The following post includes my responses to course readings on History and Philosophy of Teaching and Learning.
Reading 1
The Complexity of Intellectual Currents: Duncan McArthur and Ontario's Progressivist Curriculum Reforms by T.M. Christou
What is the historical context/argument being explored?
The historical context being explored in this reading is Duncan McArthur, who played a large role in the revisions of progressive education. He was Ontario’s Minister of Education from 1934 to 1942 and an alumni of Queen’s University, where our Faculty of Education building was named in his honour (Christou, 2012). McArthur focused on community building, social responsibility, creative and critical teaching strategies, and student choice (Christou, 2012). Educational reform was, and is no easy feat. McArthur was well ahead of their time, working to change and bring about innovative perspectives to Ontario schools.
How does this article address/frame the following terms? Innovation, Creativity, Teaching and Learning. How do the ideas/arguments relate to the working definitions you have developed in the Glossary? During his role as Ontario’s Minister of Education, McArthur made substantial changes to the province’s system of schooling. Using critical and creative thinking, he paved the way for an innovative education system. In my definition for innovation, I described it as a process, development, transformation, or change. McArthur challenged the curriculum with his progressive outlook and was responsible for its revision, most significantly during 1937 and 1938 (Christou, 2012). He saw the importance of a valuable teacher education program, as it was training educators to raise future leaders, voters, and citizens. McArthur applied his educational philosophical learnings as well as empathy to his profession (Christou, 2012). In my glossary, I stated that learning is often associated with an educational institution and life experiences. While McArthur had experiences in education which also allowed him to connect to educational workers, many of his learnings were constructed from life experiences and his willingness to remain open-minded.
Questions for the Author
I remember at one of Ted's lectures, he opened by asking all 300 of us if we had any idea who Duncan McArthur was. “You all go to school here. You all are a part of the Faculty of Education. But do you know who McArthur really was? And what he did for schools in Ontario?” Not many of us did. Like all of his lectures, Ted packed as much knowledge as he could give us into that 1 1/2 hours and made sure we had an understanding for who McArthur was by the time class was over.
McArthur was involved in both politics and education. In a lot of cases today, politicians make decisions based on political factors, rather than ideological ones. The two are linked together and to education, but is there a “better” perspective that we should be looking at when it comes to Ontario public schools? Which one puts the students' best interests forward, and why?
References Christou, T. M. (2012). The complexity of intellectual currents: Duncan McArthur and Ontario’s progressivist curriculum reforms. Paedagogica Historica: International Journal of the History of Education, 49(5), 677–697. doi: 10.1080/00309230.2012.739181
Reading 2
Foreign Influences on Curriculum and Curriculum Policy Making in Canada: Some Impressions in Historical and Contemporary Perspective by G. Tomkins
What is the historical context/argument being explored?
Tomkins’ article Foreign Influences on Curriculum and Curriculum Policy Making in Canada: Some Impressions in Historical and Contemporary Perspective describes the connections between American and Canadian curricula, and the influences American curriculum has had on Canadian Studies (Tomkins, 1981). In the 1950s, the Canadian studies unit in Ontario public schools was created in order to cause some resistance to this influence (Tomkins, 1981).
How does this article address/frame the following terms? Innovation, Creativity, Teaching and Learning. How do the ideas/arguments relate to the working definitions you have developed in the Glossary? Tomkins makes reference to the curriculum and educational policy throughout the article in a very traditional sense. Methods of teaching and learning during this time had very little room for creativity and innovation, as the curriculum was designed to create future leaders and proper citizens out of students.
While these ideas are all connected to teaching and learning, particularly the ways in which the Canadian curriculum was greatly influenced by the American curriculum, I did not really find a clear correlation between creativity and innovation, though there could have been opportunities to discuss it since they addressed multiple aspects of the curriculum such as history and liberal arts.
Questions for the Author
My main question for Tomkins would be if he has noticed a shift in the Canadian curriculum from the time he wrote this article, to now. Has it been a positive modification? Have we moved away from such a heavy American influence, or are there still traces of it left in the curriculum today? Also, a general comment but I would be curious if this article was rewritten today, if he would use different words when speaking of “coping with … non-English-speaking immigrants'' as they were a “Canadian-American problem.” (Tomkins, 1981). “Dealing with these immigrants in educational terms could be considered, in Kirst and Walker’s (1977) words, a prime example of crisis policy-making.” (Tomkins, 1981).
References Tomkins, G. (1981). Foreign Influences on Curriculum and Curriculum Policy Making in Canada: Some Impressions in Historical and Contemporary Perspective. Curriculum Inquiry, 11(2), 157–166.
Clark Hall, Kingston, January 2020
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