Global Competitive as a Crucial Curriculum Concern - Literature review Example

Global Competitive is a Crucial Curriculum Concern Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Global Competitive is a Crucial Curriculum Concern Over the years, the word curriculum has gained a lot of definitions depending on the topic under research. Nevertheless, all these definitions culminate in showing that curriculum is indeed all the planned reading for students to learn within a particular school. Notably, the curriculum is at times a permanent subject just like the subjects that are offered during the teaching of the curriculum. Luke, Woods, & Weir (2013) defined curriculum as a document that contains the syllabus which acts a map that describes the overview of the teaching. It is structured in a way that it gives outlines of what will be taught across the school years. Notably, per se, the syllabus is not the curriculum. In short, curriculum sums all the resources that are required in the school teaching such as the textbooks, cognitive, scientific, linguistic, and any other material that is needed in the school education. The authors also note that many regions, states, and nations are under a volatile period of coming up with the best settlements for their curriculum. While curriculum shows the learning that occurs during the school years, it has drastically become a global competitive concern. The Power of Curriculum All countries worldwide are seeking to standardize their education including Saudi Arabia because they have recognized that curriculum has much power over the daily proceeding of the general life. A study by Winter (2017) shows that the approach of standardization of curriculum is associated with the tightening of curriculum practices control achieved through the curriculum policy. Notably, most of the scholars take curriculum as a systematic policy that is implemented in schools and classes through pedagogy which is framed by assessment, systematic evaluation, and testing systems.In simple terms, curriculum establishes every nation unproblematic boundaries and content of what should be included and excluded in the planned educational experiences as well as future education outcomes expectations. Interestingly, Rizvi & Lingard (2010) have a different perspective of the curriculum since they recognize it as a cornerstone to govern the school. On the other hand, Luke, Woods, & Weir (2013) emphasized that apart from designing and legitimating the official school objectives, assessment criteria, and skills, the curriculum policy is also responsible for other aspects. The issues considered are school time and space organization and also the pedagogical relationships and practices. Additionally, the curriculum policy determines the meaning-making of teachers and students. In short, the curriculum forms a powerful mechanism of totalizing the experiences of students and educators in the education sector. Nevertheless, Mitchell & Alfuraih (2016) study showed that the curriculum is just a raw material for the education and it is subject to rejection, acceptance, and even rewriting. In this sense, curriculum acts as an influence to subjectivity which not only gives the students to become self but also changing the relationships and pedagogy. Crucial Curriculum Concern Mitchell & Alfuraih (2016) study noted that the English language had undergone many reforms in the current world especially in the Asian countries such as Saudi Arabia. First of all, the authors pointed out that curriculum is passed from the older generation to the younger generation. The knowledge they place is what they think the younger generation in history, aesthetical, international, autobiography, gender, racial among other aspects of life and education. The information enables one to understand that curriculum is a tensioned environment that allows designing of the curriculum, its development, and implementation in all levels and the process that are involved. Accordingly, these reforms include all the people including teachers so that they can suggest what they feel is applicable for the education imperatives. From a historical perspective, the primary training goal was to allow people to gain personal perfection since every individual has a goal and a purpose to exist in this world. Education, therefore, should bring about happiness and highest end that brings out absolute good. Apparently, the authors noted that the traditional education is what has contributed to the current education especially the Islamic religious foundations. In Saudi Arabia and other Islamic countries, Islamic beliefs continuously influence the development of the curriculum even today (Al-Seghayer, 2014). Most importantly, not only the Muslim countries are affected by the English curriculum. Countries such as Malaysia and South Korea have developed economic powerhouses and therefore adopt and seek English competency because it gives them the competitiveness required to fuel their economy. Notably, such countries have taken curriculum reforms such as making the English language the medium of instruction to foster its studying, thereby encouraging students to study it. Evidently, in the Saudi Arabia Kingdom and the other Gulf Cooperation Council Countries (GCC), there have been many economic reforms that seek to restructure the quality and quantity of their education systems (Alnahdi, 2014). The changes take place so that the countries can respond to the global economic, social, technological, and political changes. Additionally, the curriculum reforms seek to handle the demands and the challenges that these countries face so that they can mold and facilitate the individual needs that are the prime source of development in these countries. In short, the curriculum reforms in these countries are based on socioeconomic environment (Mitchell & Alfuraih, 2016). Further, a study by Gough (2013) stated that curriculum is an outlook and outgrowth of the global concern and that is why over time, there is always an urgent care to address the school curriculum. The International Environmental Education Programme (IEEP) describes how the education curriculum is altered to meet the environmental pressing issues. In this research, the author urges people to think about the environmental issues globally, and then it should be local. Commonly, for the last three decades, the two situations gave been considered as pairs however it is time for nations to realize that they can only compare. Interestingly, the school curricula deal with the local environment, nonetheless, when it comes to the global platform, the issue becomes problematic, equivocal, and elusive. The local environment is easier to understand because the teachers and students are present when the scholars and other environmental auditors experiment and report their findings. The slogan ‘think globally act locally’ means that the curriculums should connect the local experiences and those of the rest of the world so that they can learn about the differences and emphasis between them. Most importantly, people should acknowledge that people share what they eat and a better reason why they should identify what affects their environment together. Notably, until recently, the majority of the information produced about a particular area is mostly localized (Gough, 2013). Interestingly, the western science done after the European imperialism was even seen as the universal truth and rationality since people thought it lacked cultural fingerprints that would identify it with the conspicuous local knowledge. Nevertheless, in the last decades, the political, cultural, and economic globalization there has been increased trade, telecommunication, and travel that crisscross the world thereby making a multicultural perspective. Social Justice and Equity Social justice and equity come with the attitude good and fair situations that can cause desirable social changes. Roberts (2013) study showed that there different techniques of approaching the social justice which is: recognition, distributive, representative, social democratic, spatial, liberal, and curricular. Apparently, the curricular justice occurs when the countries discuss the education and therefore decide on the issues that they plan to change the curriculum. The study done in the USA and Australia byan Australian sociologists in the early 1990s is what opened eyes of the scholars about the differences between the developed and developing countries. As a result, Australia initiated the Disadvantages Schools Program to curb the disadvantages. This program gave birth to Priority Action Schools Program which sought to make schooling just and fairer. Unfortunately, the country wound back the education system so that it could concentrate on numeracy and literacy in the last decade. Interestingly, the curricular justice is a philosophical position that deals with the education system to find solutions of the existing practice. This form of justice evaluates whether or not the school give is meaningful and just to the society receiving it. Traditionally, education has acted as a way of subdividing the society into social classes that are managed by different people who get the well-paying jobs (Roberts, 2013). Barr et al. (2008) observed that if Australia wanted to have the capacity to provide workers with a high quality of life, then they were supposed to make sure that the labor force could compete at the global level too. Notably, the education gives the young people skills, knowledge, values and understanding of taking advantage of the opportunity that arises and also faces any challenge that can kill the confidence. Apparently, the schools play the vital role of ensuring that there is intellectual, social, emotional, spiritual, aesthetic, and physical wellbeing of the young Australians to as to ensure the country’s economy is propelled to the right direction. Barr et al. (2008) noted that schools in Australia are a collective responsibility, a new declaration that seeks to create educational goals for the young Australians. From the 1989 Hobart Declaration to 1999Aldelaide Declaration and later the Melbourne Declaration, the territory, state, and Commonwealth education ministers worked together to ensure that all Australians got the high-quality education. Evidently, the Melbourne Declaration sought to incorporate the changes from the world demands to the Australian school system. Furthermore, Barr et al. (2008) started that the new increased international mobility and the global integration are the reason for the exciting and new opportunities in the Australia. The two, in fact, increase the need to create global citizenship through respect and appreciation of the cultural, social, and religious diversity. Additionally, the Asian countries such as Saudi Arabia, China, and India are increasing their influence in the world, therefore, the need to have the literacy that will enable them to build stronger relationships. Additionally, globalization and other technological changes place greater demands to the modification of curriculum so as the right skills can be developed in the Australia. Apparently, the Australia had to come up with the vocational training education so as to train the workers up to the skills required in the job market. The current education system in Australia has the following goals; the first goal is to ensure that the Australian schooling enables excellence and equity. The second goal requires all the young Australians to be successful learners, informed and active citizens, and creative and confident individuals. The study by Alnahdi (2014) shows that the Saudi Arabia Kingdom places great emphasis on education since they believe that the students are the future generations and therefore need to be treated as future fortune. The author seeks to expound on the Hargreaves and Shirley (2009) model so as the Saudi Arabians can avoid walking in the same path of failure. Accordingly, the all the countries have undergone curriculum change continuum due to international issues. Notably, countries can experience changes due to matters such as inconsistency and innovation. For instance, after the World War II, there were many social movements created as civil rights influences that sought to ensure that people get the education that they required. As a result, people achieved professional freedom which led to the flexibility that in turn encouraged innovation amongst the educators. Nevertheless, Al-Seghayer (2014) noted that the Saudi Arabia faces challenges that constrain the application of the curriculum. The author uses the English language to describe the constraints which are aspects of the curriculum, pedagogy, students’ beliefs, and administrative processes. In brief, global competitiveness is a crucial curriculum concern. First of all, the curriculum has a lot of power not only in the individual but the whole economy of a particular country. The curriculum is more than the education and involves other resources that work together in producing the right situation for individual development. Apparently, the global competitiveness is driven by issues such as social justice, environmental concerns, and socioeconomic aspects. The environmental sustainability brings countries to think globally about the issues that are affecting their nature in comparison with the local environmental knowledge. Furthermore, countries such as Saudi Arabia apply curriculum changes mostly in the English language because they want to achieve competency and ability to relate to the rest of the world. Finally, it is evident that curricular justice enables global competitiveness such as in the case of the young Australian professionals. References Alnahdi, G. H. (2014). Educational change in Saudi Arabia. Journal of International Education Research, 10(1), 1. Al-Seghayer, K. (2014). The four most common constraints affecting English teaching in Saudi Arabia. International Journal of English Linguistics, 4(5), 17. Barr, A., Gillard, J., Firth, V., Scrymgour, M., Welford, R., Lomax-Smith, J., ... & Constable, E. (2008). Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians. Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs. PO Box 202 Carlton South Victoria, 3053, Australia. Gough, A. (2013). Thinking globally in environmental education. International handbook of research in environmental education, 33-44. Luke, A., Woods, A., & Weir, K. (2013). Curriculum design, equity and the technical form of the curriculum. Curriculum, syllabus design and equity: A primer and model, 6-39. Mitchell, B., & Alfuraih, A. (2016). The Tensioned Nature of Curriculum Reform: What the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Can Learn from the Experience of Others?. Journal of Educational and Social Research, 6(3), 93. Rizvi, F. & Lingard B. (2010). Curriculum, Pedagogy and Evaluation. In Globalizing Education Policy pp. 93-115. New York: Routledge. Roberts, P. (2013). A Brief Overview of Social Justice: Notes for Module % in the Unit ‘Socio-Cultural Politics of Education.’ Winter, C. (2017). Curriculum policy reform in an era of technical accountability: ‘fixing’ curriculum, teachers and students in English schools. Journal Of Curriculum Studies, 49(1), 55-74. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00220272.2016.1205138 Read More