents.
Different teaching for
Willem
“never completing
writing tasks”,
“little motivation toward
reading books from the
provided book boxes”,
“simply disinterested in
set work” (p. 299)
Innovative and
inclusive teaching
strategies for whole
class (radio segment /
access to TEXTEASE)
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Parents work ethic aint
so bad!
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What did this mean for Willem’s learning?
– “I liked fineing the snake sing and it saw yag. (February)”
(p.300)
– “Dery Diary, I am going to the football to nit and I going to see
Richmnd and Mlbne and I hop it is fun and I am going to set rit
up the top or the stad and it is fun. (21 March)” (p.300)
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–
“At the third quarter bounce the Tigers are ahead, 10.3.63 and
Collingwood are only 2.2.14. Trailing by 49 points the Magpies
do not have a chance against Richmond. Darren Gaspar taps
the ball down to Campbell. Wyane Campbell, 4 times best and
fairest, handballs to Rodan. David Rodan runs on as Brad Ottens
shepherds Nathan Buckley. The 2002 AFL rising star, Rodan
boots one long from 60 metres out. The pack comes together
right in front of goals. Richardson sticks his boot into Cloak’s
back. He launches in the air and takes a mark! The crowd goes
wild as superstar Mark Richardson lines up for his sixth goal. The
scoreboard will now be 11.3.69. Richmond is killing
Collingwood! (End of May)” (p.300-301)
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Let’s think about our eggplants, ‘subject positions’
(positionality) and Marc and Willem
– Blame students and/or families for their ‘lack’ = deficit discourse = Teacher
positioned as helpless.
– Recognise reading ability and family strengths (virtual school bags) = nondeficit discourses = Teacher positioned as researcher (assessment), teacher
positioned as designer (new coursework), teacher positioned as supporter
(improvement in Willem’s work)
– Willem was always and always will be Willem. Only Marc’s knowledge
of Willem changed, as did his capacity and strategies for negotiating
and arbiting curricululm for his students.
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Marc’s is a story of hope (connecting with previous reading)
– Marc held multiple knowledges of Willem, each to different effect on
teaching and learning.
– “as soon as we admit pluralism, we are forced to admit that ours is not the
only standpoint, the only experience, the only way, and the truths we have
built our lives on begin to feel fragile.” (Palmer, 2009, p.63). WK7
– Teachers work is, in part, discursive (Comber, 2006). WK6
– “The point to remember is that if we have been made, then we can be
‘unmade’ and ‘made over’” (McLaren, 2009, p.80). WK2 &3
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Key messages
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– What you know impacts what you
say and do. (Discourses do stuff!)
– Each discourse places you in a
particular relationship to the
learner you know (‘subject
position’ or positionality).
– The change from ‘non-reader
Willem’ to ‘successful writer
Willem’ was Marc’s knowledge
and related teaching decisions
(“getting out of deficit”
discursive work)
– Positionality impacts your decisions
of what and how to teach.
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Pulling it all together – that which robots could never do J
Teachers are arbiters and navigators of curriculum.
Arbitration and navigation is dependent on the discursive work
and positionality of teachers.
This discursive work includes interpreting and curating
curriculum knowledges and “matching” these to the perceived
learning needs of students.
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Reflect: In what way might teachers be considered arbiters of
curriculum?
ARBITER (noun):
1. gen. One whose opinion or decision is authoritative in a matter of debate; a
judge. (Think about the two teachers’ different but finite presentations of the
food design and technology outcome to their students)
2. spec. One who is chosen by the two parties in a dispute to arrange or
decide the difference between them; an arbitrator, an umpire. (Think about the
basketball coach who is reconciling specific team’s learning needs by curating
expert knowledges)
3. One who has power to decide or ordain according to his own absolute
pleasure; one who has a matter under his sole control. (Think about the power
dynamics inherent in Marc’s two different understandings of Willem)
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(Oxford Online Dictionary, 2018a)
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Reflect: In what way might teachers be considered navigators
of curriculum?
NAVIGATOR, n.
1. A person who navigates.
a. A person who directs the course of a motor vehicle; a person who map-reads
for, or gives directions to, the driver of a motor vehicle (Think about Marc’s
approach to book boxes before and after the home visit to Willem)
(Oxford Online Dictionary, 2018b)
–
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References
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Comber, B. (2006). Pedagogy as work: Educating the next generation of literacy teachers. Pedagogies: An
International Journal, 1(1): 59-67.
Comber, B., & Kamler, B. (2004). Getting out of deficit: Pedagogies of reconnection. Teaching Education,
15(3), pp. 293-310.
Foucault, M. (1972). The Archaeology of Knowledge (A. M. S. Smith, Trans.). London: Routledge.
Gale, T., Mills, C., & Cross, P. (2017). Socially Inclusive Teaching: Belief, design, action as pedagogic work.
Journal of Teacher Education, 68(3), pp. 345-356.
Gutting, G. (2003). Introduction. Michel Foucault: A user's guide. In G. Gutting (Ed.), The Cambridge
Companion to Foucault (2nd ed., pp. 1-28). New York: Cambridge University Press. (Reprinted from: 2006).
Kendall, G., & Wickham, G. (1999). Using Foucault's Methods. London: Sage Publications
McLaren, P. (2009). Critical pedagogy: A look at the major concepts. In A. Darder, M.P. Baltodano & R.D.
Torres (Eds), The Critical Pedagogy Reader. New York and London: Routledge.
McMahon, S., Harwood, V. (2016). Confusions and conundrums during final practicum: A study of preservice
teachers' knowledge of challenging behaviour. In E. Bendix Petersen & Z. Millei (Eds.), Interrupting the PsyDisciplines in Education, (pp. 145-166). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Palmer, P. J. (2007). The courage to teach: Exploring the inner landscape of a teacher's life (Chapter 2). San
Francisco, California: Jossey-Bass.
Oxford Online Dictionary. (2018a). Arbiter, n. Available at: http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/10167
Oxford Online Dictionary. (2018b). Navigator, n. Available at: http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/125478
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Images
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Eggplant (botanic drawing): https://theoddpantry.com/2015/03/13/a-thousand-names-for-eggplant/
Eggplant (harvest on truck) : http://www.producebites.net/five-fun-facts-about-eggplants/
Australian Guide to Healthy Eating: https://www.eatforhealth.gov.au/guidelines/australian-guide-healthyeating
Graphic for ‘economics’: http://www.reuun.com/download-wp/402774133.html
Cartoon chef: http://www.cestboncooking.ca
Trevor Gale, https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/education/staff/trevorgale/
Carmen Mills, https://researchers.uq.edu.au/researcher/1374
Russell Cross, http://education.unimelb.edu.au/llrh/experts
Barbara Comber, http://www.unisa.edu.au/Education-Arts-and-Social-Sciences/school-ofeducation/Archive/education/Our-research/Our-people/
Basketball on court, https://www.capitalfm.co.ke/lifestyle/2017/06/05/east-africa-city-slam-basketballtournament-comes-nairobi-kenya-mombasa/
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