Curricular justice and contemporary schooling: Towards a rich, common curriculum for all students

Abstract

Despite the commitment by governments and educational leaders to high-quality and high-equity systems, the defining features of contemporary schooling in Australia and elsewhere are increasing inequality and the uneven distribution of educational opportunities and outcomes. Therefore, it is timely to consider what the concept of curricular justice means for schooling in the twenty-first century. This paper argues for a rich, common curriculum that provides all young people with learning choices that have relevance to their worlds, contribute to the preparation for work or further education, alongside opportunities for engagement with a broader knowledge base connected to critical understandings of culture and society. We contend that a knowledge + plus curriculum is one that is committed to the tripartite social justice principles of redistribution, recognition and representation, which brings together powerful knowledge and young people’s community funds of knowledge in a common curriculum. Such a common curriculum is essential for a common schooling, which can deliver on the promise of a high-quality and high-equity education system for all young people.

Transforming Rural Teaching

“…Teachers have a primary and central responsibility to contribute to the quality provision of education in rural schools (Riddle et al, 2023;Robinson-Pant, 2023;Tran et al, 2020;United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 2023;Wang et al, 2023). Teacher education has a role in supporting pre-service teachers to transform themselves and become agents of change in rural schools (Moffa & McHenry-Sorber, 2018;Quan et al, 2019).…”

“…Transformative teacher education curriculum reflects pre-service teachers' lived diverse experiences, including the difficulties and challenges contributing to their preparation for teaching (Riddle et al, 2023;Robinson-Pant, 2023). At its heart, a transformative curriculum should be holistic and accommodate pre-service teachers' experiences of place and purpose (Resch, 2020;Riddle et al, 2023;United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 2023;Troop, 2017). Transformative curriculum needs to be epistemic (Annala, 2022), neutral (Lane & Waldron, 2021;Weinberg et al, 2020), and relate to local communities in which pre-service teachers live (Brenner et al, 2022;Robinson-Pant, 2023).…”

“…Standardised curricula of education systems, including teacher education, do not prepare and support pre-service teachers for transformation (Annala, 2022;Cheung, 2021;Lian et al, 2023;Quan et al, 2019;Tran et al, 2020;United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 2023). A standardised curriculum makes it difficult for pre-service teachers to view themselves as agents of change who can transform themselves and their classrooms (Nyoni, 2020;Riddle et al, 2023;Weinberg et al, 2020). A rich and holistic curriculum that accommodates pre-service teachers' experiences provides relevance to teaching, prepares them for teaching work, and gives them opportunities for engagement with teaching knowledge connected to critical understandings of society (Moffa & McHenry-Sorber, 2018;Resch, 2020;Riddle et al, 2023).…”

“…A standardised curriculum makes it difficult for pre-service teachers to view themselves as agents of change who can transform themselves and their classrooms (Nyoni, 2020;Riddle et al, 2023;Weinberg et al, 2020). A rich and holistic curriculum that accommodates pre-service teachers' experiences provides relevance to teaching, prepares them for teaching work, and gives them opportunities for engagement with teaching knowledge connected to critical understandings of society (Moffa & McHenry-Sorber, 2018;Resch, 2020;Riddle et al, 2023). When teacher education adapts the curriculum to meet community needs and strengths, pre-service teachers may have reasons to develop place consciousness, creativity, enthusiasm, patriotism, and professional identity in solving rural teaching challenges (Brenner et al, 2022;Reagan et al, 2019).…”

“…An authentic transformational curriculum requires a classroom pedagogy that leads to transformative learning of pre-service teachers (Riddle et al, 2023;Robinson-Pant, 2023;Walker-Gibbs et al, 2018). A process-oriented classroom pedagogy is preferable to a knowledgetransferring pedagogy (Brenner et al, 2022;Omodan & Addam, 2022;Robinson-Pant, 2016;Yüner, 2020).…”