Browsing by Subject "Opetussuunnitelmatutkimus"

The idea behind curriculum development work is to continuously inquire about what is happening in the surrounding society and professional reality. Additionally, it is crucial to constantly reflect on perceptions of knowledge, learning, and the learning individual. The ideologies embedded in the 2014 curriculum inevitably reveal something about the present moment and the era on which the value system of the comprehensive school relies. The purpose of curriculum research is to examine the ideological categorization of the curriculum, which non-neutral guides the future direction of education. In this study, I utilize Schiro's (2013) ideological categorization of the curriculum, using it as a framework to examine discourses emerging from the speech of primary school teachers regarding how these different ideologies appear as part of teaching and school everyday life. The data for my research consists of interviews with seven primary school teachers working in the Helsinki metropolitan area. The teachers work in grades 1 to 6. The interviews were conducted as semi-structured thematic interviews. Qualitative data-driven discourse analysis was conducted by thematically categorizing the curriculum ideological discourses emerging from the speech of primary school teachers. The discourses identified in the data included both concurrent and overlapping curriculum ideologies. In teachers' perceptions of the values underlying education, social-reconstructive ideology, individual growth-focused ideology, and the idea of social efficiency were particularly evident. In their perceptions of the content of education, the ideology based on disciplinary divisions and the ideology emphasizing individual growth emerged significantly. In their perceptions of learning environments, all four ideologies categorized by Schiro (2013) were concurrently present. In their views on students as members of society, social-reconstructive ideology and the ideology emphasizing individual growth were particularly evident.