In #ImaginingPossibilities for Music Learning and Teaching (Chapter 1.2) I make the case for music educators to strengthen their curricular understanding to develop curriculum and not rely on teacher proof curriculum.
Relying on existing “teacher-proof” curriculum and resources can have a deskilling effect (Apple, 2017; Mullen, 2019), compromising our ability to be nimble and flexible amidst a rapidly changing society.
#ImaginingPossibilities for Music Learning and Teaching can help you spot teacher proof curriculum and develop your own curriculum customized to your learning community.
Read on for some resources and perspectives on teacher proof curriculum and the phemonenon of deskilling educators.
Contents
Teacher Proof Curriculum
What is a teacher proof curriculum?
During the 1960s and early 1970s, curriculum reform efforts in many English-speaking countries led to the development of the “teacher-proof curriculum” as a central component of reform. As the term teacher-proof suggests, the aim was to minimize the teacher’s control on curriculum development by creating a firm relationship among educational objectives, curriculum content, and assessment tools. The notion of the teacher-proof curriculum is a course of studies well structured, firmly integrated, well supported by rich and motivating materials such that teachers could not stand in the way of a direct transaction between the learner, the student, and the learning recourses the curriculum package. The teacher-proof curriculum was designed by specialized curriculum experts, removed from the local school community, in a cookbook fashion. . .
Kridel, C. (2010). Teacher-proof curriculum. In Encyclopedia of Curriculum Studies (pp. 865-865). SAGE Publications, Inc., https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412958806
Resources
- How to Beat “Teacher Proof” Programs – Richard Curwin
- Benegas, M. (2019). Teacher Proof: The Intersection of Scripted Curriculum and Culturally Relevant Pedagogy for English Learners. Journal of Culture and Values in Education, 2(3), 79-93.
- Taylor, M. W. (2013). Replacing the ‘teacher-proof’curriculum with the ‘curriculum-proof’ teacher: Toward more effective interactions with mathematics textbooks. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 45(3), 295-321.
Listen to Megan Taylor discuss the idea of teacher-proof curricula and why educators should be critical of such resources (this is in a math-specific context but consider how the themes might apply to a music education context):
Jared O’Leary (ASU Music Learning & Teaching Doctoral Grad) on teacher proof curricula in relation to computer science education:
Deskilling Educators
- Kirk, D. (1990). School knowledge and the‐curriculum package‐as‐text. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 22(5), 409-425.
