Democratic Curriculum: Principles and Development
Bureaucratic Curriculum Focused on School Improvement
The process of elaboration of the PCC bureaucratic model:
- The administration has a plan for reform and a national curriculum.
- The reform model requires schools to observe the curriculum.
- The schools produce the PCC and the SGP to develop reform.
PCC making process – Model focused on school improvement:
- The center has created a dynamic institution for educational improvement.
- Try to reconstruct its past and present in the light of *majoras* options.
- Carry out the planning process that incorporates, among other references, the reform proposals for improvement.
Similarities and Differences Between Design-Based Curriculum and School-Based Development
The DBE is a model approach, i.e., a way to confront the reality of the center. It focuses on school improvement; from the center’s analysis are relevant for transmission are born after the administration. While, the DBC is a product, a prescribed curriculum policy proposed by the administration in a particular historical context.
Commentary on the Analysis of Needs
It is an element of the curriculum, but it is a preliminary step to adapt the curriculum to reality. To identify, identify and structure any size or scope to consider priority in a given context. Keep in mind the problems of infrastructure, and training of trainers. Needs should not only be what is missing or what is wrong, but also the evolution. Having identified the needs, conduct an organization of these sections in “”, i.e., be structured. As a last step, they are prioritized; when they know the situation is to work first with those we deem most important.
This analysis consists of 3 phases:
- Needs assessment (identification, analysis, and organization goals)
- Situation analysis
- Prioritization
Principles of Democratic Curriculum
The task is process-based, cyclic, and evolutionary, based on the practical problems of schools and classrooms. It is evolving towards more complex and complete plans. It is more to decide on procedural issues: it is more a problem-solving situation than an application of certain procedures. Not only is deciding how to develop the curriculum, but also reflection and decision based on what, why, and what we plan the curriculum. It is a collective task: central government, autonomy, and classroom center. The decisions are to be taken by consensus: a community of ideas in which all team members agree with the dialectic – ideological arguments. Discursive or communicative action rather than instrumental. They look at different dimensions: curriculum, organization, and training of teachers, from a single supporting platform (ideological and theoretical) being interconnected, so difficult if not improved school. Take into account not only the future but also the past and present context where it is done: you have to interpret the past, analyze the present, and make a projection of the future. This type of curriculum is an effective way to address the real problems the center has and not to rely on a bureaucratic one, which is given by the administration and all it does is add more work.