The Difference between School and Academic Subjects - Essay Example

Title: Research Essay Dated: April 1, 2011 School subject vs. Academic discipline The central objectives of education are developments of mind by the development of forms of knowledge as fields of knowledge. More and more educators are realising that there is a fundamental tension in the educational institutes concerning school subjects and academic tension between learning and material grades. The existence of this tension has served as a productive and constructive motivator for the evolution of school subjects apart from the main body of an academic discipline or field of knowledge. From these fields of knowledge, school subjects have themselves been derived as organized forms for their selection and adoption into the curricula in schools and higher educational institutes. School subjects and academic disciplines work in an integrated fashion with a rational approach based on merit, intellectual contribution from the scholars. The designing of policy by the government and the state departments for the introduction, execution and expansion of school subjects start from schools and leading to the higher educational institutes, is also considered. A discipline of knowledge is a field of inquiry about a specific aspect of the world like its physical dimensions, movement of events in times, numeric structures, etc; Therefore, a discipline works as a lens through which scholars and intellectuals can view the world. Applications of specialised sets of techniques lend help to the interpretation of various processes to benefit the masses. School subjects are based on the partition of knowledge into subcomponents and differentiated categories for their understanding and adoption as beneficial bodies of knowledge. These subjects differ from the academic disciplines in their composition, ingredients and utilization according to how they are understood by the teachers, students, and intellectuals who are teaching or being taught a specific subject. The selection and adoption of school subjects into an educational institute is based on the overall educational discipline in the location and on the internal environment of the institute. History of the educational institute also plays a key role in this regard. The existence of the tension between the two components of school subject and academic discipline provides a framework for the working and propagation of both elements but more specifically to the school subject. The evolution of each school subject has its own specific history; each subject has passed through the evolutionary process starting from the rudimentary stages, or from the peripheries, to the central stage depending on the significance of the subject. Academic disciplines have worked as a main body of knowledge for the development and strengthening of the school subject among the stakeholders. This includes school teachers and students participating in a particular subject. Contemporary records of the evolution of school subjects show two major contributory factors: sociological and philosophical. Sociological accounts have provided a framework for examination of school subjects within a school and the nation at large, along with its sustainability and acceptance by society. Communication networks, material endowments and ideologies in the form of tensions have given school subjects the chance to strengthen themselves independently while still remaining in line with their respective academic disciplines. These interact in the form of society subjects as communities of people and the outcome is in the form of social interaction1. The philosophical structures along with the sociological components have established intellectual environments for the growth of school subjects and the tension school subject and academic discipline has supported the development of school subjects at a secondary level. Furthermore, the tension between the school subject and the academic discipline promotes creative and synthesised processes for the working of school subjects and their sub-cultures in the academic circles. Contexts for teaching school subjects by the secondary school teachers are socially constructed through the lens of academic discipline. The organisational context of high schools interacts with the subject matter through the participation of school teachers and the existence of school based departments. School subjects possess different features, their histories and status affecting the work of teachers in order to promote and propagate school subjects to new learners and intellectuals. Disciplines are thus tested by in their specific areas, so they can judge and build a subject according to necessary functions and standards (Phenix, 1964, p.317). An analysis of the school subjects reveals a number of paradoxes for their development. First of all, a school context is different from that of a university context. For example at secondary teaching levels broader problems of pupil motivation, control and ability arise and require an introduction to school subjects for its understanding and comprehension. The translation from academic discipline to school subject demands considerable adaptation for acceptance as a subject. However, many are unclear about the forms of explanation, fruitful concepts and characteristic methodology (Jenkins & Shipman, 1976, p.107). School subjects often divorce from their respective disciplines or lack having a discipline base altogether. The degree of autonomy or isolation of a school subject can be observed through its stages of evolution. Evolution of Science in England from the 19th century has suggested a tentative model for the evolution of school subject in the secondary school curriculum2 (Layton, 1972). Layton has defined three stages for the evolution of school subject. These three stages are: a) Determining a place for a subject in a timetable with justification for its presence on grounds of pertinence and utility of the subject. This stage attracts learners to a subject through its specific significance and importance with a matter of relevance to them. Teachers for these subjects are rarely trained specialists, but possess missionary zeal and enthusiasm for their subject as pioneers of their task. The dominant criterion during the first stage is the relevance of the subject to the needs and interests of the learners as associated with the subject. b) The tradition of scholarly work in a subject emerges along with a class of trained specialists for the subject. Among these trained specialists, teachers are recruited for the subject for its expansion among students and fellow teachers. Students’ still need motivation for entering into the learning process of the subject, but from the reputation and growing status of the subject helps attract students to it. In this stage, the school subjects provide solutions to their allied problems through internal logic and discipline achieved by their adoption by the students. The subject becomes influential on the issues of selection and internal organisation of the subject. c) The teachers constitute a professional body with a set of established rules and values for the subject. The academic discipline plays a significant role in the selection of subject matter for the subject through large measures of judgments and practices of the specialists on the subject. The specialists lead inquiries in the subject for their understanding and possible solutions by the students for the acquisition of knowledge as are associated with the subject. The attitudes of the students are passive in nature for the subject at this final stage of evolution, routinely leading to resignation and finally in the shape of disenchantment. Looking specifically at Geography the evolution of a school subject is demonstrated well and the relationship between academic discipline and a school subject can also be viewed. This case study will provide an overview for the understanding of a school subject with an academic discipline and the participation of school teachers and the students. The evolution of Geography as a subject can be traced through the publication of the Geological Association, founded in 1893, which has labeled the subject for its late appearance to become a discipline (Jenkins & Shipman, 1976, p.107). During the late nineteenth century, Geography started establishing its place in the curricula of the public, elementary and grammar schools from the platform of a collection of geographical facts and figures about a specific place from the platform of a collection of geographical facts and figures about a specific place, as remembered by the collectors of specified geographical information. Initially, the subject faced difficulties for its inclusion in the list of subjects. It was impossible for administrators to teach Geography for more than two lessons per week. This early stage can be compared with the first stage of subject evolution as described by Layton in 1972 and is referred to as “caps and bays” of the evolution of Geography as a school subject. The period has attracted inspired teachers and in the subsequent stages, “capes and bays” was replaced by “homes in many hands”. A new world was opened for non-graduate specialists in Geography (Garnetta ,1969,p.36).The demand of the subject in universities was only created through the establishment of a more credible position for the subject in schools at its initial evolutionary stages. Geography, as a subject established its presence in public and grammar schools with intellectual, as well as pedagogical, credibility for the subject. Geography, as a school subject, was seen as being utilitarian in elementary schools and in the education of the children of the working group. The Education Act of 1870 supplemented the efforts for the inclusion of the subject in the main list of class subjects which examined in the elementary schools. These encouraging developments motivated the promoters of the subject for the establishment of Geographical Association in 1893 to further the knowledge of the subject in all categories of educational institutions from initial stages to university level, in the United Kingdom and abroad. This leads to the second evolutionary stage for Geography as school subject. The academic presentations of the school subject as geography established more pressure on the universities to respond to the increasing demand for training of the experts for the subject. The period from 1945 is critical for the acceptance and consolidation of the position of the subject within the university sector due to global importance of Geography as a school subject. Recognition of Geography as a subject has materialised at the university level through remarkable stimulus and demand from secondary schools, thereby evolving into the final stage of Geography as a school subject. The existence of tension between school subjects and academic disciplines has served as an encouraging step for the enabling environment of the promotion of subjects at the school level. The nature of tension promotes key participants to work in coordinated fashion do something for the expansion and propagation of the subject. The inclusion of Geography as a subject in the educational institutes in the United Kingdom as a case study has helped to demonstrate the nature of the tension between the school subject and the academic discipline. The interaction of the academic discipline and the individual subject helps in the material and intellectual development in a society through the participation of the students, secondary school teachers and the university scholars. The stages of development for a school subject in evolutionary fashion reflects the level of participation of key stakeholders and their contribution to the development and growth of with a subject as it relates to broader perspective of its academic discipline . References: 1. FITZGERAIDB, P. (1973) Scientific method, quantitative techniques and the teaching of geography, in: WALFORD (E d.) Op. cit., p. 85. 2. BYRNEE, .M. (1974) Planning and Educational Inequality p, 29 (Slough, NFER). 3. SMITH, M. (1980) The evaluation of curricula practices in secondary schools: regulations, opinions and school practice in England, 1903-4, British Journal of Sociology of Education1, pp. 153-172. 4. Cohen, D. K., & Ball, D. L. (1990). Relations between policy and practice: A commentary. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 1 2, 249-256. 5. Siskin, L. S. (1994).Realms of knowledge Academic departments in secondary schools. Washington DC: Falmer Press. 6. Yaakobi, D., & Sharan, S. (1985). Teacher beliefs and practices: The discipline carries the message. Journal of Education for Teaching, 11(2), 187-199 Read More