The School Curriculum Ten Years Hence - UCET: Universities ...

collaboration’. Bruner (1960) talked about process, structure and
the need for children who were learning science to begin to think
like scientists.
2. Moving from subjects and cognitive attainment to holistic
learning
Subjects may be useful up to a point, but they are limited - some of
our most pressing problems are not conveniently packaged within a
single subject. In real life we have to get beyond the subjects. But
young people grow up unable to cope with real-life problems
involving an understanding of their own society, including its
political structure, and unable to cope with questions of values and
morality.
Recent work in psychology has shown that conventional intelligence
tests have concentrated on one very limited form of ability and
encouraged teachers to ignore many other kinds of intelligent
behaviour. In the USA Howard Gardner’s (1983) theory of multiple
intelligence reinforces the view that we should think of a broader,
more integrated curriculum. The traditional curriculum is too
academic and neglects personal and moral development. The
Gardner theory suggests that not only is the traditional curriculum
too narrow in terms of human abilities, but also that we should be
looking for abilities and talents in all pupils. Professional teachers
will have a richer concept of ‘ability’, and will try to adapt teaching
to the intelligence of the learners; children do not all learn in the
same way, and whilst it is not possible for all teaching to be
individualised, it is possible for teachers to diagnose individual
difficulties and take account of them. There is promising work in
Canada and more recently in England (the Avon Learning to Learn
project), and in Ireland at U.C.Cork.
3. Moving from didactic teaching to self-directed learning
In England our National Commission on Education (NCE) Report
(1993) drew attention to the need for older pupils to take
responsibility for their own learning programmes. This does not
mean that teachers should not continue to give direction (including
some whole class teaching) but the emphasis should move, as
students mature, in the direction of learning how to learn - learning
how to become autonomous learners. One of the greatest
difficulties is for the teacher to encourage the whole class to move
along in the same direction whilst recognising that the styles of
learning and the range of achievement will be considerable.
Part of the task for the teacher is to plan carefully what kind of
learning needs to be individual, what should be learned in a group,
and when it would be better to have a whole class presentation by