The Middle Ground of Curriculum: History Teachers’ Experiences in Ghanaian Senior High Schools

This study explores Ghanaian history teachers’ experiences of the "middle ground of curriculum; a crucial stage of curriculum negotiation and a process, according to Harris (2002), that includes what “teachers individually and collectively perceived and enacted. . . prior to classroom implementation” The study employed the concurrent parallel design (Quan-qual). The researchers collected quantitative data from sixty history teachers in Cape Coast Metropolis through the census method. Six teachers were randomly selected from the sixty to participate in the qualitative phase of the study. The quantitative data was analysed descriptively (means and standard deviations) while the qualitative data was analysed based on emerging themes. The findings revealed that the history departments through departmental relation, subject conceptualisation and governance influence the ways in which teachers negotiate the formal curriculum prior to teaching. More specifically, the study established the interaction of these variables that shape history teachers’ decision-making on the middle ground of the curriculum. The study, therefore, showed that the internalisation of curriculum change is a dynamic process that is evidenced at all levels of curriculum change – the high ground, middle ground of the curriculum, and lower ground

Curriculum Negotiation at NHK: Meeting the Needs and Demands of Adult Learners

Curriculum negotiation, the act of teacher-student collaboration to determine a syllabus, is a procedure that various researchers have explored and explained. This writer has engaged in this process in NHK Culture Center English classes because of the great variety in the language needs and personal demands of his students and other institution-related conditions. It is argued that this alternative pedagogical practice can successfully allow mature students to create their own curriculum responsibly, making the learning process more meaningful and interesting to them. It is also suggested that the methodology herein described may be adaptable to other second language learner contexts. シラバスを決める為の教師と生徒の協力活動である、カリキュラム交渉は様々な研究者が調査し、説明している方法である。本著者は、NHK文化センターの英語クラスでと又関連した他の教育機関で、英語を必要とする多様性と生徒の個人的な要求の為に、この方法に関わった者である。教育上の選択肢の練習が、成長した生徒に学習過程をより意味があるものとし、彼等により興味をもたせながら、責任をもって彼等自身のカリキュラムを上手く創造させることができるかを論じるものである。ここに述べる方法論が他の第二言語学習者の状況にも取り入れられるかもしれないことも又提案するものである。

A Critical Review of the U.S. Literature on Race and Adult Education – Implications for Widening Access

A commonly stated goal for adult education is its aspiration to create equality of opportunity but often the opposite occurs. The historical treatment of race within adult education in the U.S and Canada serves as an illustration of how leaders within the field have defined what matters and furthermore of their understanding of key issues. The paper argues that to discuss race in adult education, we must recognize the absence of the concept of whiteness. Adult education literature is considered from this position and in particular the paper examines how race has been treated historically in adult education using three perspectives on race that inform contemporary action in adult education. Specific suggestions for widening access for adults in higher education are made. It is argued that rather than ‘a no-barrier thinking’, we need ‘barrier-thinking’ so that we may construct a future where race does not matter. A three-part strategy based on an examination of the hidden curriculum, negotiation for a new educational structure and actively resisting from within an enfranchised position of comfort is set forth for consideration.