The National Curriculum of England and Wales - Literature review Example

A democratic learning society is a part of what Dewey (1916) calls a ‘democratic way of life’. Specifically, democracy in schools strives to empower students to become responsible members of the society, who willingly participate and take up articulate roles in the public sphere (Green, 2009, p. 84). Notably, and most important to educators is the knowledge that democratic values are not attained at a certain point in life; rather, they are learned and acquired through experience. As such, the earlier students are exposed to the tenets of democracy, the higher the chances that they would value its advantages.

Even more important to educators is the fact that democracy is not a reserve of the adults; rather, it extends and benefits people of all ages, including young students.Ideally, a democratic society is open, inclusive, and dynamic. Extended to the schooling environment, a democratic society encourages students to engage in reflective inquiry, cooperation in learning, growth, multiculturalism, and growth (Dewey, 1906, p. 11). According to Dewey, educators in charge of designing a curriculum should seize perceiving a “subject-matter as something fixed and ready-made in itself, outside the child’s experience.

” Instead, he advises that the subject matter should be seen as fluent, developing, and critical to the child. As such, educators should make the school curriculum more flexible through continuous reconstruction, extending beyond the child’s current experiences into organized truths contained in studies. Smith (2001) has also added his voice in the democratic learning society debate and argues that the main aim of schools that foster such, is to instruct students in an education that seeks to “initiate individuals into the values, attitudes, and modes of behavior appropriate to active participation in democratic institutions”.

Smith (2001) further argues that often times, a standardized curriculum seeks to provide an education that provides the country a minority resource in political leaders and a majority resource in consumers, producers, and workers for the future.