The Lived Curriculum Experiences of Jamaican Teachers: Currere and Decolonising Intentions 303099449X, 9783030994495

Table of contents :
Preface
Acknowledgements
Contents
1 Introduction: Understanding Curriculum in the Context of Currere
Understanding Curriculum
Currere and Its Theoretical Underpinnings
The Jamaican School Context and the Role of Colonisation in Currere
The Role of Teachers in Education in Post-colonial Jamaica
The Research Methodology for Exploring Teachers Lived Curriculum Experiences
References
2 How Schools Shape Teachers’ Currere
Ana’s Currere: There Is a Light at the End of the Tunnel
Something to Think About
Dence’s Currere: Reality Trumps Perception
Something to Think About
Angeli’s Currere: How Schooling Shaped My View of Teachers and Curriculum
Something to Think About
References
3 The Affective Dimension of Teaching
D’s Currere: Teaching as Therapy—In Helping Others You Help Yourself
Something to Think About
Ain’s Currere: Teaching with Compassion
Something to Think About
Laisah’s Currere: Going Beyond Boundaries to Fulfil Delayed Dreams
Something to Think About
References
4 Currere and Teacher Professional Development
Teacher Professional Development: A New Perspective
Currere and Decolonising Intentions
Decolonising the Curriculum in a Context of Sociocultural Diversities
A Brief Look at Miss Sherese: An Example of a Decolonising Intent
Reflective Questions
References
Additional Curriculum Experiences of Teachers for Theorising
Story 1: The Curriculum Encounter of Judene
Story 2: The Curriculum Encounter of Balama
Story 3: The Curriculum Encounter of Celina
PAGE FOR REFLECTIVE NOTES
References
Index

Citation preview

The Lived Curriculum Experiences of Jamaican Teachers Currere and Decolonising Intentions

Carmel Roofe

The Lived Curriculum Experiences of Jamaican Teachers

Carmel Roofe

The Lived Curriculum Experiences of Jamaican Teachers Currere and Decolonising Intentions

Carmel Roofe School of Education University of the West Indies at Mona Kingston, Jamaica

ISBN 978-3-030-99449-5 ISBN 978-3-030-99450-1 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-99450-1 © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover illustration: © Melisa Hasan This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

This work is dedicated to all my students past and present at every level of the education system in Jamaica. To each of you, I express sincere gratitude for facilitating my experimentation of ideas and for allowing me to see your light and your possibilities.

Preface

Teachers are the sum of their personal and professional experiences. Teaching for the past 26 years in a variety of school contexts and at different levels of the education system in Jamaica has allowed me to amass a wealth of experience that makes for effective teaching. One of the key skills from this experience is the ability to reflect in different ways and at different stages. Through reflection, I have learnt to identify my own gaps, conduct research to derive solutions and hone some best practices not found in any textbook. But one does not have to be teaching for 26 years to reflect as a teacher. Once you are a teacher engaged in professional practice, you possess experiences that you acquire daily. As you acquire these experiences, time should be spent thinking about how they can be used to benefit the future. In other words, time should be spent discovering the meanings these experiences hold for yourself and how you can use the lessons from them to empower others. There are so many lessons wrapped up in my present self that resulted from my past self and that I will use to guide my future self. Teaching is a journey that a teacher travels. On this journey, there will be highs and lows, triumphs, and disappointments, but this is what makes teachers lifelong learners. This book is situated in the context of education in Jamaica and draws on data collected through the written Currere of in-service teachers as they return to their past as students, their present as teachers and graduate students, and their future as educators. This the author presents as the lived curriculum experiences of teachers. The book begins with

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an exploration of the concept of curriculum and Currere then takes the reader through a synopsis of the evolution of education in Jamaica while integrating the role of colonisation and teachers in such education. The Currere of six teachers are provided along with the autobiographical research methodology used to derive these Currere. Each chapter is guided by a theme, entails an introduction of that theme and then offers reflective questions to aid the reader in thinking about his/her Currere. The final chapter of the book examines Currere as an approach for decolonising curriculum practices while serving as a tool for teacher professional development. In this chapter, a practical example is offered of how teachers can intentionally decolonise their curriculum practices. Additionally, reflective questions are provided to aid the reader with engaging in intentional decolonising curriculum actions. Consequently, the book provides one means of showcasing how teachers in Jamaica can wrestle with ideas, analyse their experiences and develop their identities as teacher professionals. This ongoing reflection can serve as the impetus for decolonising actions of teachers who are products of a colonial education system. Kingston, Jamaica

Carmel Roofe

Acknowledgements

Surely God is my strength and my rock, and it is Him who has provided the determination to complete this work. I am grateful to for all the support and encouragement I have received throughout the period of writing this book. Thank you to those who make up my village—colleagues, friends and family. Your love propels me to seize opportunities. Thank you to the formal reviewers commissioned by the publisher who provided invaluable feedback. Your comments provided insights that helped to reshape this work. To my informal reviewers and research support who read different drafts of the book thank you for your time, loyalty and commitment to seeing me succeed. Extra special, thank you to my daughter Kaylian who served as sounding board during brainstorming. At the age of 16, your ability to observe and process information continues to amaze me.

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Contents

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Introduction: Understanding Curriculum in the Context of Currere Understanding Curriculum Currere and Its Theoretical Underpinnings The Jamaican School Context and the Role of Colonisation in Currere The Role of Teachers in Education in Post-colonial Jamaica The Research Methodology for Exploring Teachers Lived Curriculum Experiences References

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How Schools Shape Teachers’ Currere Ana’s Currere: There Is a Light at the End of the Tunnel Something to Think About Dence’s Currere: Reality Trumps Perception Something to Think About Angeli’s Currere: How Schooling Shaped My View of Teachers and Curriculum Something to Think About References

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The Affective Dimension of Teaching D’s Currere: Teaching as Therapy—In Helping Others You Help Yourself

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35 37 38

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Something to Think About Ain’s Currere: Teaching with Compassion Something to Think About Laisah’s Currere: Going Beyond Boundaries to Fulfil Delayed Dreams Something to Think About References

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Currere and Teacher Professional Development Teacher Professional Development: A New Perspective Currere and Decolonising Intentions Decolonising the Curriculum in a Context of Sociocultural Diversities A Brief Look at Miss Sherese: An Example of a Decolonising Intent Reflective Questions References

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Additional Curriculum Experiences of Teachers for Theorising

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References

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Index

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CHAPTER 1

Introduction: Understanding Curriculum in the Context of Currere

This book, The Lived Curriculum Experiences of Jamaican Teachers: Currere and Decolonising Intentions, is an attempt to broaden teachers’ understanding of the concept of curriculum and share the lived curriculum experiences of teachers as part of this wider understanding. Examining curriculum and Currere as concepts, and the Jamaican school context as the situatedness of teachers practice is critical for engaging teachers in decolonising actions. Teachers themselves are shaped by their experiences within a place and their learning derived is a product of the social milieu of the said place. Experiences from the teacher as a child through to experiences as an adolescent then into adulthood and experiences in their schooling through these stages shape the teacher’s curriculum or life course. In examining these constructs, the desire is also to help readers understand how teachers interpret curriculum and how they navigate and interpret the lived curriculum for themselves, their families and those who they teach. How teachers feel and view themselves and their life challenges influence the experiences they provide for their students and how they implement the formal curriculum. Currere offers an opportunity for teachers to reflect on all aspects of these experiences and make present and futuristic decisions.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 C. Roofe, The Lived Curriculum Experiences of Jamaican Teachers, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-99450-1_1

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Understanding Curriculum Within the Jamaican context, curriculum takes on a narrowed conceptualisation by classroom teachers. Curriculum is often viewed by teachers as the document from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information for subjects in public schools. Such a view limits curriculum to a product and neglects curriculum as process and curriculum as praxis. What needs to be understood is that the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, the central authority for developing and disseminating curricula in schools in Jamaica, provides the guide for what is to be taught and guidelines for how curriculum should be enacted and evaluated and that this is only one aspect of the curriculum. Curriculum is much more than what is provided in subjects. Curriculum in its broadest sense encompasses all the experiences that take place implicitly or explicitly within as well as outside of school. The idea then is to have teachers move beyond seeing curriculum as just subjects and the prescriptions from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information. Curriculum is a socially constructed term and as such, evokes a plethora of definitions based on one’s interpretation and context. There is no one universally accepted definition of curriculum. Curriculum is defined to include various forms and types of curricula that occur at various levels of education. Curriculum, therefore, occurs in a variety of ways and places. Smith (1996, 2000) in surveying the landscape of how curriculum is conceptualised indicated that curriculum is characterised as a body of knowledge to be transmitted, as a process, as a product and as praxis. Curriculum as a body of knowledge to be transmitted is viewed as content provided by institutions of learning. This is often referred to using terms such as subjects, topics to be covered, syllabus or a course when defining this curriculum. In some sense, defining curriculum through this lens allows one to focus on one type of the curriculum; the formal curriculum which heavily emphasises what is taught and tested in institutions of learning without giving much attention to the processes involved, who is being taught and the context in which the teaching and learning is occurring (Lynch & Smith, 2011). In a context such as Jamaica where standardised testing is heavily emphasised, this drives teachers to focus on what is to be covered and the examination to be completed, which often results in actions that limit teaching to what will be tested. Curriculum as a product emphasises the results of the body of knowledge transmitted. It emphasises what results when learners are provided

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with a series of tasks. In other words, curriculum as a product emphasises outcomes of a process while neglecting the process itself. Emphasis is placed on what the learners can do as a result of a set of objectives that were established. Viewing curriculum through this lens neglects the “why” of the results and emphasis is placed on what can and is measured. Neglecting the reasons for the results reduces meaningful solutions that address root causes of gaps and leads to the surface-level implementation of remedies for gaps. From my own observations as a teacher educator, this is the language that dominates talk about curriculum in Jamaica in this current period. Despite the implementation of curriculum that emphasises and espouses constructivist ideologies at the primary and secondary levels of the education system, the end result of standardised testing is what matters, and as a result, students undergo a series of these prior to university/college/world of work. Another view of curriculum as presented by Smith’s (1996, 2000) survey of definitions of curriculum is curriculum as process. Curriculum as process views curriculum as a milieu of what, how, where, when and why when curriculum is imagined and enacted. It views the context and all who are involved in the learning as critical. Curriculum from this perspective is viewed as a range of possibilities that are acted upon. It involves a range of interaction and deliberation and the effects of these (Neary, 2003). This, therefore, means that curriculum is seen as multifaceted occurring in a range of places and spaces and occurring in a variety of forms. Additionally, curriculum in this sense is not limited to what is organised by learning institutions. Within the context of Jamaica, teachers need to be helped to understand curriculum from this perspective given the range of sociocultural and geopolitical diversities within the context. This conceptualisation of curriculum makes room for a variety of stakeholders to have a voice in what, why, where, when and how of curriculum and the explicit and implicit intentions of curriculum. Curriculum viewed as a process takes in the formal, informal, hidden and enacted types of curricula and sees an inextricable relationship among these types as none occurs without the influence of the other. Turning to curriculum as praxis, Smith (1996, 2000) notes that curriculum as praxis emphasises reflections and the actions that result from such reflections. The aim is to spend time reflecting on what results when a series of actions and dialogue are implemented. It involves reflecting on what could have caused the results and then taking actions to implement

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solutions based on the results of those reflections. Grundy (1987) indicates that human liberation and emancipation result from such reflective explorations. In a Jamaican context, curriculum as praxis is a necessity for all teachers and needs to be a critical aspect of teacher professional practice. For effective curriculum implementation within various school locales given the diversity of contexts, this would lead teachers, students and those from the central authority to reflect and take action about what, when, where, how and why of their curriculum actions. This requires teachers to see themselves as critical to curriculum making regardless of where the ideas for curriculum originate. Curriculum as praxis will help teachers in Jamaica recognise the role their own personal and professional lives play in effective teaching and learning and thereby effective curriculum interpretation and enactment. It, therefore, means curriculum as praxis is integral to curriculum as process. As a teacher educator and the programme leader for a master’s programme in curriculum and instruction, I have become more conscious and concerned over the years about the narrowed understanding of curriculum with which teachers initially come to the programme. I have a deep desire for teachers to have a broadened view of curriculum as this influences the roles they perform and the actions they view as critical in the teaching and learning process. Each Semester when I meet a new group of in-service teachers, one of the questions I ask them to respond to is their own definition of curriculum. Here is a sample of the definitions I received from a 2018 cohort of in-service teachers: Curriculum is Planned educational outcomes and activities. (Teacher A) Learning objectives pre-formulated and seek to achieve common goals for the collection of students. (Teacher G) Topics that should be taught in schools. (Teacher H) What prepared students and used as a guide to sit and pass exams to teach students. (Teacher I) Just a document that contains the topics and contents about which students should learn. It also contains what are the different assessment techniques in order to measure and evaluate students’ performance. (Teacher S) Content to prepare for exam, subjects, topics that should be taught in schools, guide to learning. (Teacher B) Tangible document, something to prepare students for exams, what Ministry of Education dictates. (Teacher H)

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These definitions of curriculum by the in-service teachers emphasise content and examination. Grundy (1987) argues that curriculum is more than the document that dictates instructional standards and represents how groups, in this sense teachers and students, act and interact as educational experiences are created. Definitions like these by the in-service teachers have led me to examine how I teach and how I model what curriculum is so that the in-service teachers can develop a broader understanding of curriculum and see themselves as part of the curriculum. To aid this quest, I began introducing the in-service teachers to a variety of definitions of curriculum and Pinar’s concept of Currere. My understanding about curriculum which continues to evolve is that there is no one unique definition of curriculum, as curriculum also creates itself through the actions that are set in motion by those who inhabit a space as together; they generate experiences that frame their own interpretations (Casey, 2009; Doerr, 2004; Gadamer, 1975; Grundy, 1987). In essence, the curriculum is a “cultural construction” that is a “way of organising a set of human educational practices” (Grundy, 1987, p. 5). As such, what results for each teacher and each student will be unique. Hence, teachers need to be taught and helped to develop such understanding of curriculum.

Currere and Its Theoretical Underpinnings According to Moore (2013), Currere is an autobiographical reflection of one’s educational encounters. It offers a self-study strategy, part of which includes synthetic moments of “mobilisation” as individuals, and the other part considers educators in the education arena, as teachers (Pinar, 2004). It is a method designed by William Pinar (1975, 2004) to provide a broader and deeper understanding of one’s lived experience of curriculum through a process of remembering the past, imagining the future, then analysing and synthesising emergent themes. Pinar’s theory of Currere is focused on an individuals’ unique conversation with self, grounded in personal histories, context and aspirations, rather than a preordained course of action (Le Grange, 2021). Currere, therefore, challenges dominant principles in curriculum development such as that rooted in Tyler’s (1949) conceptualisation of curriculum based on predetermined educational goals established by the institution. Pinar argues that Currere exceeds the planned curriculum, to be the lived curriculum. The term curriculum then as Pinar uses it goes beyond defining the document that

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dictates instructional standards, or the curriculum as planned, and speaks to how teachers and students interact in the classroom space daily as educational experiences are created. According to Pinar (1975, 2004), Currere is a process that allows one to use him/herself as a means of gaining a better understanding of him/herself. Pinar offers four stages of Currere—regression, progression, analytical and synthesis. Pinar (2004), in explaining these terms, illustrated that there is a need to return to the past (the “regressive”) and imagine the future (the “progressive”) for the understanding (the “analytic”) of oneself to become “expanded” and complicated, thereby mobilised (in the “synthetical” moment). Khaled (2014) notes that the regressive moment involves identifying important moments and educational experiences, and how those past experiences motivated the development of curricular research. Regressive allows one to focus on his/her past experiences with education and any past impressions that affected him/her. In this sense, it would be any past impressions that affected one’s view of teaching and education. Progressive focuses on the future self and what one believes is likely to happen in his/her future in relation to his/her goals and vision. At this stage, one is allowed to go ahead of time and have a look at where he/she will be and how one sees him/herself in the future. The analytical moment juxtaposes past, present and future and creates a “subjective space” that penetrates the lived past and gives freedom to return to the present (Khaled, 2020). The analytical allows one to examine the present and make connections with one’s past memories and future self. The synthetical allows one to combine all experiences together and reflect on how these have influenced who he/she is today as well as how these experiences inform the decisions one makes. Pinar emphasises that in this synthetical stage, one should attempt to extract the existential meaning of the present and integrate the three other forms of intellectualisation (regressive, progressive and analytical) into a comprehensive whole that includes the physical self (Pinar, 1975, p. 1) as this provides a deeper and wholesome understanding of the present. Some of Pinar’s critics (Khaled, 2020; Pacheco, 2009) have argued that the four moments (regressive, progressive, analytical and synthetical) proposed by Pinar based on the concept of Currere simply provide a useful methodical approach for orienting the understanding of individual autobiographies as a qualitative approach and not necessarily a solution to creating effective curriculum. But Pinar (2008) emphasised that there is a need to understand curriculum versus developing curriculum. The

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emphasis on understanding denotes inclusivity in curriculum as it provides opportunities to understand cultural experiences that shape individuals in and out of academic experiences. Pinar, therefore, argues that Currere helps teachers to reconceptualise the curriculum into the lived curriculum, where curriculum is more than just a body of instruction. Currere helps teachers to see curriculum as a representation of the educational experiences of both teachers and students (Pinar, 1975). Consequently, other curriculum theorists such as Ted Aoki’s (2005) concept of curriculum align with that of Pinar’s Currere. Aoki (2005) distinguishes between two curricula: the curriculum as “plan” and the curriculum as “lived”. Aoki explains that the curriculum as “plan” centres on institutions’ predetermined plans for educational activities disseminated to schools in the form of documents to which school leaders and teachers are expected to adhere. For Aoki, the curriculum, as “lived”, includes the unique everyday experiences and competencies teachers and students take to the learning environment. Hence, it is essential that teachers understand their own experiences if they are to understand and make informed, appropriate decisions for the betterment of themselves and their students. In fact, Aoki (1993) refers to the lived curriculum as the individual experiences of teachers and students as well as those experiences shared in the classroom that are related to the classroom. Aoki (1993, p. 3) expresses that educators can think of “teaching as dwelling between curriculum worlds”—the “lived” and the “plan” curriculum worlds. The teacher is therefore tasked with the responsibility of finding a balance between these two worlds if teaching is to truly become meaningful.

The Jamaican School Context and the Role of Colonisation in Currere Pinar (2011) argues that the four-step approach utilised in Currere (the regressive-progressive-analytic-synthetic) can be political when it disables, through remembrance and reconstruction, colonisation through interpellation. Colonisation through interpellation considers the internalisation and acceptance of values and ideas that are presented. Through interpellation, individuals are offered an identity that they are encouraged to accept. Schooling in any once colonised society is, therefore, one such means by which colonisation through interpellation occurs. Jamaica, a country in the South is one such country where colonisation through interpellation has occurred. In this country context, the natives of Jamaica

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before being colonised by the Europeans had a way of being, knowing and doing. However, colonisation taught them that this was inferior to the European way. It is important to note that colonisation exceeds the physical ownership of a people and/or place. Colonisation is the process of obliterating the indigenous ways of being and knowing of native colonised people (Mart, 2011). Colonisers often believe it is their moral, political and religious duty to civilise the inferior natives of a place through intellectual control. Colonisers deemed their way of life to be one of sophistication and modernity; thus, the colonised in Jamaica were forced to learn the European way of living through colonial education. As argued by Campbell (2006), “Colonial education has been one of the most damaging tools of imperialism because it has inculcated populations from a young age with ways of understanding themselves as culturally worthless” (p. 195). This misuse of education was designed to have the colonised people believe that they are inferior to the Europeans; that they lacked modernity, civility and consciousness and needed the Europeans to advance their development. Therefore, colonisation has direct implications on the knowledge construction and knowledge understanding of the colonised people. The remainder of this section seeks to offer a modest explanation of how such knowledge construction and understanding evolved in Jamaican schooling. Such explanations, however, may raise questions and issues for the reader that require wellneeded further explanations but are beyond the scope of this book. Where this occurs, the reader is encouraged to continue such explorations through existing literature search or the conducting of empirical research beyond reading this book. Records of schooling in the British Caribbean for countries like Jamaica began in the pre-emancipation era of the 1700s by Christian missionaries. These missionaries offered biblical beliefs and teachings that taught the enslaved to live a life of obedience to his master (Coates, 2012; Latimer, 1965). During the 1800s, as a major state among the British Caribbean colonies, Jamaica received funding through grants endowed to missionary groups who established elementary schools as a response to planters’ fear of social destabilisation amidst the forthcoming emancipation that would free slaves (King, 1999). This era bore the popularity of church-founded schools in Jamaica. The missionary groups ideally aspired to use education for the ex-slaves and freemen’s children enlightenment and advancement but had a conflict in what purposes the education should serve. The two

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dominant groups: the Anglicans and the Baptists, differed in their ideologies. The Anglicans along with some plantation owners of the ruling class believed the purpose of education was solely to control ex-slaves, training them to be plantation workers (Miller, 1984). The Baptist educational philosophies were in contrast to the Anglicans and were underpinned by literacy to achieve enlightenment and to have opportunities to advance and learn new industrialisation techniques (Miller, 1984). This conflict of the purpose of education and the manifestation of schooling highlights the role of colonisation in the evolution of schooling in Jamaica. Attempts were also made to include vocational, manual labour education in the school curriculum, but this effort created a “deep distrust as some felt it served as a possible reversion to slavery” (Miller, 1984, p. 173). This gave rise to different types of schools in Jamaica with different curriculum emphases. Schooling in the emancipation era of the 1800s and pre-independence era until the early 1970s continued to replicate the British education system and maintained social stratification of the society from a structuralfunctionalist perspective which supports the influence of a dominant group to maintain balance. After the abolition of slavery, the Jamaican government carried out its first comprehensive reform programme which introduced the Universal Primary Education for all, for children aged seven to eleven. These changes included but were not limited to curriculum development. This era saw an increase in the number of new elementary schools as secondary schools were reserved to educate the white ruling, upper-class children to be managers and administrators. The children of African descent were only afforded early elementary schooling (Carrington, 1978). The elementary curriculum then focused on reading, writing and arithmetic with history, geography and religious studies. There was separate training for boys and girls. Boys were trained in agriculture and other skill areas while the girls did sewing and home duties. This new curriculum was not without its challenges as the Lumb Report of 1898 showed deficiencies in methodology and teaching instruction and the stereotyped information from the textbooks. Pre-independent Jamaican education was heavily influenced by European culture. The European ways of knowing and doing were used to strengthen colonial sovereignty within the then British governed island. The colonial period saw little formal education for the enslaved. The affluent plantation owners would send their children overseas while some had a special tutor who would come to the island and the others were sent to established

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free schools. A small number of children of the enslaved were privileged to schooling on the plantations that were run by missionaries. While the curriculum in the free schools was fashioned to those in Great Britain, those for the enslaved were focused on the virtue of being submissive. As stated by King (1991), at the turn of the century, the Lumb Commissioners called for a practical emphasis on elementary education in Jamaica. Sewing, for example, was confined to plane sewing, and agricultural education was to be extended to both boys and girls to help to prepare them to earn their living and created a taste for agriculture. A similar proposal was made for teacher education. Women teachers were to receive instruction in cooking, laundry work and domestic management. According to King and Morrisey, as cited in Miller (1981), the report highlighted that not all old content, images and biases had been eliminated and that there was much more to be done. In 1962, Jamaica gained independence, and as the nation attempted development, the newly established Jamaican government realised the effects of colonialism that imposed tensions, contradictions and challenges for the development of the nation. The Jamaican government was now the provider of education for the citizens. With knowledge of the potential power of education to advance national development, the purpose of education underwent major debates to identify its role in addressing the inequalities and advancing the social, economic and political tenets of the nation. However, much of the colonial legacy of schooling in Jamaica was retained as the education system in Jamaica modelled that of the British education system with a curriculum that had little relevance to the realities of the Jamaican people (Manley, 1974; Peters, 2001). The classist structure remained, and a major division was practised in secondary schools. Junior high schools were established for children of the lower social class aged 12–15 at grades 7–9, while high schools were established for middle to upper-class children aged 12–17. The upper-class children were expected to continue to tertiary schooling in Jamaica or England. Additionally, the curriculum offered in secondary schools differed based on social classes as the rationale for each was based on the social and economic agenda prescribed for the classes during this era. This division was based on the classist expectation that these children had their jobs prescribed for them based on the type of secondary school they attended. “This dualized system became entrenched into the social fabric and for

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more than a century education functioned as the most powerful gatekeeper of the status quo” (Task Force on Educational Reform, Jamaica, 2004, p. 41). As more elementary and secondary schools were established in the 1970s to redress class division by providing free education for all, the education offered among schools still differed but this time, in quality. Equal education was the mandate of the 1970s in an independent Jamaica, and secondary reforms proved futile in the reproduction of elitist education. Students in elementary schools were educated in schools that had limited learning resources, poorly paid teachers who practised rote and transmission style pedagogy (King, 1999). In addition, elementary schools in rural and low-income areas struggled to access quality education. The 1970s also saw the expansion of the school system to facilitate enrolment in secondary education. This was based on the Kandel Report which indicated the need for the establishment of post-primary education to ameliorate the existing harsh socially segregated education with its class and colour configurations (Whiteman, 1994). As a result, curriculum development was localised; national curriculum committees were developed; and local textbook writers were employed to create books that were culturally and contextually relevant to assist in the curriculum reform. This led to Jamaica achieving increased access to education between the 1970s and 1900. Since Jamaica’s independence in 1962, Jamaica has achieved universal education coverage at both the primary and secondary levels of the education system and high completion and enrolment of girls (USAID, 2013; Wahab, 2010). While these gains are laudable, the question then becomes, to what extent has the evolution of schooling and curriculum throughout Jamaica’s history, influenced the systematic function of schooling and content knowledge today? (Springett, 2015). Simmons and Dei (2012) argue that it is important for people who reside in such spaces to broaden their understanding of the location of the colonial in “post-colonial” society. Caribbean countries, like Jamaica, which were once colonies, still experience the repercussions of colonialism. This manifests itself in the examination systems that are used for different transition points between primary and secondary schooling and secondary schooling and tertiary schooling, and the severe under-resourcing that exists in the school system (Dei & Jaimungal, 2018). For instance, let’s look at the examination system at a key transition point in Jamaica. The first noted formal standardised examination, the Common Entrance

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Examination (CEE) based on the British model for selecting students for high school, was introduced in Jamaica in 1957 (Robinson, 1986). As a test, focused on intelligence, Mathematics and English, this exam was intended to redress inequality in secondary education by providing an opportunity for all students at the elementary level to vie for spaces in secondary schools. The Common Entrance Examination, however, resulted in further division as only 25% of students were able to achieve placement in traditional high schools based on their academic competencies (Spencer-Rowe, 2000). The remaining 75% of students would then be placed at all-age schools and junior secondary schools for students aged 12–15 in grades 7–9 for remedial education which mostly included vocational, practical studies (Bailey, 2007; Spencer-Rowe, 2000). Students in all-age and junior secondary schools were given a second opportunity to matriculate into technical or traditional high schools through another high-stakes standardised examination—the Grade Nine Achievement Test (GNAT). If unsuccessful, the majority of grade 9 students, usually aged 15, would leave the education system or continue to vocational training schools to learn a skill (World Bank, 1990) after receiving the Secondary School Certificate (SSC). During later reforms in the 1990s, the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) succeeded the Common Entrance Examination in 1999 as a curriculum-based examination with the same goal to provide equal opportunities for primary students to vie for spots to enter high schools. In 2019, the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) replaced the GSAT. The PEP is a high-stakes competency-based assessment aimed at providing students with increased opportunities to vie for spots at the “best” high schools based on their scores. This examination practice is reminiscent of the division of schooling during British colonial rule which excluded students based on race. Now, students are discriminated against based on their socio-economic class, ability levels and resources available. Like all features of the former colonial societies, the education system is argued to be the most affected by colonisation (Bailey, 2007). Nonetheless, curriculum within the Jamaican context continues to be reformed to keep pace with global trends and be reflective of the local context. Jamaica’s education system has undergone a number of transformational changes from colonial rule through to the present, where different political bodies have influenced the direction in which the curriculum should be developed. However, there are times when such reform could give more attention to the importance of place and offer

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individuals the opportunities to understand their own histories within their families, communities and country. The lack of such importance sometimes creates tensions between policymakers and implementers and results in inadequate or unsuccessful change. As Jamaica continues its quest for improving the education offered to its populace, room must be made for the sharing of personal stories and for these to be seen as legitimate sources of learning. Tupper and Cappello (2008) note that denying the contributions that diverse wisdom traditions, peoples, lands and languages could offer to curricular story perpetuates “dysconsciousness” in society. Such dysconsciousness may have lasting negative effects and plays itself out in the form of anger, violence, abuse of power and individuals who lack a sense of self-understanding. In a context with growing sociocultural diversities, curriculum activities must be deliberate and intentional to reduce such dysconsciousness. The Reform of Secondary Education (R.O.S.E) curriculum implemented at grades 7–9 of secondary schools between 1999 and 2016, the Revised Primary Curriculum (RPC) at grades 1–6 of primary schools implemented between 1999 and 2016 and the National Standards Curriculum (NSC) implemented at grades 1–9 since 2016 are reforms that have been implemented to influence the mindset of both teachers and students. More importantly, these reforms have promoted an integrated approach to teaching and learning and increasingly require the teacher to shift mindset and attitudes from that of a content giver to one who leads students to problem-solve, explore, collaborate, be active learners and connect their learning to the realities of life. Achieving this shift in mindset and attitude requires habits of practice to normalise such change in a context where some colonial ways of knowing and doing render personal sharing of realities and expressions as not legitimate learning opportunities. However, as curriculum at the different levels of the education system evolves to include deliberate attention to the realities of a place, teachers must be taught how to critically examine their journeys and use them as opportunities to discover self and formulate their own professional practices within their locale. This is critical as when we explain to each other who we are, we can find the intersection of our stories and understand each other and understand the world in which we each occupy. Additionally, when we hear each other’s stories, we see elements of our own journeys which lead to better dwelling with each other. This brief look at the history of how schooling has evolved and the tensions that reside in such history in a particular place is, therefore, an opportunity for each

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of us to call into question whether values, assumptions and knowledges derived through this process of schooling in Jamaica are a true representation of who we are as individuals and who we are as Jamaicans. We can also ask ourselves the questions: In what way is schooling different from what the colonisers offered? and What role does colonisation continue to play in schooling practices? Answers to such questions should lead each of us to be more deliberate in the efforts of advocacy we undertake as part of teacher professional practice.

The Role of Teachers in Education in Post-colonial Jamaica Manley (1975), writing in a period after the desecration of the colonial rule, notes that at a time when a transformation of society is needed “the teacher must carry the brunt of the burden……but for this to happen the teacher must first undergo a process of self-transformation” (Manley, 1975, p. 181). This suggests an internalisation of the change required for self before any attempt to inculcate the necessary reforms in their students. In other words, teachers will need to undergo personal decolonisation, to shift mindset and curriculum practices, a task that Currere enables (Le Grange, 2021). Additionally, Lieberman and Miller (1999) argued that without teachers’ full participation in any change effort, no matter how well-intentioned, it is doomed to failure. Teachers are gatekeepers as they decide what to include and exclude from the teaching and learning process regardless of the system in which they function. Teachers help to influence and shape the critical consciousness of themselves and students as members of Jamaican society. Several researchers have also noted that there is a strong relationship between teachers, schooling and the structure of society (Freire, 2005; Roofe, 2018; Tikly & Barrett, 2013). Teachers influence schooling and society through the work they do as teacher professionals and the ways in which they integrate or incorporate issues from their personal lives to influence their professional lives. The intertwining of the teacher’s professional life and personal life occurs as the teacher interprets and enacts all forms of curriculum. This is often borne out in the pedagogies teachers use in the classroom. Pedagogical practices in post-colonial education systems usually perpetuate the “superior – inferior” dynamic established by the colonisers. For example, the ethnographic study conducted by

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Adzahilier-Mensah and Dunne (2019) discussed the vestiges of colonialism that influence teacher practices in contemporary schools in Ghana. The authors note that despite educational reform in Ghana, curriculum and instruction are reminiscent of the country’s colonial past where teachers deem themselves as authoritative knowledge holders and transmitters, thereby disenfranchising students through intellectual control. Bristol (2012) also likens the pedagogy utilised in post-colonial societies as plantation pedagogy connoting representations of power between the enslaved who served his/her master on the plantation. Brissett (2018) also notes that this approach to pedagogy is widely practised in the post-colonial education system. As Jamaica, a small island developing state, continues its quest to achieve developed country status and shed its colonial legacy, the selftransformation of teachers who will in turn transform society is critical. Helping teachers to reflect on their own experiences provides the space and opportunity for teachers to see themselves, challenge their own thinking, the reasons they have those thinking, and derive new ways of being and doing. As teachers seek to do this, they may be challenged by the centralised system of schooling in which they operate where schools are vastly different across the island in terms of location, size, school type, socio-economic status of students who attend different types of schools, resources available to schools and teachers and the ability levels of students who attend particular types of schools (Cook & Ezenne, 2010; NEI, 2015). Within Jamaica, schooling is offered publicly and privately at the early childhood (3–5 years old), primary (6–11 years old), secondary (12–17 years old, grades 7–11, and 17–19 years old for those who pursue grades 12–13) and post-secondary levels. Schooling in Jamaica is highly structured, examination-oriented and possesses a wide range of geographical, economic and social disparities. Regardless of the disparities, however, teachers in Jamaica are judged by the outcomes from standardised testing at two main exit points of the schooling system: the end of primary schooling and the end of secondary schooling. At the end of primary schooling, teachers are judged based on the passes of the exit examination at the end of grade 6 which is used to place students into their preferred high school. At the end of secondary schooling, the Caribbean Secondary Examination Certificate (CSEC) and the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) are recognised as the most preferred by parents and are used to determine the level of success of students who wish to pursue higher education (Knight & Rapley, 2007).

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The results of these examinations lead to a highly competitive system of schooling as the results of the examinations are used to determine the best teachers and perceptions of the “best” schools on the island (Stewart, 2013). This highly competitive system of schooling evolved from the British who colonised Jamaica from 1655 until it became independent in 1962. During the colonial period, the few elites and their children were elevated to positions of power and attended the best schools, and the majority of the people especially those of darker skin colour were disenfranchised and marginalised (Miller, 1999). This Bristol (2012) notes leads to psychosocial conditioning reflective of the metropole. The issue then for schools and by extension teachers in Jamaican schools is how to offer increased quality access to education within a centralised system of schooling and one that still reflects a separatist and elitist system along socio-economic lines (Escayg & Kinkead-Clark, 2018; Miller, 1999). Such a system needs quality teachers whose critical consciousness is heightened to such issues and who can offer new ways of thinking to their students as members of a society with a colonised history. Much of the burden of schooling is therefore placed on teachers who are products of this highly competitive system. Teachers are called upon to meet a wide variety of needs as they interact with students and other colleagues to implement the curriculum. This means that teachers will need to draw upon their lived curriculum experiences from both training and their personal lives to help educate the populace. Teachers through their ongoing reflection will need to take actions, based on those reflections, and engage in curriculum as praxis. Such reflection and action are expected to result in human liberation/emancipation (Grundy, 1987). Therefore, the curriculum which is the cornerstone of schooling must provide an avenue for all who participate in schooling to achieve these purposes. But within Jamaica the performativity culture is dominant, and the success of teachers is reduced to a score thereby minimising exploration, flexibility and experimentation. The National Education Inspectorate (NEI) (2015) highlighted that students’ personal and social development in schools was rated as satisfactory in 66% of the schools, unsatisfactory in 15%, needs immediate support in one per cent (1%), good in 17% and exceptionally high in one per cent (1%) of the schools inspected. The report further indicated that schooling in Jamaica is “seen as highly complex with an array of historical, sociocultural, and geographical factors

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impacting its performance” … and that the education system exhibits wide disparities in the quality as well as the effectiveness of schools (National Education Inspectorate Report, 2015, pp. III–IV). This data underscores the need for teachers to help students construct their personal and social development. For teachers to do this, they need to understand how their current realities intertwine with what and how they are teaching, thereby creating a meaningful existence for their students. Currere provides opportunities in the curriculum that are both theoretical and practical and foregrounds the relationship between one’s life history and practice. Deconstructing such experiences at the level of curriculum design and enactment results in quality, inclusiveness and developmentrelevance of education (UNESCO, 2015). The roles and functions of teachers in twenty-first-century schooling in post-colonial societies are evolving beyond the technical narrative. Twenty-first-century views of the teacher move the concept of teacher as a mere implementer of the written curriculum, into the teacher as an intellectual who has the agency to connect their autobiographies to their practice in efforts to better students, context and ultimately their societies. Currere as educational research is connected to liberating the teachers into that of an intellectual who critically examines his ideas and situations (Pinar, 1994).

The Research Methodology for Exploring Teachers Lived Curriculum Experiences Currere’s autobiographical methodology of inquiry relates with the twenty-first-century movement of decolonising education as Currere prompts individuals to examine the history of their education from the past, present and future (Pinar, 2011). Teachers’ understanding of their personal histories is beneficial to their understanding and conceptualisation of their philosophies, beliefs and values that affect their practice. Currere allows an individual to create self, with the potential of transforming self as he/she reflects on the past, reimagine the future and assesses the present with agency. This reflective methodology has the potential to provide educators with insight into how their lives shape their academic studies and practice, and or contrariwise. In considering the regressive, the progressive, the analytical and the synthetical, Grumet (1981) describes Currere as an attempt “to reveal the ways that histories (both collective and individual) and hope suffuse our moments….” (p. 118). It offers an approach to curriculum that provides an individual

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the opportunity to self-study in order to understand his/her personal story through his/her context and academic experiences in a four-step process (Grumet, 1975; Aoki, 2015). As a research methodology, Currere provides an opportunity for the teacher to become aware and take actions on matters relating to race, gender, social justice, history of a place among other contextual matters and power dynamics (Villaverde & Pinar, 1999). Therefore, Currere helps to build teachers’ scholarship as it provides critical and transformative reflection about the profession and positions teaching as an intellectual, scholarly activity. Turning the searchlight forces one to confront things in his/her past and use them to propel the present and the future. As argued by Cavill and Baer (2019), we learn from experiences because of their recessive nature given that the present is irrelevant without the past and vice versa. Examining oneself and recalling one’s journey can be uncomfortable for teachers since teachers do a great job of thinking and talking about others, other than themselves. Nonetheless, it is important for all teachers to be given this opportunity to explore their own journey as individuals and as teachers because of the power that resides in asking teachers to take a step back and look at themselves. Such a process creates active and invigorating learning and teaching for all (Cavill & Baer, 2019). The data for this book emanated from the autobiographical reflection of a group of 20 in-service teachers who were enrolled in a graduate curriculum course. As part of the course, the in-service teachers were asked to write autobiographical reflections using Pinar’s method of Currere. The goal was for these in-service teachers to understand how they shape curriculum, thereby developing a broader understanding of curriculum. As the lecturer, my task was to help the in-service teachers understand the method of Currere and then allow them to use it as they see fit without any constriction. The writing and submission of their Currere, therefore, occurred in two phases. In phase one, the in-service teachers were asked to write their autobiographical accounts over a period of three weeks. Throughout the period, there were various checkpoints by me, the facilitator, to ascertain how they were progressing, to allow them to raise any questions they had about the steps of the Currere process and to share any concerns they had as they engaged in writing the critical reflective accounts. In phase two, the in-service teachers were asked to submit their written accounts to the facilitator. Once submitted, the facilitator read each written account and provided written feedback. During the reading of the written accounts by

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the facilitator, the autobiographical reflections were grouped into categories reflective of the content of the accounts. Categories were based on similarities and differences in content focus. After receiving feedback each in-service teacher was asked to orally share any aspect of their autobiographical reflection that they desired to share with their classmates, and how they felt about utilising the Currere method. During the oral sharing, clarifications were sought on areas shared to ensure accurate interpretation of meaning by the facilitator (Glesne, 1999). This then led to a return to a further analysis of each autobiographical reflection using thematic analysis (Creswell, 2012) guided by the goals of this book. From this thematic analysis, two main themes were derived: (1) schooling and how this shapes teacher’s Currere and (2) the affective dimension of teaching. The Currere of six in-service teachers reflective of these themes are therefore presented in this book as examples of the Currere of the in-service teachers. Pseudonyms are assigned to each in-service teacher to align with research ethics and appropriate permission was received from each in-service teacher to include the selected Currere in this book. The selected Currere are representations of in-service teachers who are all females which reflect the demographics of the in-service teachers who generally enrol in the course. Their teaching experience at primary and secondary levels of the education system range from five years to 21 years. What resulted from these in-service teachers are stories that demonstrate the lived curriculum experience and how these experiences have shaped how they think about their roles as teachers, how they design and shape curriculum in and outside the classroom, as well as their hopes for the future for self, their students, their families and the Jamaican society. Together the Currere of the in-service teachers provide insight into their lives and schooling and curriculum practices in Jamaica. These Currere are important sources for helping teachers improve their practice (Eisner, 1995). They help teachers understand how their experiences have shaped them consciously or unconsciously and how these experiences have influenced the way or ways they learn, and the manner in which they plan for or facilitate learning for themselves and others. Like Palmer (1998), I concur that good teaching comes from both the identity and integrity of the teacher and not just exposure to techniques. Such identity is shaped by one’s experiences. The method of Currere brings to the fore the curriculum as praxis, as it requires an in-depth reflection of educators’ personal encounters with the curriculum and the experiences that this encounter has provided.

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It should be noted, however, that while some researchers believe Currere presents much value for social and self-transformation within the context of twenty-first-century education (Hanson et al., 2014), others in search of a post-Currerian conceptualisation of curriculum have argued that Currere could be more beneficial as a collaborative activity rather than an individual activity given the value and meaning that can be derived from multiple perspectives and the reduced opportunities for bias (Adams & Buffington-Adams, 2020; Britzman, 1998). Notwithstanding the latter perspective, Currere has provided and continues to provide a platform for self-reflection that has been beneficial. Furthermore, amidst the plethora of literary works, these Currere provide an opportunity for Jamaican teachers to read their own stories in canonised text as often for various reasons canonised text presented reflects stories from more developed contexts leaving a dearth of stories from teachers in developing country context.

References Adams, S. R., & Buffington-Adams, J. (2020). On/beyond currere. Currere Exchange Journal, 4(2), 63–70. Adzahilier-Mensah, V., & Dunne, M. (2019). Continuing in the shadows of colonialism: The educational experiences of the African Child in Ghana. Perspectives in Education, 36(2), 44–60. Aoki, T. (1993). Legitimating lived curriculum: Towards a curricular landscape of multiplicity. Journal of Curriculum and Supervision, 8(3), 255–268. Aoki, T. (2005). Legitimating lived curriculum: Toward a curricular landscape of multiplicity. In W. F. Pinar & R. L. Irwin (Eds.), Curriculum in a new key: The collected works of Ted T. Aoki (pp. 199–215). Bailey, E. K. (2007). Teacher education in a post-colonial context: A phenomenological study of the experience of Jamaican teachers’ college lecturers. University of Massachusetts Amherst. Britzman, D. P. (1998). Lost subjects contested objects: Toward a psychoanalytic inquiry of learning. State University of New York Press. Brissett, N. (2018). Education for Social Transformation (EST) in the Caribbean: A postcolonial perspective. Education Sciences, 8(4), 197. https://doi.org/ 10.3390/educsci8040197 Bristol, L. (2012). Plantation pedagogy: A postcolonial and global perspective. Peter Lang. Campbell, M. (2006). Indigenous knowledge in Jamaica: A tool of ideology in a neo-colonial context. In G. Dei & A. Kempf (Eds.), Anti-colonialism and education: The politics of resistance (pp. 193–210). Sense Publishers.

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Grundy, S. (1987). Curriculum: Product or praxis. Routledge. Hanson, J. H., Buitenhuis, E., Beierling, S., & Grant, K. (2014). Course work: Pinar’s currere as an initiation into curriculum studies. Canadian Journal for New Scholars in Education, 5(2), 7–8. Khaled, P. (2014, December 3–4). Curriculum, currere, autobiography: Do you see what I see? International Infrastructure Conference. IUKL Publication. Khaled, P. (2020). Curriculum, currere, autobiography: Do you see what I see? Research Gate. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/347943961 King, R. (1991). Education in the British Caribbean: The legacy of the nineteenth century. Retrieved http://www.educoas.org/portal/bdigital/conten ido/interamer/bkiacd/interamer/interamerhtml/millerhtml/mil_king.htm King, R. (1999). Education in the British Caribbean: The legacy of the nineteenth century. In E. Miller (Ed.), Educational reform in the Commonwealth Caribbean (pp. 25–45). Organization of American States. Knight, J., & Rapley, J. (2007). Educational reform in Jamaica: Recommendations from Ireland, Finland and Singapore. Caribbean Policy Research Institute. Latimer, J. (1965). The foundation of religious education in the British West Indies. The Journal of Negro Education, 34(4), 435–452. http://www.jstor. org/stab1e/2294096 Le Grange, L. (2021). Individual responsibility in decolonising the university curriculum. South African Journal of Higher Education, 35(1), 4–20. https:// dx.doi.org/10.20853/35-1-4416 Lieberman, A., & Miller, L. (1999). Teachers: Transforming their world and their work. Teachers College Press. Lynch, D., & Smith, R. (2011). The theory and practice of curriculum and programming. In D. Lynch & B. A. Knight (Eds.), Issues in contemporary teaching (pp. 30–42). AACLM Press. Manley, M. (1974). The politics of change: A Jamaican testament. Andre Deutsch Limited. Manley, M. (1975). The politics of change: A Jamaican testament. Andre Deutsch Limited. Mart, C. (2011). British colonial education policy in Africa. Internal Journal of English and Literature, 190–194. Miller, E. (1999). Commonwealth Caribbean education in the global context. In E. Miller (Ed.), Educational reform in the Commonwealth Caribbean (pp. 3– 24). Organization of American States. Miller, E., & International Development Research Centre (Canada). (1984). Educational research: The English-speaking Caribbean. International Development Research Centre. Moore, L. (2013, November 21–22). Starting the conversation: Using the currere process to make the teaching internship experience more positive and encourage

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collaborative reflection in internship site schools [Paper presentation]. International Symposium, Barcelona. http://som.esbrina.eu/aprender/docs/5/ MooreLeslie.pdf Neary, M. (2003). Curriculum concepts and research. Curriculum studies in post compulsory and adult education: A teacher’s and student teacher’s study guide. Nelson Thornes Ltd. National Education Inspectorate. (2015). Chief inspector’s baseline report. https://www.nei.org.jm/ Pacheco, M. (2009). Expansive learning and Chicana/o and Latina/o students’ political-historical knowledge. Language Arts, 87 (1), 18–29. Palmer, P. J. (1998). The courage to teach: Exploring the inner landscape of a teacher’s life. Jossey-Bass. Peters, B. (2001). Tertiary education development in small states: Constraints and future prospect. Caribbean Quarterly, 47 (2&3), 44–57. Pinar, W. F. (1975, April). The method of Currere [Paper presentation]. Annual Meeting of the American Research Association, Washington, DC. https:// files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED104766.pdf. Pinar, W. F. (1994). The method of “Currere” (1975). Counterpoints, 2, 19–27. http://www.jstor.org/stable/42975620 Pinar, W. F. (2004). The miseducation of the American public. In W. Pinar (Ed.), What is curriculum theory? (pp. 15–34). Lawrence Erlbaum. Pinar, W. F. (2008). Curriculum theory since 1950: Crisis reconceptualization internationalization. In F. M. Conelly, M. F. He & J. Phillion (Eds.), The Sage Handbook of Curriculum and Instruction (pp. 491–513). SAGE. Pinar, W. F. (2011). The character of curriculum studies: Bildung, currere, and the recurring question of the subject. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10. 1057/9781137015839 Robinson, G. (1986). The socio-educational implications of the common entrance examination in Jamaica (Publication No. AAT NL39239) [Doctoral dissertation, University of Toronto, Canada]. Dissertations & Thesis. Roofe, C. (2018). Schooling, teachers in Jamaica and social responsibility: Rethinking teacher preparation. Social Responsibility Journal, 14(4), 816–827. https://doi.org/10.1108/SRJ-10-2017-0202 Simmons, M., & Dei, G. J. S. (2012). Reframing anti-colonial theory for the diasporic context. Postcolonial Directions in Education, 1(1), 67–99. Smith, M. K. (1996, 2000). Curriculum theory and practice’ the encyclopaedia of informal education. https://infed.org/curriculum-theory-and-practice/ Spencer-Rowe, J. (2000). An investigation of the practice of extra lessons in schools at the primary level of the Jamaican education system. Planning Institute of Jamaica/The Ministry of Education and Culture.

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Springett, D. (2015). Education for sustainable development: Challenges of a critical pedagogy. In M. Redclift & D. Springett (Eds.), Routledge international handbook of sustainable development (pp. 105–120). Routledge. Stewart, S. (2013). Everything in di dark mus come to light: A postcolonial investigation of the practice of extra lessons at the secondary level in Jamaica’s education system [Doctoral thesis, University of Denver]. Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1000. https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/1000 Tikly, L., & Barrett, A. (2013). Education quality and social justice in the global south challenges for policy, practice and research. Routledge. Tupper, J. A., & Cappello, M. (2008). Teaching treaties as (un)usual narratives: Disrupting the curricular common sense. Curriculum Inquiry, 38(5), 559– 578. Tyler, R. W. (1949). Basic principles of curriculum and instruction. University of Chicago Press. UNESCO. (2015). Repositioning curriculum in education quality and development-relevance. http://www.ibe.unesco.org/es/blogs/repositioningcurriculum-education-quality-development-relevance-join-conversation USAID. (2013). Midterm performance evaluation of the USAID/Jamaica basic education project: In support of the Jamaica education transformation project. https://www.mona.uwi.edu/cop/sites/default/files/JETP_Midt erm_Performance_Evaluation_Final_Report.pdf Villaverde, L. E., & Pinar, W. F. (1999). Postformal research: A dialogue on intelligence. In J. L. Kincheloe, S. R. Steinberg, & L. E. Villaverde (Eds.), Rethinking 115 intelligence: Confronting psychological assumptions about teaching and learning (pp. 247–256). Routledge. Wahab, O. (2010, September 26). Jamaica has a strong record of basic education improvement programme. IDB Inter-American Development Bank. https://www.iadb.org/en/news/webstories/2010-09-27/idbjamaica-has-a-strong-basic-education-improvement-programs%2C7956.html Whiteman, B. (1994). Education and training partnerships, the 1990s imperatives: Jamaica, The West Indies. Journal of Education Finance, 19(4), 94–98. World Bank. (1990). World Bank study: Jamaica reform of secondary education. https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/871111468914 104944/pdf/527410WP0Jamai101Official0Use0Only1.pdf

CHAPTER 2

How Schools Shape Teachers’ Currere

Curriculum in all its forms is centred on teaching and learning which relies on praxis. Through praxis, the cycle of thinking, action and reflection is stimulated and enacted. This occurs in different ways, in different spaces and at different levels for different individuals. One of the ways in which teaching and learning occurs is through schooling. Schooling is the social structure through which the society seeks to indoctrinate its populace into the accepted norms and values of the society. In other words, schooling is the social structure through which what is important to society gets transmitted to individuals within the society. At the same time, schools are a microcosm of the society within which they exist. Hence, society also influences the outcomes of schooling. Schools, therefore, become pivotal in maintaining or reforming the structures that exist within society. For example, schools may perpetuate colonial structures or diminish colonial structures, and these may, in turn, have lasting effects on individuals in the society. Teachers, because of the role they play in school, also become orchestrators of such structures. In schools, teachers are “authority figures” which means they also have the power to influence how schooling occurs especially at the classroom level. Therefore, their own values, habits, thinking, disposition and experiences will shape how they interpret the purposes of schooling, the curriculum and their roles. Additionally, prior to becoming teacher professionals, teachers were

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once students which means that they themselves are shaped by the structures of schooling which existed in the society while they were students. Consequently, teachers need to critically reflect to discern what values, habits and beliefs they hold as a result of the structure of schooling and whether they possess and perpetuate unconscious biases as a result of the structure of schooling at the time of being educated. Currere allows for teachers to mine the in-between spaces of their former lives as students and their lives as teachers (Moore, 2013). This process can therefore become a powerful source for recognising implicit/unconscious biases and oppressive structures in schooling that may have been normalised. Recognising, understanding and acting on such biases can serve as a powerful tool for changing school culture. The Currere of three teachers are therefore shared to provide insights into some of the experiences that occur within schools in Jamaica. They showcase how teachers in their former lives as students navigated those experiences and how as teachers in their current roles, they use those experiences to guide the curriculum experiences they provide for their students. Questions are included based on each teacher’s Currere to guide the reader’s thinking and reflection, and to inspire actions for both present and future schooling practices.

Ana’s Currere: There Is a Light at the End of the Tunnel These words from Reggae artiste Freddy McGregor, poverty is a recurring decimal in the cycle of life, have been embedded in my psyche since the impressionable age of ten, shortly before my transition to high school. Being from a poor background, the first of five brothers and three sisters, I was determined to change our way of life—even though young, I was fully cognisant of the fact that the cycle of poverty could only be broken with education. My primary school motto stands true: “Education is the Key to Success.” These few words assured me of a light at the end of the tunnel. Pinar’s method of Currere provides an opportunity for educators to reconceptualise the idea of curriculum through their own educational experiences. Like Hanson et al. (2014), this process has led me to realise that Currere enables one to gain self-awareness and who or what one represents. After 21 years as a classroom teacher, I am only now getting a clear understanding of how my experiences have helped to shape what

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curriculum represents. Up to this point, I have moved from one level of the education process to another without really focusing on or analysing what I have been taught, how I have been taught, who taught me, what I have learnt, and how all of this has helped to mould and shape who I am as a person and an educator. My educational background at the primary level led me to view education as a mechanism of social control and subordination. It was one in which you were frightened into learning as the whip was used to “keep you in line”—to learn your timetables, to complete the long division, to get the twelve words in spelling correct and the list goes on. Because I was one of the few who was academically inclined at the time, my experiences were not as bad as those of many of my classmates and by extension, schoolmates. My experiences at this time taught me to view my teachers as the ultimate authority and the source of all knowledge. During these lessons, students were seen, but not heard. I was not given the opportunity to think for myself or to question what was being taught—this would be deemed the ultimate sin—the teacher is always right. With this outlook on education and what it represents, I decided I would become a teacher. Regrettably, I was the epitome of fear and discipline as I embarked on my first teaching assignment at the age of nineteen as a pre-trained teacher at my primary alma mater. I was determined to make my former teachers proud, and I believed that this could only be achieved by modelling their methods—I was the “no-nonsense” young teacher. I felt accomplished when one of my students hid from class in the bushes for two days because he feared the punishment, he would receive at my hands for not completing his homework. I believed that this would earn me respect among the stalwarts in the profession. Sadly, I was wrong. Even though I now know that teaching is my calling, in retrospect, my decision to become a teacher was for all the wrong reasons. I wanted to be feared, I wanted to be the giver of knowledge, and I wanted to determine the future of my charges as my teachers have done to me, in deciding who were the “bright” ones and who were “dunce” and group them accordingly. Having a penchant for academics, at the tender age of ten, and having been successful in the grade 6 exit examination, I was placed at one of the most prestigious high schools in the parish. I was exposed to a new way of learning. My teachers were equipped with knowledge, but some lacked the methodology to effectively impart the same. While we were no longer mere vessels to be filled, we were guided into the path for which

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our teachers thought we would best be suited. We were not given the chance to choose our own destinies by unearthing our talents. We were grouped based on the scores we received in tests. As a result, I was placed in the Science stream, which was the coveted stream as we were seen as the “Bright Sparks/Elites” in the institution. I was basking in this prestige as I was one step closer to becoming a Biochemist—my career choice had shifted. This was not a problem for me, however, looking back, many of my peers were deprived of opportunities, many were destined to fail by default as the system was not designed to cater to their needs and to help them realise their true potential and what they were good at. No analysis was done to determine why students failed or what issues they had to contend with personally. No consideration was given to the mental state of us as students so that we could be better catered to, and more informed decisions be made, which might have changed the entire direction of many of our lives. My educational journey thus far only focused on the acquisition of knowledge, coverage of content and subject area. There was very little concern for us as students. No opportunities for us to be heard and for our experiences to be shared in the teaching/learning process. The focus of education at this level was to score big on tests so that you would be placed in a top stream, and that was what I did. Those who were unable to meet this requirement were placed in the lower streams and were not allowed to pursue certain subjects. I must admit that I thought of myself above these students—I was prejudiced all throughout my high school years. So much so that my friends and I would not even march with them as our partners at graduation. I now feel ashamed of my actions. These students were automatically given practical subjects like Metal Work, Woodwork, Food and Nutrition, Clothing and Textile and so on. Ironically, while these were viewed as subjects for the “dunce” students, these are the areas that are most lucrative in today’s economy—who has the last laugh? With very little emphasis on life skills and no preparation for the real world, my shortcomings were highlighted when I became a teenage mother in grade 10. I was not prepared for the consequences and being in the Science stream did not help. Little did I know that this pitfall was the beginning of my training for life—the lived curriculum. After sitting out a year, I was reintegrated into the high school setting as I repeated 10th grade before moving on to grade 11 at another high school. Practically speaking, this was a better experience as education

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at this institution was more inclusive and student-centred. While my previous high school focused mainly on academics, and you were booted out for not performing, this high school catered to students at different academic levels. Programmes were in place for the slow learners and sports programmes catered to those so inclined. This was where I achieved eight CXCs and one GCE. In addition, I was an integral member of the school’s netball and debating teams—skills I would not have unearthed in the Science stream, and skills that have contributed to who I am as a person and an educator today. Had my teachers then been more emotionally intelligent and the system being more inclusive, I would have started making a significant (positive) difference in the lives of my students from the onset. I would have treated the beginning of my teaching career differently with students hiding from class—I still feel bad for thinking that students fearing me and seeing me as authority was the good goal. Had education been more equitable, societal values and morals would not now be completely depleted as most of our citizens would have been given a fair chance and would be meaningfully contributing to society. There would be less crime and violence as the disparity between the “haves” and the “have nots” would not be so wide. For me, a dedicated and goal-oriented individual, self-actualisation is not an option—it is mandatory. Working since 1997 as a pre-trained educator, in August 2003, I graduated university with a Bachelor of Science in Education (cum laude) with a major in English. I spent a meaningful three years at this institution and was greatly impacted by the maverick founder. It was here that I learnt to think for myself and not to conform to societal norms. It was here that I realised that I could change things and make a difference. It was here that I learnt that the majority is not always right. Soon after, circumstances would dictate that I embark on acquiring a diploma in teaching. This compelled me to enrol at a teacher training college where I obtained a diploma in Primary Education in 2006 and two years later a Bachelor in Primary Education (high distinction). Looking back on my past experiences that have helped to shape my early way of thinking and my limited outlook of teaching, I can now see that I was limited by my experiences, the result of a system that was steeped in the residue of slavery, a system still embracing the “pedagogy of the oppressed”. Having been exposed to the banking concept of education, this is all I had to offer to my students at the time. However, with each level of training I received, I became a better teacher. I gradually

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started to focus on my students and how I could unearth their skills, and how I could motivate them to learn. I have constantly remained on the cutting edge with pedagogies as I want to ensure that I am able to guide my students into achieving their full potential. I want to ensure that I provide them with the opportunities that the system did not afford me—the option to choose. Looking ahead, my experiences and awareness will make room for further growth and development as a teacher. Rethinking what, how, why; rethinking the theory and practices; rethinking what our educational institutions offer and the context within which they are offered; rethinking what contributes to pertinent and effective educational outcomes. Education is about equipping the total man to be able to function. It is about helping our students to think critically and to master the skills that are essential. It is about equipping our students so that they will be able to find solutions to life’s problems. It is about making the shift from curriculum as a noun to curriculum as a verb.

Something to Think About We are not too old or too experienced to analyse our journey. Such analysis presents opportunities regardless of stage in life to make necessary changes that will impact ourselves and others around us. Experienced teachers often argue that they know what they are doing; they know how to teach and any disruption to this results in resistance to change. Regardless of how long we have been teaching, we are all inexperienced in one way or another. For those of us who are experienced, let us be frank we do not all possess all the experiences we need to do all the things we need, to help shape our students. Therefore, reflecting on our journey will help redefine reasons for the decisions we have made, and show how the past experiences continue to shape the here and now. Furthermore, reflection can lead to a realisation of the negative practices that have been normalised unconsciously. For example, as found in the story of Ana, negative colonial practices associated with the teacher’s role and how power is seen and used in the classroom can create fear and stifle growth in students. Hence, it is in confronting such experiences that one will become conscious and search for a new way of offering curriculum experiences to students. In other words, reflecting on our journey and who we have become can cause one to change course. Here are some questions to ask yourself.

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1. Do I have a similar experience to Ana? 2. If yes, how am I using the memory of this experience to shape my actions for my students? 3. What lessons can I learn from Ana’s story? 4. What experiences can I recall, analyse, and determine how they have shaped my classroom decisions? 5. How can I use the results of my recollection and analysis? As a former colony, the remnants of coloniality ring through all spheres of Jamaican society—some subtle and some explicit. Ana’s memory of her primary teachers and by extension the shaping of her view of the ideal teacher can be likened to the colonial masters who had all the power and thought their role was to “whip” everyone into actions of conformity. Her story also reminds us about how practices in Jamaican schooling perpetuate an elitist structure of schooling where one group of students is made to feel better than another and how teachers help to recreate these feelings through their conscious and unconscious actions. Ana’s Currere, therefore, serves as a starting point for each teacher who was schooled in Jamaica to think about and confront actions of self and systems that perpetuate prestige and power from early ages and actions that help to maintain the elitist structure. This is critical to helping students improve their self-confidence and self-esteem. Such recollection of who is considered as the ideal teacher is a reminder that the actions we exhibit in the classrooms as teachers shape minds for generations. These practices can result in perpetuating wrong as right on self and others. Found in Ana’s story are some important questions to be raised and lessons to teach as the curriculum becomes real. Here are some of these. • Schooling practices should teach students that their mistakes are opportunities for learning and that they should use their mistakes to propel them forward. To what extent are you doing this in the way you teach? • What implicit/explicit practices do you perpetuate as a teacher that create unhappy students? • In what ways as a teacher do you facilitate second chances for students? • The curriculum should create opportunities for students to be the best versions of themselves by building on their giftings and

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talents, not forcing them into being who they are not. How do your practices provide opportunities for students to exercise their autonomy? • Since practices of schooling help to shape the results in society and vice versa, what attempts are you making to examine oppressive structures in schooling to create a more liberating atmosphere for your students? • How will your students remember you?

Dence’s Currere: Reality Trumps Perception Is teaching a calling? Are teachers born to teach or are they trained to teach? Meet Dence as she shares how she developed a passion for teaching because of students who were labelled underachievers and who were not expected to succeed. Here is Dence’s Currere. Marcus Mosiah Garvey strongly believed that one’s future is influenced by knowledge of one’s past (Kentake, 2015). My journey as a teacher began seventeen years ago after my original plans to become an entrepreneur were disrupted by setbacks in my personal life. Unlike many in the teaching profession, I did not want to become a teacher because I felt then that teachers were underpaid and underappreciated. As such, teaching for me was the last resort. As a matter of fact, I took my first teaching job as a pre-trained teacher, which was intended to last four months. After the first two months, however, I started to feel like, “this could work.” I began to feel fulfilled, where it became less about the salary and more about the students, their educational needs, their emotional needs and their holistic development. The students’ needs began to take priority over everything to the point where I would think about them all the time. I would think about them while I was at home, while I was at church and while I was at school. I would often wonder how I could improve in my pedagogical approach to meet their learning needs. They became my children; my kids and I referred to them as such. As a pre-trained teacher, the only teaching experience I had prior was from teaching Sunday School at my church. I did not know how to write a lesson plan, I did not even understand the curriculum then, yet there I was with a group of grade 6 students, whom the school’s administration, some teachers and some of the parents, felt had no potential. I was given the task of preparing them for the grade 6 exit examination which was the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) at the time. These

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students were predicted to fail, even before they took the exam because they could not read. The students were streamed in academic groups from top performers to underperformers and that class was the group with all the underperformers. It consisted mostly of boys, who were from the lower end of the socio-economic stratum. As I reflect, I can recall many mornings some of the students were dirty, messy, hungry, sleepy and unprepared for school, which indicated that they were not being fully cared for at home. Their physical needs were not being adhered to, yet they were expected to perform at their optimum. Despite all of that, it was the first of many defining moments in my teaching experience as this was when my integrity as a Christian and as an individual was put to the test. What do I do for these students when no one else cares enough to even hold me accountable for their learning and holistic development? How do I make an impact on their lives, with no support from the school’s administration or their parents? I did the best I could, with the little teaching experience I had. At the end of the school year, approximately 10% of the students improved at least one reading level above how they had come to my class. This I did by using the curriculum to focus on sight words, vocabulary building, phonemic awareness, self-care, discipline and selfesteem. Much of this was achieved through showing the students love, care, concern for their needs and from arriving at school before everyone and leaving after everyone else had left. That was a challenging time in my professional experience not only because it was a tough class, but because I was an inexperienced teacher. Though difficult, it was defining, as it was at this point in my life I discovered my passion for teaching, which ultimately led to me choosing to pursue teaching as my professional path. The pursuit of higher education always seems to allow me to reconceptualise my thinking. It is certainly no different today as I seek to pursue my master’s degree. This programme content, although quite challenging, is very transformative. The exposure to the numerous reading materials, and the engaging interaction with other sojourners, such as myself, is quite exhilarating. My mind is being expanded to a new dimension. This is very impactful especially in my current teaching context, as I am forced to adjust, improve and rethink my pedagogical approach for a greater impact on my students. I am also able to impart new knowledge to other colleagues in my current teaching context. In all three stages of my academic pursuit, the regressive, which set the foundation for my professional journey, the progressive, of which I have high expectations for myself and great anticipation for the future, and the analytical,

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which helps to propel my life forward into a new dimension in education, make me grateful. As I continue this pilgrimage, it is with a grateful heart that I look to the Almighty God to allow me to complete this journey. As educators, it is our responsibility to work towards an improved curriculum and school system along with our colleagues. According to Hanson et al. (2014), we cannot effectively achieve this unless we seek to improve ourselves.

Something to Think About Within Dence’s story, there are many life lessons for both one’s personal and professional life. Here are a few to think about. 1. Be open-minded as this will allow you to be flexible and be open to various possibilities for self and others around you. Be open-minded as we never know in what ways or where we may discover our true purposes. Do you have a fixed or flexible mindset as a teacher? 2. Teacher professional development provides opportunities that help teachers use appropriately their natural giftings and talents. When was the last time you participated in appropriate professional development? How did it enhance the work that you do? 3. Negative perceptions about students can cripple one’s actions of help if we do not look beyond the present to see what students could become and provide the most appropriate support. Teachers are to inspire hope in students regardless of their situation. Everyone deserves a chance to shine. As evidenced in Dence’s story, there are some school structures such as streaming that can send the wrong message and can perpetuate feelings of inferiority especially for those in the low stream as it tells them they are not worthwhile from early. What other school practice do you know that is currently employed in your schooling system that sends the wrong message? What can you do about it? 4. Spirituality provides an opportunity to search the self and derive answers. Spirituality allows a teacher to look beyond monetary gains and help where necessary. How do you showcase spirituality in the work you do as a teacher? 5. Teachers’ perception of students will influence positively or negatively their interaction with students. What perceptions do you

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currently hold of the students you teach and how does that influence your interaction with them? 6. What other lessons can you derive from Dence’s story?

Angeli’s Currere: How Schooling Shaped My View of Teachers and Curriculum I knew I wanted to be a teacher from a very young age. I would line up all my Barbie dolls (and some of my older sister ones too) in front of a big blackboard in my parent’s backyard. I would spend the entire evening “teaching” these dolls what I had learnt in my class that day. Unintentionally, I was mimicking my teacher, the way she dressed, walked, spoke and interacted with us in class. If one of my “students” (Barbie doll) didn’t behave, I would find pleasure in putting her on timeout and shaking my teacher’s finger at her, while tapping my foot. I thought I would want to be a teacher for the rest of my life. It wasn’t until three years of teaching at the primary and secondary level as well as completing my bachelor’s degree in English Language Education that I realised I wanted to do something in curriculum, specifically the English language curriculum. However, I wasn’t certain what career path I would transition to. Maybe an education officer? Or a curriculum officer? This change in career came about after some concerns with the English curriculum in my country, such as the lack of culturally relevant resources present. I wanted to be able to make changes to the curriculum, to change students’ negative views and lack of motivation when it comes to interacting with the English language and even literature formal curriculum. Although my intentions were positive, I soon realised that the word curriculum was more complex than I thought it was. My initial introduction to the term “curriculum” was approximately 11 years ago when I was in high school. I was a fifth form student preparing for CXC examination and my Principle of Business teacher gave each of her students including me a copy of what she called a syllabus. I will admit it was a very thick document and at the time seemed very intimidating. Was I really expected to learn all this information from each unit in order to pass my examination? I didn’t realise until now, but this experience inside of my Principles of Business classroom is what shaped my understanding of what curriculum is and did in fact instil many misconceptions that I carried into university regarding what the curriculum

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entailed. As a high school student, my view of the curriculum was a simple document teachers and students followed to pass examinations. Teachers were expected to teach every topic in the syllabus before an expected date and we as students were expected to have full knowledge of every topic. If you wanted to get a grade 1 in a subject, you had to ensure you were fully aware of these topics. Another misconception I held was that the curriculum is the syllabus/the curriculum, and the syllabus was the same document. It was not until I began my master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction that it dawned on me how wrong my thoughts were and how much I viewed the curriculum with a narrowed, traditional lens. My introduction to Curriculum Studies has reshaped my mind. At first, it was very hard to let go of my preconceived notions of what curriculum entailed. I now know that the term curriculum is complex. It cannot be defined in one sentence. It cannot be clearly explained using one paragraph and it is definitely not just a document that teachers and students utilise. In brief, the curriculum is about the lived experience of the teacher and students. It is their narrative and interaction with each other. It is how the students make meaning of what they learn and connect it to their real life. It is how the teacher facilitates the students learning to bring about an active and willingly participative classroom. It is still way more than this. Since pursuing this degree, I have grown confident with my choice of future career. I have realised that I want to be a part of that change and protest that brings about a live curriculum and not one that pushes the standard, traditional curriculum that we as teachers have been conditioned to accept. Pursuing this degree has made me look forward to my future career and has reshaped my teaching philosophy. As an aspiring future curriculum coordinator, I pledge to be creative and think critically when developing a curriculum. I now understand how creativity and spontaneity can be beneficial to the classroom and allow growth among students and their teachers to occur. I also understand the importance of collaborating with experts. As an English teacher, I understand the importance of gaining English teachers input when creating an English curriculum. As a future Curriculum Coordinator, I should not forget this point and will consult these experts for their perspectives. Lastly, while conducting research as a future Curriculum Coordinator, I must be mindful that while the research may suggest that “this” is what is best for the majority of the students, it may not suggest that this is what is

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best for my students. Therefore, there should not be only one approach but an acceptance of multiple approaches. In pursuing my higher education degree, I try to gain a clearer understanding of my most prominent areas of weaknesses. I frequently find myself questioning whether my ideas and thoughts are logical, practical and comparing myself to others. I am also aware that my weaknesses are due to a lack of confidence I have within my professional self. As I continue to dive deeper into this degree, I will continue to work through these weaknesses so that I do not hinder my educational growth. Overall, I am happy with my learning experience thus far. Since engaging with the different courses, my understanding of the meaning of curriculum has been transformed. I was able to make sense of the theory we learned in lectures by applying it to a real context. Writing this autobiography has enabled me to study myself. It has assisted me in understanding the influences that have shaped my assumptions, beliefs, values and biases pertaining to the meaning of curriculum and all that it entails. Furthermore, it has placed me in the position to self-interrogate and to go back to my earlier understanding and representations of my teachers to decide the shift I want to make for myself and my students. I am able to view my own experience through a clearer lens.

Something to Think About Angeli’s Currere reminds us of the importance of interrogating ourselves to decipher the assumptions we hold and to see ourselves through clearer lenses. It is not until we begin to self-interrogate that we realise how we derived the conceptions that we hold. Additionally, her Currere helps us further understand how the role teachers play in teaching and learning influences students’ conceptions. I invite you to use Angeli’s Currere as the backdrop and ask yourself the following questions and record the responses. 1. When was the last time you self-interrogated? Have you asked yourself questions such as why do I teach this way? Why do I prefer particular pedagogical approaches over others? Why do I interact with my students the way I do? 2. For Angeli, it was the pursuit of higher education studies that helped to shape and concretise the role she wants to play in the future. What

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about you, what are you pursuing that will help you determine your role in the future? 3. What further studies do you need to pursue to fulfil your mission? 4. What influences have shaped your assumptions, beliefs, values, biases and understanding of curriculum? 5. What is your understanding of the curriculum?

References Hanson, J. H., Buitenhuis, E., Beierling, S., & Grant, K. (2014). Course work: Pinar XE “Pinar”’s currere as an initiation into curriculum XE “curriculum” studies. Canadian Journal for New Scholars in Education, 5(2), 7–8. Kentake, M. (2015, August 17). Powerful and inspirational quotes by Marcus Garvey. Kentake Page. https://kentakepage.com/powerful-and-inspirationalquotes-by-marcus-garvey/ Moore, L. (2013, November 21–22). Starting the conversation: Using the currere process to make the teaching internship experience more positive and encourage collaborative reflection in internship site schools [Paper presentation]. International Symposium, Barcelona. http://som.esbrina.eu/aprender/docs/5/ MooreLeslie.pdf

CHAPTER 3

The Affective Dimension of Teaching

The affective dimension of teachers’ work is a vital dimension of inclusive and student-centred classrooms (Riele et al., 2017). Teaching and learning highly embodies emotions that are couched in what is said, how things are said and why things are said in the teaching and learning space, drawing our attention to the use of language in teaching and learning. Such language may be expressed in a written or oral format, may be non-verbal and may lend itself to both observable and non-observable results. The effective teacher continuously manages these emotions so that students learn how to interact in a respectful, socially skilled way, and learn how to positively contribute to their peers, school and family (Jennings & Greenberg, 2009). Brown (1995) notes that this is a conscious instructional act on the part of the teacher who recognises that students will not be as successful as they can be no matter how excellent the written curriculum is if they do not perceive themselves as valuable and as valued members of the teaching and learning environment. Teachers by the very nature of their work, therefore, must extend an ethic of care to help students learn. Teachers are needed to provide affective justice for students, especially those who are marginalised or those whose circumstances outside of school do not allow for the experience of such justice. However, in an era of neoliberalism where conversations about test scores, performance and competition dominate, this aspect of teachers’ work is diminished (Riele et al., 2017). For those who diminish © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 C. Roofe, The Lived Curriculum Experiences of Jamaican Teachers, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-99450-1_3

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arguments about amplifying ethics of care in the teaching and learning process, I argue that they have not yet recognised the duality that resides in teachers exhibiting such affective tenets. For instance, when teachers exercise affective justice in the teaching and learning environment, it serves as a way of meeting their own affective needs and reducing stress and teacher burnout. Not much is found in the literature that talks about how teachers in turn benefit when they exercise affective justice in explicit and implicit ways in the teaching and learning process. Each Currere in this section draws attention to this issue and offers some insights that can begin to fill that gap in the literature. The Currere provided in this section offers a glimpse into the feelings that are evoked for self and others based on how one interprets his or her role as a professional, the meaning one makes of his or her experiences, the words teachers utter to their students and how as teachers we can either influence negatively or positively the journey of the students we meet. Three teachers’ Currere are provided along with questions to stimulate thinking, reflection and action, and to inspire hope beyond negative experiences.

D’s Currere: Teaching as Therapy---In Helping Others You Help Yourself You can be who you were created to be with or without the help of others, but the influence of others can either make the process easier or harder.

I, D am the commandment keeper, an educator, a mother of three children, two girls and one boy, and a grandmother of a boy and a girl. My life’s philosophy is to treat others as I would treat myself. I view myself as a confident, vibrant, energetic and caring individual, who loves the role of an educator, someone who inspires change and one who lives to better my society through varied contributions to community development. I have always been involved in community development projects, especially if it includes youths and improving parenting skills, but I never thought of myself as a teacher. Working as an adolescent facilitator with a community-based company that believed that the way to empower youth and minimise crime and violence is through teaching life skills and other educational programmes, I was the assistant supervisor for the homework programme offered to inner-city youths. “You are talented”, “you are

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good with the kids, a teacher by nature”, said my supervisor. I looked at her and smiled. She said, “I am serious, “have you ever thought about it”, “no” I replied. “Think about it”, she said. That one conversation led me to be enrolled at a teachers’ college to become a teacher. My teaching career is now aligned with the philosophy, “each one teaches one, each one reaches one”. I came to realise by helping a child to find the accepted path, and I am also helping myself to grow as I follow the path to my internalised understanding of success. I have learnt that you can be who you were created to be with or without the help of others, but the influence of others can either make the process easier or harder. The latter is dependent on your response to how people treat you. As I am encouraged to reflect on my journey as an educator, I never realised how much I have overcome during these years spent inspiring change in our nation’s children, as well as myself. I am the first one in my immediate family to complete tertiary education and it has not been easy. The challenges flooded the pathway, and the obstacles blurred my perception of enduring this career path. It seemed impossible, but the still voices echoed, you are born for this and the only road that led to change is education. I love working with children, especially the ones who would be deemed the “out-cast” of the education system. Working with these students, the value added to their lives is visible and appreciated and brings hope to a society that struggles to survive. Being connected to the teaching profession is a colossal part of my social responsibility as a person and as an educator. As stated by Berman (1990), social responsibility is a personal investment in the well-being of others and the planet. Each day I get to influence a person’s life no matter how insignificant it might seem to me, but when they share the experience they had, it brings alive my efforts. If inspiring one child to stay on the path to education, which will, in turn, change a family’s outlook on life, then I was ready for the task. I can remember working at a community centre as a teacher of reading. As I sat there, this little girl came into the centre. She walked towards me, tears filled her eyes, she said, “Miss can I speak to you.” I indicated to her to follow me to the office, she said, “Miss I can’t read, can you help me please”, tears filled my eyes at that moment. I felt honoured to be in this position as an agent of change. It was my way of giving back to the society that needed all the help it could get to stay alive, and I enjoyed every moment of it.

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I am going through so much at this point in my life, it gets overwhelming. I am currently going through a divorce from a relationship of 22 years and a marriage of 14 years. Sitting and waiting for a husband who went overseas to make life better for us as a family, who returned twice in nine years, once for his father’s and my mother’s funeral and the next visit was to file the divorce papers. Not even an explanation as to why he would leave me with three children when he promised that we would migrate with him as a family and that promise was not realised. My mother was my main supporter throughout my life, obstacles, and I lost her but couldn’t mourn her because I had to be strong for my children and my siblings. If it had not been for God, the prayers of my church family, I would have lost my mind. However tragic a situation is, it too shall pass. Implementing the curriculum and utilising the various strategies that would assist my students with their academic and personal issues were my therapy sessions. The curriculum became active and alive. The curriculum should serve as the foundation for providing opportunities that awaken the critical consciousness of students as citizens belonging to a place (Roofe & Bezzina, 2017). I started using topics that addressed social issues to teach reading comprehension and vocabulary development skills as an excellent way to get students to be aware of what is the reality within the society. The students came alive as they got to discuss topics to which they could easily relate, and I was distracted from my emotions. I did not realise how much I had lost my voice and my confidence going through this family trauma, but I lost my sense of self. I lost my ability to speak up for myself, I lost my ability to fight for my rights and it affected every area of my life with me not really acknowledging what had happened to me. I changed in front of my children subtly. I lost my smile, my joy and my bubbling personality. I cried all night and went to school the next day and taught my heart out. I mastered the theatre arts as I tried hard to hide the real person hurting inside. As I embark on this ambitious attempt to achieve my masters, it seems as if my educational pursuits always choose me. I have never been challenged this way before, academically that is. I keep asking myself what the purpose is of doing this, how will this improve me as a person and how will it groom me as a teacher. This is something I am doing to improve myself as a teacher and as an individual who never dreamed, and I would reach this far in my academic endeavours. Like every stage of my life, the challenges are present and raging at times, but my colleagues are so down

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to earth and practical; their continuous dialogue camouflages the difficulties aligned with tasks that are given during the lessons. I enjoy studying; it provides me with a purpose to keep going and be less preoccupied with what has not gone well in my life. The more I learn, the more I have accepted that the education system will never bring about equality, even though that is one of the aims. I never knew I would feel like a failure as a teacher, but at this point, I see my students failing in front of my eyes and I can’t seem to find a strategy to motivate them. As a result of the pandemic and online teaching, they have the upper hand as they can log online or offline as they choose. I continually research ways and hope they will see the value of perseverance, especially at this time when the world is in trouble. I have matured and am still blooming as an educator, as a mother and as an agent of change. I like this statement, “life is a self-movement which experiences itself and never stops experiencing itself in this very movement and this happens in such a way that nothing ever detaches itself from this self-experiencing movement…nothing slips out of this moving self-experience” (Henry, 1999, p. 352). I continue to grow from my past experiences, learn to enjoy the present moments and prepare for my future.

Something to Think About The views of others help to shape how we see ourselves. This is the experience of D as she was ushered into teaching. As expressed through her reflection and analysis of her journey, it is evident that one’s professional day-to-day activities can consciously and subconsciously become therapeutic as individuals seek to respond to pain in their personal lives. Her narrative re-emphasises Pinar’s view about the teacher dwelling between two worlds. Additionally, D’s Currere highlights lessons about how by pouring into the lives of others, teachers help themselves, and how the views of others influence teachers’ views of themselves and their responsibility to self, others and society. Such views then in turn influence the actions teachers take, and in turn, these actions communicate to others how teachers understand and interpret self. Highlighted in the story is also the view that teachers, because of the many roles they play, suppress their own emotional experiences to be strong for others. This begs the question as to how many teachers in

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schools in Jamaica are like D who show up as the best version of themselves so that they can fulfil a child’s dream? A recommendation then for those who lead teachers is that, as much as there needs to be psychosocial support for students, there is need for psychosocial support for teachers. Psychosocial support is needed to help teachers reflect, identify their own traumas and find solutions so they can be effective teachers. While this recommendation is being made for those who lead teachers, there is a recommendation for teachers to create support for themselves as well. As found in D’s Currere, this may be done through creating opportunities for self-talk, drawing on one’s spiritual connection with a supreme being and trying to think about and meet the needs of others. How teachers overcome their struggles can become powerful teaching tools about what to do and what not to do, and as such, the enacted curriculum can become the therapy for coping. This is where the curriculum then becomes more than subjects and serves as that liberating force for those who enact it and those who are participants in it (teachers and students). Here are some questions to think about as you reflect on D’s Currere. 1. How has the COVID-19 pandemic and the inequities it has heightened rendered teachers helpless? 2. What evidence exists in D’s Currere about situations that result in a teacher’s loss of control? 3. Have you ever used your work as a teacher as a form of therapy for addressing your pain? 4. What are the advantages and disadvantages for using the nature of your work as therapy for managing personal pain? 5. In what ways does helping students help you to grow as a teacher?

Ain’s Currere: Teaching with Compassion A teacher’s ability to reflect, analyse, synthesise and propel him/herself into the future is no easy task. It takes bravery to confront past hurts and use them as reminders to propel one into the future. But for teachers to reflect on the past, live in the present and think about the future meaningfully, they will need to forgive those who created the hurt. This Currere highlights matters that are at the heart of teaching and how utterances of teachers can create years of pain and closed-mindedness. But a single

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opportunity to reflect on one’s Currere can bring forgiveness and new insight. Here is Ain’s Currere. I grew up in a relatively rural area. It was at that time common for the children of the community to attend the all-age school that was in the area. I remember transitioning to the 6th grade of primary school without entering fourth and fifth grades. My teachers at that time thought I had the capacity to sit the Common Entrance Examination at the age of nine (9). Some things were not very clear to me then. One afternoon in grade 3, I remember distinctly that I was standing in line to have my book marked. Several students were already ahead of me; when it was my time to go up to the teacher, she exclaimed: “yuh bathe dis mawning?” (Translated to mean, did you have a bath this morning?) That situation broke me to the core, and I do not believe I got over how embarrassed I was until I left primary school at age nine. I remember deciding then and there that the very last profession I will ever consider if ever at all was teaching. As faith would have it, the profession chose me in the most unexpected way. For many years, I despised teachers, and I believed that many lacked compassion. This further affected the way in which I operated and to some extent my grades. I never allowed myself to open up emotionally or otherwise to many of my teachers. Fear was the underlying factor, resentment followed shortly after and then low self-esteem. I shared this component of my Currere as it influences my perception and current practices as a teacher. More than anything, I have learnt that it is important to have compassion towards my students. It was also important to allow myself to heal from the above experience so that I could continue having meaningful relationships with my students. This regressive process influences to some extent the relationship I have with my son and the values that I instil in him, some of which assisted in boosting his morale and improving his self-confidence. As such, he is not easily torn down by what is said, and he feels comfortable enough to have a conversation with the individual if you have offended him wrong—he too has learnt the value of compassion. Compassion plays an important role in the instructional aspect of the curriculum. Students are given an opportunity to trust and have faith in the material that you are teaching and the requested classwork and other activities that you ask of them (Marshbank, 2017). This is not to say that classroom management and other procedures such as explicit instruction are not important. However, the social and emotional aspects of the students must be considered. Students, who know that their teachers have

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vested interest in them, will be more respectful, courteous and follow given instructions (Marshbank, 2017). When I entered the profession of teaching, I had on blinkers. I thought I had a clear idea of the type of teacher I was going to be: a stern nononsense educator who was going to discipline her students when the need arises and who also held the students accountable for their actions. While I do believe that my intentions were not at all derailed, I saw where this approach was not necessarily yielding the most favourable results. Some students thought of my approach as oppressive while others were left with a bad taste in their mouth. I think my saving grace at that time was the fact that I was immediately brought back to my own experiences as a child going through primary and high school and how lonely and angry, I felt at times. At that point, I made a conscious decision to change the interactions that occurred between my students and I. Being able to demonstrate compassion instead of focusing a lot on discipline and upholding classroom and school rules, my students were able to see that I was not only interested in their academics but their overall well-being. The level of trust that was non-existent was now heightened, as such, I was able to request and expect more from my students with regard to their academics. Not only that I found that my students were also extending compassion to their classmates. Dealing with the hurt of the past did offer possibilities for my future.

Something to Think About Pinar in discussing and highlighting critical elements of the Currere process likens it to that of cyberspace (Pinar, 1975). In looking ahead, one must experience the “futural subject” (Pinar, 1975) through the lens of the past, having faith that whatever inhibitors are present will dissolve so that one can move forward. Having a successful curriculum, therefore, means that we must consider all aspects of the students; not as a single entity but rather in a comprehensive and cohesive manner (Hongyu, 2010). Teachers’ in-depth analysis of self in relation to the realities of context and students should bring about questions that can aid in deciphering whether the curriculum is meeting the needs of the students (Hongyu, 2010). Students look to their teachers as models, guides and knowledgeable others. During early years especially within rural communities in Jamaica, students value the input and insights of their teachers even more than

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their parents. To have that removed as a child leaves a void, and as in Ain’s case, this translates to low self-esteem and a negative view of all teachers. Such experiences follow children into their adult life and in the case of teachers, shape their professional practice. These experiences also span generations whether they are positive or negative. Therefore, it is incumbent on teachers to pay attention to what they say and do to students and try to develop more positive experiences and relationships with their students. Questions for consideration then are: 1. What role does compassion play in your teaching? 2. What are your responsibilities when you discover things about students that are unpleasant? 3. In what ways can you correct negative expressions shared with students? 4. How do you respond to students when you are frustrated? What effect, if any, do you think this has on the student?

Laisah’s Currere: Going Beyond Boundaries to Fulfil Delayed Dreams There is no limitation to one’s potential in life, specifically in education. Foundational to being an effective teacher is the belief in everyone you encounter and allowing them to believe that they can go beyond boundaries set by themselves or society. Meet Laisah as she shares her Currere as a teacher. Her Currere highlights how setbacks and encouragement by self and others helped her to push beyond limitations to achieve her dream of becoming a teacher. Here is Laisah’s Currere. I am a Social Studies teacher, Religious Education teacher and a graduate student pursuing a master’s degree. Ironically, I was also a high school dropout. Dropping out of high school at an early age delayed my dream of becoming a teacher. At the time, I thought that it was the end of my dream of becoming a teacher. Nonetheless, that did not stop me from helping others in my community. My desire for teaching all started at an early age—in my grandmother’s backyard where I would gather all or most of the children in the community to teach them. However, I was prevented from attending school because I was treated like the maid of the household. Thus, my grandmother’s backyard became the meeting place for the children in my small community. I was devastated daily as

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I stood on top of the hill outside my grandmother’s house watching as other children journeyed to school in the mornings. I cried each morning knowing that it was no fault of mine that I was not able to attend school. These memories are vivid and almost palpable. Eventually, in my mind at that time, all hope of becoming a teacher was lost. I learned how to cope with my situation of being treated like a maid. Nevertheless, I would often teach myself whenever I got a chance to keep abreast and to keep my brain active in learning. As time went by, I became uninterested in learning, and I no longer taught the children or helped with their homework. Thereafter, as I got older, I went and did a receptionist course at an agency in hope of attaining a job but with no qualification, that posed a challenge. As such, I struggled to find a job and life became more challenging since I was now responsible for myself. Notwithstanding, I did not give up my job search. I attended interview after interview, but the answer was always the same, “I am sorry, but you do not meet the qualification requirements.” Amidst all the obstacles and challenges that I faced, I still had hope and I still felt my untapped potential calling me forward, telling me not to give up. Subsequently, there was a shift in my life, I got my first job as an office attendant at a prestigious university where I worked as a cleaner for about 3–4 years. Thus, seeing the students each day stirred up the desire I once had for teaching. I began to sit in the classes and observe each of the lecturers, and I enjoyed being in the classroom. I decided to enrol in an evening class to pursue my Caribbean Secondary Examination Council (CSEC) examination subjects. Consequently, the first time I sat my examination I was not successful in all of them, but in trying the second time, I was successful. After the completion of my CSEC, I then applied to the said university to pursue my dream. At that point, I was tired of limiting myself and I was interested in going beyond my fears and my comfort zone. I got enrolled in the undergraduate programme at the same university at which I was working. Within the undergraduate programme, students must fulfil a set of requirements including the teaching practice component (TP). In the year of my teaching practice (TP), I was placed at a prominent high school for girls. I was excited and nervous at the same time. I was assigned to the lower school ranging from grade 8 to 9. The first week of the TP I was instructed to observe a few teachers. However, I realised that the teachers were just giving the students the information in an uninteresting way. Based on this observation, it was evident that the students were not being challenged to think critically or surpass their

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perceived limits. In the second week of my TP, I was instructed to teach and while teaching I employed a formula for getting the students actively involved in the lesson. This formula involves the elements (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate and Evaluate). Although the lesson did not go as planned, in the middle of it the student shouted, “Miss, just write the notes on the board!” for the entire week I copied notes on the board in order to follow the tradition to which they were accustomed. This is because I was afraid of interfering with their learning styles and confusing it with my teaching approach. However, Pinar (1975) states that we live in our ideas of what is occurring rather than what is reality in which our ideas are only one part. The reality of this situation is that the students were not challenged to go beyond boundaries. Throughout my teaching practice, I realised that nothing is impossible until you prove that it is and that many things which we deem as impossible are achievable. Throughout the entire week, I was contemplating ways in which I could deliver the lessons without the students noticing that I had changed from the traditional teaching strategy. As such, I went to observe another teacher’s class, and to my surprise, it was not like the others that I had observed, the students were active in the teaching and learning process and were being adequately challenged. This was the inspiration I needed to continue perfecting my skills in the classroom and gaining valuable experiences in the process. In addition, the teacher allowed the students to write on the board, and they were allowed to lead discussions and present their findings regarding assignment topics given. I then appreciated how the focus of instruction shifted from the teacher to the students, and how the teacher allowed the students to take responsibility for their own learning. This experience is unforgettable, and it has helped to shape my outlook as a teacher. Moreover, it was not easy for me as the students still insisted that I should just write the notes on the board. I was furious because I needed the students to go beyond the boundaries of their learning. I wanted them to have a voice in the classroom and I wanted them to be actively involved in the teaching and learning. However, I remembered that I did a course the semester before as a teacher-student where we would create a teaching strategy that will help with the delivery of a lesson in getting the students actively engaged and involved in the lesson. Hence, I decided to use the R.A.P. strategy (Real authentic talk, Acceptance of oneself and for each Person). First, I introduced the teaching approach to the students and told them what it meant and the expectation of using

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the approach. Thus, I used this approach to allow the students to discuss, raise questions, give presentations and work in groups. This allowed the students to be actively engaged in the lesson at hand. Thankfully, the students enjoyed this approach and each of them wanted to share and take part in the learning activity. After finishing my undergraduate programme, I then realised that there was something that was lacking. In looking back, I agree that I wanted to know more and to extend my personal and professional capacity to excel. I wanted to be equipped not just with an undergraduate degree, but higher to help others go beyond boundaries. I then applied to the same university to pursue a master’s degree. Sometime thereafter, I got promoted to the role of library assistant and this stood testament to my growth, journey and evolution at that point in time. In recent times, I managed to become employed as a class teacher although I lacked experience. Understandably, I have not entered the physical classroom because of the pandemic that affected the entire world. However, teaching on the online platform poses different challenges and benefits to me as a teacher. It is challenging to get the students to participate in the learning activities and to get them excited and immersed in their own learning but with determination, this will happen. I believe that the classroom should not be a place where the teacher only pours out knowledge into the students but rather allows the students to think critically and become involved in their own learning. As I reflect on the past, present and future, there are times when I have become discouraged and felt like giving up, but I remember talking to my undergraduate coordinator who encouraged me to push on since I have come this far. Perseverance has proved to be one of my most defining characteristics. I have left doubt and fear in my past and I am basing my intended success on my past performance and my current relentless efforts to master my craft. Optimistically speaking, these traits will serve me well in the future as I advance personally and professionally.

Something to Think About One’s circumstance and the family in which we are born can influence the journey of an individual’s life and this is no different for the teacher. A supportive family structure helps students to dream and see beyond their immediate circumstances, but when a supportive family structure does not exist, it requires a supportive community and an individual’s

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belief in him/herself. This was the case of Lasiah who demonstrated belief in self amidst struggles of poverty that could have crippled her dream of becoming a teacher. Lasiah experienced feelings of helplessness as a child watching other children achieve things she wanted to achieve. As she grew older, such circumstances of helplessness caused her desire to wane, but she still had hope and kept plodding along. Her Currere is one that demonstrates resilience, determination and perseverance. Such Currere serve as examples to teach children such skills. But to use them as lessons for their students, teachers need to first understand the meanings residing in them and tap into the lessons. Latisah’s Currere also highlights the importance of ongoing professional development to provide teachers with a reservoir of knowledge, skills and attitudes from which the teacher can draw at the appropriate time as he/she confronts different situations in the classroom. Seeing others do the things teachers desire to do can inspire greater actions for self and others. It can help us understand what we do not want to do to others. Observing a wide range of experiences can shift mindset and give teachers a glimpse into possibilities. Teachers need good models so they can see beyond their own ways of knowing and doing. It therefore follows that pre-service and in-service teachers need to understand that they serve as models for their students and colleagues. In the same way that teachers serve as models for other teachers, it is the same way teachers serve as models for their students. As teachers conquer their own fears and achieve their goals, they are motivated to set other goals that they can achieve because it instils in them self-confidence that, “they can”. Notwithstanding all the positives that are embedded in teachers serving as models, there are occasions when teachers as models help to normalise wrong actions through consistent practices of bad habits. When such bad practices are normalised, a process of unlearning will need to take place. Such a process of unlearning can be difficult, and as such, this process should not be rushed. It will require patience in preparing or setting the stage for students to push beyond their current state to see the possibilities. Patience is required as students will not shift unless they see the relevance of the shifting to their current state. The teacher’s role then is to create and prepare an environment that opens the students’ eyes to possibilities without forcing the student as force may result in refusal to engage. The job of the teacher then becomes how to help students see beyond their current norms. Here are some questions to reflect on after reading Latisah’s Currere:

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1. In what ways am I enacting the formal curriculum to offer newness to students? 2. How can I utilise the formal curriculum to provide opportunities for students to see beyond their immediate circumstances? 3. What are the ongoing professional development opportunities in which I need to engage to expand my own thinking and dispositions as I nurture students through the curriculum? 4. In what ways can I utilise the learning from ongoing professional development in my personal and professional practice?

References Berman, S. (1990). Educating for social responsibility. Educational Leadership. The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Brown, J. L. (1995). Observing dimensions of learning in classrooms and schools. Association for supervision and curriculum development. Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development. Henry, M. (1999). Material phenomenology and language (or, pathos and language). Continental Philosophy Review, 32(3), 343–365. Hongyu, W. (2010). The temporality of currere, change, and teacher education. Pedagogies, 5(4), 275–285. https://doi.org/10.1080/1554480X.2010. 509469 Jennings, P. A., & Greenberg, M. T. (2009). The prosocial classroom: Teacher social and emotional competence in relation to student and classroom outcomes. Review of Educational Research, 79(1), 491–525. https://doi.org/ 10.3102/0034654308325693 Marshbank, A. (2017, September 17). Compassion as a classroom management tool: First-year teachers may feel that taking a strict approach with their students is best. A second-year teacher makes a case for compassion. Edutopia. https:// www.edutopia.org/article/compassion-.classroom-management-tool Pinar, W. F. (1975, April). The Method of Currere. [Paper presentation]. Annual Meeting of the American Research Association. https://files.eric.ed.gov/ful ltext/ED104766.pdf Riele, K., Mills, M., McGregor G., & Baroutsis, A. (2017). Exploring the affective dimension of teachers’ work in alternative school settings. Teaching Education, 28(1), 56–71. https://doi.org/10.1080/10476210.2016.123 8064 Roofe, C., & Bezzina, C. (Eds.). (2017). Intercultural studies in curriculum: Theory, policy and practice. Palgrave Macmillan.

CHAPTER 4

Currere and Teacher Professional Development

As teachers, we are the summation of our lived realities in all forms. These realities are intertwined in our daily interactions inside and outside the classroom. In a system like Jamaica’s where the norm suggests that the teacher is expected to separate his/her professional life from his/her personal life, teachers resort to being silent in many areas of the curriculum enactment process. This silence may lead to teachers not meeting the practical and “real” needs of students beyond content for a subject. It is largely recognised in Jamaica by scholars (Escayg & Kinkead-Clark, 2018; Miller, 1999) that the remnants of the colonial heritage impact how teachers function in Jamaican classrooms, how school is structured, how power is utilised in schools, how the role of the school is perceived and enacted and how curriculum is perceived, interpreted and enacted. In other words, teachers are traditionally viewed as reproducers of the dominant culture in Western societies. In postcolonial societies, Hargreaves (2003) notes that teachers are challenged by multiple crucial demands and interests imposed by the imperatives of the knowledge society. However, the time has come for those whose consciousness has been awakened to the impacts of colonialism on education in Jamaica today to undertake deliberate and intentional actions to awaken unconscious biases and miseducation first for self and provide liberating experiences for self and students. As such teachers will need to function as intellectuals and combine theory with practice as they © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 C. Roofe, The Lived Curriculum Experiences of Jamaican Teachers, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-99450-1_4

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develop as professionals. Currere’s autobiographical approach to educational research and curriculum theorising offers a new way of thinking about teacher development (Goodson & Walker, 1991). In an era of abounding technology, teachers among other educators must seek ways to interrogate self and others and collaborate to aid in the ongoing quest to confront colonial remnants in ways of knowing, being and doing and build capacities within themselves to recognise coloniality. This, however, requires each individual to hone the experiences he/she possesses, be willing to share them as what made him/her who he/she is today while looking beyond those experiences to future selves. The Currere of the teachers shared in this text is a necessary starting point to reading, sharing and interpreting stories about others while at the same time examining our own stories—thus, serving as an avenue for teacher professional development. Professional development in the context of the teaching profession brings into sharp focus teacher development. It focuses on experiences aimed at improving the teacher’s competencies and efficiency, to keep acquainted with the trends and changes in his/her profession (Bicer, 2016; Glatthorn, 1995). According to Darling-Hammond (2017), professional development for teachers is crucial as there is a direct correlation between teacher professional development and student achievement. The system of professional development in Jamaica appears to be a traditional system of professional development which typically consists of workshops and short courses (Ingvarson, 1998; Jamaica Teachers’ Association, 2013), offered under the guidance of the Professional Development Unit of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information. Additionally, professional development initiatives are developed and executed by teacher unions, subject associations and international organisations. Notwithstanding these offerings, Miller (2015) in his research on rural school leadership notes that teachers in rural and remote schools across the island have limited access to professional development opportunities due to insufficient funding and human resources. Teachers in Jamaica have also expressed concern about not having a significant role in determining the content of their professional development (Lomotey, 2021). More specifically, Jamaica’s Ministry of Education uses the Cascade Model of teacher development. The Cascade Model of in-service teacher professional development is a “one-size-fits-all” model and has been recorded to have little to no effect on changing teachers’ classroom

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practices (Darling-Hammond et al., 2009; James, 2018) as this traditional model uses transmission style pedagogy. Additionally, in using this model, information is passed down from the upper-level experts to teachers at the classroom level. Furthermore, professional development in this manner does not provide teachers with follow-up support to strengthen new knowledge and skills. To explore teacher professional development from another angle in Jamaica, James (2018) employed a dual-phase action research to investigate the success of the job-embedded teacher professional development model. In the study, James sought to equip two in-service teachers with knowledge, skills and values to implement a newly reformed curriculum for science at grade 4. For phase 1, James was a participant observer, and in phase 2, he collaborated with the two teachers as a teacher educator assisting one of the teachers to better understand the Science topics. In the study, professional development was understood as a collaborative, social learning process. It was seen as an inquiry of teacher practices as teachers exercise their practices. James (2018) indicated that the results of the study showed that the two teacher participants achieved better curriculum implementation due to their individual and collaborative and learning efforts. James, therefore, concluded that professional development activities should engage teachers in active learning that provide opportunities for critical reflection and inquiry into their past and present classroom practices. In the jobembedded professional development, the teacher plays an active role in their learning process as they form a community with other teachers and interpret the curriculum content into their teaching and learning environments as per the curriculum implementation process. This engaging practice of professional development prompts teachers to critically assess their practice through collaboration and active continuous reflection; both of which are integral to teacher development (Evans, 2001; Mitchell & Sackney, 2000).

Teacher Professional Development: A New Perspective Teacher professional development consists of a combination of continuous pre-service and in-service teacher preparation programme activities. Within such preparation programmes, teachers’ Currere serve as powerful tools for pre-service and in-service teacher capacity building and ongoing

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development. Currere also provides an opportunity for teachers to have a larger role in their professional development. Currere for pre-service teacher development serves as an initiation into professional practice. It provides an opportunity for conversations that help beginning teachers develop their identities. Through these conversations, pre-service teachers can learn how to critique their own practices, identify their own biases and learn how to chart a path for growth and development. Moore (2013) conducted a study in Maryland, USA, investigating the use of Currere during a Master of Education (MAT) pre-service teachers’ internship programme to encourage reflective practice. The pre-service teachers undertook the autobiographical process of reflection, to investigate how their conceptualisation of self influences their practice as teachers. The results of the study indicated that Currere allowed teacher-interns to have a deeper understanding of their teaching practice as it improved their effectiveness as professionals, enhanced school culture and established a more positive teacher-student relationship. Moore, therefore, concluded that Currere gives the preservice teachers insight and grounding in their own self-reflection to see “themselves as more than managers of students – they become the architects of a classroom culture of learning and a curriculum of abundance” (p. 4). She further argues that teachers’ understanding of the lived experience is an essential aspect of a powerful and positive professional identity. In another study, Chang-Kredl and Kingsley (2014) conducted a study on the identity development of 53 pre-service Canadian Early Childhood teachers using Currere to evoke participants’ memories to explain how their personal histories influence their professional choices. The results of the analysis of the 53 autobiographical narratives imply that the memories of pre-service teachers have direct correlation to their identity as teachers. Based on these studies, it can be argued that the Currere process should be incorporated in pre-service teacher preparation programmes to give pre-service teachers the opportunity to assess the relationship among the personal narratives of their histories, their anticipated future as educators and their present positions on education discourses (James, 2018). For in-service teachers, the sharing of Currere creates opportunities for building communities of practice. Through sharing their Currere, in-service teachers can learn the struggles of each other, identify the strengths in each other and provide support based on weaknesses or gaps expressed. Resulting from this will be opportunities for in-service teachers to identify and use cultural references in offering educational

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experiences to their students, thereby making curriculum culturally relevant for themselves and their learners (Lomotey, 2021). Using Currere as a tool for teacher professional development will open up conversations about past self, present self and future self. Thus, revealing taken-forgranted moments in our lives, the ways in which our life experiences have shaped us, and the unconscious biases and hidden assumptions that may influence our actions. Cavill and Baer (2019) in their study on a regressive analysis of themselves offer some questions that can help in-service teachers begin a conversation with themselves and ensure the conversation is focused, deliberate and intentional. Questions such as: What are the origins of my teaching methodologies or approaches to pedagogy? How did I come to be teaching students at this level of the education system? What shaped/influenced me in becoming a teacher? What moments and/or people caused me to question what I do in teaching? These questions can be used as opportunities to help in-service teachers collaborate. Together they can explore these questions through conversations with each other. Such Currere conversations allow in-service teachers to collaborate yet maintain their unique identities. In an era where collaboration and teamwork are needed to find creative solutions to problems, Currere can provide an opportunity to bring in-service teachers together. Such coming together serves as a catalyst for learning from each other and learning with each other. It is through the sharing of these Currere that in-service teachers can learn how to transform self and navigate the teaching–learning context. Such sharing also provides an opportunity for discovering that they are not alone as they navigate the in-between spaces of curriculum. In a context like Jamaica where teachers are caught between the political and the social, standardised testing and a raft of outcomes for curriculum, Currere provides an opportunity for teachers’ meaningful engagement and involvement in curriculum making. Teachers play a central role in whatever changes are desired through the curriculum. Hence, they need skills in how to develop, interpret and contextualise curriculum to enable effective teaching and learning. This can be a lonely experience especially in a context where resources are scarce. Sharing experiences at a time when a raft of curriculum changes is being implemented will help teachers share the burden and develop strategies together. As teachers share, they also build their scholarship. Consequently, the Currere of the teachers presented in this text are not just

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opportunities for teachers to discover self but also how to be initiated in the role of building their scholarship as they engage with their contextual peculiarities.

Currere and Decolonising Intentions For the remainder of this text, I turn to an issue that is current and is linked to the underlying assumptions in many of the previous discussions about the teacher, their experiences and the curriculum. This issue is the matter of decolonising the curriculum. Since the colonial past is ever-present with us, every day all of us, not just teachers, are required to confront every aspect of schooling to build a system that is culturally relevant and reflective of the distinctive characteristics of life in Jamaica (Herbert, 2021; Smith et al., 2021). According to Blair (2021), reforming schools relies upon acknowledging past injustices and considering novel answers to basic pedagogical questions. In the event of introducing change, critiquing structures from Jamaica’s colonial past to offer an educational experience that is truly liberating makes Currere an excellent starting point. Furthermore, given the thrust to offer quality education and promote lifelong learning as indicated in SDG4, a collective effort is needed. More specifically, Jamaica has articulated a 2030 Vision of having a world-class education system with quality teachers at the centre (Planning Institute of Jamaica, 2012). Surely, this must be grounded in who we are as a people. Knowing who we are as a people is critical to shaping how we interact in the global community. Jamaica, as a country that gained independence in 1962, is a young independent nation. This means that its people and structures are steeped in colonial thought and action. As an attempt to make meaningful the efforts of curriculum reform, deliberate intentional thought and actions must be taken to address the remnants of a colonial legacy that so easily help to create our explicit and implicit assumptions and biases. As noted by Pinar (1975), Currere allows individuals to recognise their complicity in the maintenance of traditional structures and may lead them to make the necessary changes. If teachers are to through the roles they perform and the curriculum experiences they lead in schools offer a liberating experience for self and others, they must deliberately seek to decolonise the curriculum. As argued by Manley (1975), post-colonial societies must “rediscover the validity of their own culture, retrace the steps that led them through history to that point and establish within a frame of

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reality, the culture which colonialism imposed upon them…” (Manley, 1975, p. 163). Manley’s views suggest that colonialism erased the natural schema of the people and replaced it with the schema of the colonisers. As such, to be free such people will have to confront, examine and critique the ideas that they hold and how these ideas shape their view of the world. For Jamaica, coloniality is evidenced in how schooling is organised as schooling is still reflective of the British traditions [The colonisers] (Boisselle, 2016; Miller, 1999). Escayg and Kinkead-Clark (2018) writing on Caribbean education note the importance of interrogating the legacy of colonialism on teaching and learning practices to determine the ways in which this manifests itself in everyday schooling practices and processes. Such coloniality shapes how power is utilised in schools, disparities that exist between types of schools, perceptions of the subjects students pursue within the school curriculum, perceptions about schools based on geographical location and perceptions about students who attend particular types of schools. The school curriculum should therefore provide students with opportunities to understand who they are, have positive framing about who they are, build their self-esteem, improve their confidence, help students see errors as learning opportunities and provide safe spaces for students to share their own experiences, value these experiences and learn from these experiences. Teachers must be at the heart of this advocacy or protest if you will, as they are driving forces for change (Fullan, 2015). The criticality of the teacher and his or her own experiences in leading this decolonising intent through the roles performed is strengthened by Manley’s (1975) statement when he notes that “at a time when a transformation of society is needed the teacher must carry the brunt of the burden……but for this to happen the teacher must first undergo a process of self-transformation” (Manley, 1975, p. 181). Currere represents an opportunity for this self-transformation and achieving deliberate decolonising intentions.

Decolonising the Curriculum in a Context of Sociocultural Diversities Based on the Currere of the teachers presented in this book, there are several themes that can be gleaned from their narratives that have implications for decolonising the curriculum. Themes such as the socioeconomic contexts of students and how that influences how students perceive themselves, the experiences they have, the schools they attend

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and how structures of schools perpetuate their current circumstances. We recall Ana’s experience resulting from the type of school she attended, which was linked to her socio-economic status, which was then linked to the teacher’s subtle negative perception of the students which then manifested in explicit negative use of language to students. We can also recall Dence’s Currere about how she was led to teaching because of the students who were underperforming resulting from lack of fulfilment of their basic needs, and how no one expected them to do well because of their circumstances. These are real issues present in Jamaican schools and classrooms with which the teacher must contend and through his/her personal and professional practice must address. It is a fact that the teacher may not possess the resources to provide tangible sustainable means of improving a student’s economic status. Nonetheless, the teacher is poised to provide an ethic of care that results in actions that guide students towards the help they need. Through such actions, the teacher is poised to inspire hope and help students develop tenets of self-leadership so that through their educational process they can begin to see how they can change their circumstances and the circumstances of their families in the future. In taking deliberate actions to decolonise the curriculum, teachers can begin by identifying and examining the range of sociocultural issues found in their classrooms and then take steps to ensure that all students are catered to regardless of their circumstances. Where possible and as appropriate, they can share their own stories of struggles and how they overcame. If the teacher is unable to identify with the range of sociocultural issues in his/her classroom, then the teacher could identify other colleagues who can serve as resource persons, coaches or mentors for their students. This is a huge undertaking, but it is necessary. The teacher will also need to examine him/herself to ascertain how he/she, through thought or action, perpetuates structures that further oppress and entrench feelings of helplessness in students. This requires the teacher to constantly critique his/ her actions and the motives behind them. Another theme evident in the Currere of the teachers in this text is perceptions about the power that teachers hold. As evidenced in Ana’s and D’s Currere, teachers are sometimes seen as stern, strict and the person to be feared in the classroom. This perception of power would have emanated from how power is thought about and actioned in some classrooms in Jamaica. Decolonising the curriculum in this sense requires the teacher to examine how he/she acquires the respect of

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his/her students without being the oppressor. When teachers are feared in the classroom, this diminishes how and in what ways students express themselves. This leads to students being passive and operating in a mechanistic way. Such means of operating in the classroom prevents students from discovering their true selves. Decolonising the curriculum requires teachers in these classrooms to create safe spaces for students’ selfexpression, the inclusion of their voices in decision-making and a space for their true potential to come to the fore. This will only happen if students have a positive relationship with their teachers. Teachers need to show their students that they are personable, firm but caring and that he/she has their best interest at heart. Teachers are therefore called upon to examine what structures, systems and processes they utilise in their classrooms that perpetuate negative views of power/authority and adjust as necessary. The implementation of the National Standards Curriculum (NSC) in Jamaica’s schools from grade 1 of primary schools to grade 9 of secondary schools suggests that Jamaica intends for teachers to offer a truly liberating experience for students. This curriculum espouses problem-based and project-based learning, integration of culture, music and the arts in teaching, the offering of academic and technical education to all students, and the use of authentic assessments. However, while the formal curriculum espouses such language, the realities seem to be different as it relates to the implementation of the ideas of the curriculum (Scott, 2020). As reported by the National Education Inspectorate (2017, 2021), some schools struggle with the appropriate implementation of the NSC strategies which means students and teachers in these contexts are devoid of the experience expected. The implementation of the NSC seeks to shift the focus from the heavy emphasis on the passing of exams to learning, but this effort is an ongoing struggle as students’ grades determine who gets placed in the best schools on the island. This in turn can ultimately determine students’ paths from early in their life. This is also a struggle for the teacher as within Jamaica, both primary and secondary school teachers are judged based on the quality of passes students receive in exit examinations. Decolonising the curriculum from this perspective, therefore, means teachers determining how they can bridge the divide of meeting the academic, social and emotional needs of the individuals they teach while meeting the political needs. In other words, teachers will need to decide how they will meet the liberating intentions embedded in their roles and the neoliberal intentions of schooling while remaining true to

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their essence as humans. This will require teachers to draw on their moral authority and their sense of spirituality to shape the minds of students for generations. As argued by Grover (2015, p. 14) “moral authority is authority premised on principles, or fundamental truths, which are independent of written, or positive, laws”. The teacher demonstrating his/her moral authority will seek to create humane treatment, respectful social relations and authentic learning for all students regardless of school structures (Brantlinger et al., 1999). As evidenced through the Currere of the teachers in this text, their moral authority is influenced by their sense of spirituality. As the teacher demonstrates his/her moral authority in the classroom, he/she is acting as a model to students. By virtue of the Currere shared by teachers in this book, it is evident that students remember their teachers not just for their academic pursuits. They remember them for their non-cognitive factors such as the teachers’ personality, and the attitudes and habits exhibited. A teacher carrying out decolonising intentions must therefore weave his/her way carefully between the academic, political, emotional and social to ensure students’ well-being and development as positive citizens. Decolonising the curriculum in Jamaica also means teachers diversifying their practices of teaching and ensuring that teaching practices and principles are applicable to the realities of the context of the students and the culture within their locale. This means engaging with the teaching processes in ways that are uplifting, enlightening and liberating, and in ways that provide hope to students beyond their immediate circumstances. Based on the Currere shared by teachers in this book, it is obvious that students in Jamaican classrooms, especially where less than ideal circumstances exist, need to provide students with a message of hope. Hope so that they are inspired to see beyond the immediate. Diversifying teaching practices and linking teaching processes to students’ current realities can serve as the basis for such hope. Teaching with a decolonising intent, therefore, means the teacher is called upon to value the beliefs, practices and culture of the students they teach and use these to benefit the teaching and learning process. The teacher must display a disposition that suggests that he/she values all forms of knowledge. This requires more than using a variety of teaching and learning strategies. More specifically, the teacher is required to understand the localised context of his/her student and use language, content and illustration from such contexts to benefit the teaching and learning process. Rogers’ (1969) theory of

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human learning reminds us that significant learning takes place when the student perceives learning to have relevance. For this to happen, the teacher’s own critical consciousness must be first impacted and be stirred to a place where he/she recognises that regardless of students’ social circumstances, they enter classrooms possessing a wealth of experience and information from which they themselves need to learn. As such for the teacher to learn from their students, they must find ways to appropriately harness such knowledge and experience (Freire, 1990). As I reflect on what is required to decolonise the curriculum in a context of glaring sociocultural disparities coupled with the achievement of the neoliberal agenda, I recognise that the education system in Jamaica will need more brave, resilient, and social justice-oriented teachers. The task of decolonising the curriculum, while a necessity, is not for the faint-hearted. Teachers will need to be brave, resilient and social justiceminded, to push against people and structures in Jamaica’s education system that are oppressive and whose actions seem to benefit the minority. Amidst the unprecedented period of a global pandemic (COVID-19) that has brought to light more issues of fairness, equity, inclusivity and how people experience trauma, teachers are needed to lead the process of helping students to connect interpretation of such concepts with their current realities. Since teachers are not divorced from the context within which they exist, they need to do this first for themselves so they can develop the skills to in turn help their students to do this for themselves. Given the disparities among schools, a large part of the deliberate decolonising intent will be to provide students with the support they need to succeed within a system where resources are scarce. The outcomes of these efforts will not happen overnight and will need to be an ongoing process. In as much as governmental actions are required, the individual teacher cannot escape undertaking individual actions to aid this process. This book, therefore, closes with an aspect of a teacher’s Currere which showcases her individualised actions as a classroom teacher. This aspect of her Currere is shared here as a means of hinting at the bravery, resilience, love and social justice actions that will be needed by teachers who are determined to decolonise the curriculum. It also demonstrates an example of the moral authority teachers possess and how they can use this to achieve political outcomes while responding to the human needs presented by their students.

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A Brief Look at Miss Sherese: An Example of a Decolonising Intent The following story of Miss Sherese, a remedial teacher, places into context some of the deep sociocultural issues teachers in some of Jamaica’s classrooms will need to confront as they seek to decolonise the curriculum and provide hope for their students. Further details on the research relating to this story may be found in Roofe (2018). Here is an excerpt of Miss Sherese’s reflection at the end of an academic year as a remedial reading teacher. This year when I got my grade 4 class of 37 remedial students, some of whom are dyslexic, I said God, how am I going to manage? What is preventing them from not passing the national exams? I started by looking at each child’s home situation and then ascertaining the contact details for the person(s) with whom they were living. I then proceeded to set up a meeting to get to know about their household. At the meeting, I asked those who attended to sign a register, and this I used to determine who was absent from the meeting. I then reported the absentee parents/guardians to the guidance counsellor; however, I noticed that several weeks passed and the guidance counsellor did not contact the parents/guardians or visit the homes to find out what was happening and so I decided to do visitations myself. From these visits which are sometimes in volatile areas, I developed a profile of each student by including their socio-economic status, level of support at home and their physical needs. Some of these children needed meals, some were from a single-parent home, some were living with grandmothers who could hardly manage themselves, some with a guardian, and for some, their parents were incarcerated. With this information, I ensured students were provided with meals through sponsorship from the school feeding programme, relatives, friends and fundraisers I led. At the end of the day, I just want to make sure the children have something to eat when they reach home. I think it is too much for a teacher to take on but at the end of the day, it’s worth it. I have used a lot of technology to teach because I don’t want to talk all the time, I want them to listen to someone else, so I do a lot of research on the internet and download things for my class. I don’t want to tell them to buy books because while few may be able to purchase most of them cannot afford it. I don’t want them to be looked down on and I want to make sure that they are doing what they are supposed to do to

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get up to par with the other grade 4 students, that is my aim. I try to do my research from weeks before or a day before even just to look at the words and see the words that they are going to use based on what the curriculum suggests. So, if we are going to look at short “A”, I’m going to look for words that begin with or have short “A” sounds in it. We draw the shapes of the word, and I let them draw things based on the word so it’s not just words alone, they see what is associated with it. I start reading Mondays to Wednesdays from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. On a Thursday, the students publish their stories on a board for students from other classes to see to help develop their confidence. I use attribution theory to manage their behavioural challenges and I see it is working. Recently, they did the mock exam and now they are on par with the other grade 4 students, and they are getting better grades than them so I’m just giving God thanks for that. The first year I worked with the Four Blocks Programme I got 97 per cent passes, and the other 3 per cent just missed mastery by one mark in the letter-writing section. The following year I got a hundred per cent and last year I got a hundred again and I’m expecting the same thing this year. When the students leave my class, I also keep track of them when they leave my class for grade 5. I follow them to the other grade and tell the teacher about them because they will not understand them and it’s going to cause problems. They are going to suffer because some of them, some teachers, are not trained in that area. But I cannot give up because once there is a will there’s a way. I help these children this way because my mother and father couldn’t read and write, and I said to myself I must do something for society. There are 14 of us and I’m the only one that reached tertiary-level education. I introduce the students to believing in themselves and that God is in all of them. I start my morning with prayer. I tell them without God there’s nothing, I can’t do anything, but they have greatness within them. I make sure that they feel love; if love is not shown to them, it is showered in my class. I do this because I love them. I didn’t know that I could be sitting here; maybe when I’m speaking to you, I make a lot of mistakes because I didn’t know I could even put a correct sentence together. I remember when we were growing up 14 of us in the inner city, we were kept inside, and I remember people usually laugh at us because of where we lived. I saw my father as this intelligent person because he could represent us well, and when he spoke, he would make mistakes and mispronounce the words and I didn’t know he couldn’t read. For example, he would say “fambily” but I would say he was an eloquent speaker, but I did not

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know the difference. I told myself early, because of my father, that I am going to be great. I am going to make something of my life. As a child, many times I sat and wished that I could see cars passing by where I live, but all I could see was a zinc fence and a gully that was very stink. I could not walk on the road because we were living beside a gully, and we have to cross the bridge to go across the gully. I was very scared but thank God, I made it out because of education. Many of these students I teach are no different from me when I was a child and so if I can make it out, with the right support they can make it out too and achieve greatness.

Reflective Questions 1. What memories do you have of your life as a child that you can use to positively influence the way you teach your students? 2. Who was your support and who inspired you to do well in school? 3. Are you doing the best you can with the resources you possess for the students you meet in your class/grade/course/subject yearly?

References Bicer, A. (2016). Longitudinal effects of technology integration and teacher professional development on students’ mathematics achievement. EURASIA Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 13(3). Blair, E. (2021). Introduction: Caribbean education as a portal to the future. In E. Blair & K. Williams (Eds.), Handbook on Caribbean education (pp. xii–xvii). Information Age Publishing. Boisselle, L. N. (2016). Decolonizing science and science education in a postcolonial space (Trinidad, a developing Caribbean nation, illustrates). SAGE Open, 6(1), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244016635257 Brantlinger, E., Lou Morton, M., & Washburn, S. (1999). Teachers’ moral authority in classrooms (re)structuring social interactions and gendered power. The Elementary School Journal, 99(5), 491–504. https://doi.org/10.1086/ 461937 Cavill, W. D., Jr., & Baer, S. A. (2019). Exploring the process of becoming art teacher educators through collaborative regression. Currere Exchange Journal, 3(1), 95–104. Chang-Kredl, S., & Kingsley, S. (2014). Identity expectations in early childhood teacher education: Preservice teachers’ memories of prior experiences and reasons for entry into the profession. Teaching and Teacher Education, 43, 27–36.

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Darling-Hammond, L., Wei, R. C., Andree, A., Richardson, N., & Orphanos, S. (2009). Professional learning in the learning profession. Washington, DC: National Staff Development Council, 12. Escayg, K., & Kinkead-Clark, Z. (2018). Mapping the contours of Caribbean early childhood education. Global Education Review, 5(4), 236–253. Evans, H. (2001). Inside Jamaican schools. University of the West Indies Press. Freire, P. (1990). Pedagogy of the oppressed. Continuum Press (Original work published 1970). Fullan, M. (2015). The NEW meaning of educational change. Teachers College Press. Glatthorn, A, (1995). Teacher development. In Anderson, L. (Ed.), International encyclopedia of teaching and teacher education (2nd ed.). Pergamon Press. Goodson, I., & Walker, R. (1991). Biography, identity, and schooling: Episodes in educational research. Falmer Press. Grover, V. K. (2015). Teacher’s moral authority in classroom: Vitality and building process. International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Development, 2(5), 14–17. Hargreaves, A. (2003). Teaching in the knowledge society: Education in the age of insecurity. Teachers College Press. Herbert, S. (2021). Culturally relevant pedagogy: An exploration of “bridge building” in the science classroom. In E. Blair & K. Williams (Eds.), Handbook on Caribbean education (pp. 333–351). Information Age Publishing. Ingvarson, L. (1998). Professional development as the pursuit of professional standards: The standards-based professional development system. Teaching and Teacher Education: An International Journal of Research and Studies, 14(1), 127–140. Jamaica Teachers’ Association (2013). Professional development. Retrieved from http://www.jta.org.jm/content/professional-development#:~:text=The%20P rofessional%20Development%20unit%20(Professional,as%20courses%2C%20w orkshops%20and%20seminars James, J. (2018). A Model of Professional Development and Best Practice for Primary Science Teachers, 17 (1), 37–64. Lomotey, K. (2021). Forward. In E. Blair & K. Williams (Eds.), Handbook on Caribbean Education (pp. xi–xvi). Information Age Publishing. Manley, M. (1975). The politics of change: A Jamaican testament. Andre Deutsch Limited. Miller, E. (1999). Commonwealth Caribbean education in the global context. In E. Miller (Ed.), Educational reform in the Commonwealth Caribbean (pp. 3– 24). Organization of American States.

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Miller, P. (2015). Leading remotely: Exploring the experiences of principals in rural and remote school communities in Jamaica. International Journal of Whole Schooling, 1(1), 35–53. Mitchell, C., & Sackney, L. (2000). Profound improvement: Building capacity for a learning community. Swets & Zeitlinger. Moore, L. (2013, November 21–22). Starting the conversation: Using the currere process to make the teaching internship experience more positive and encourage collaborative reflection in internship site schools [Paper presentation]. International Symposium, Barcelona. http://som.esbrina.eu/aprender/docs/5/ MooreLeslie.pdf National Education Inspectorate. (2017, 2021). Chief inspector’s report. https:// www.nei.org.jm/InspectionFindings/Chief-Inspectors-Report Pinar, W. F. (1975, April). The method of Currere [Paper presentation]. Annual Meeting of the American Research Association, Washington, DC. Planning Institute of Jamaica. (2012). Vision 2030 Jamaica: National development plan. Planning Institute of Jamaica. http://www.vison2030.gov.jm/nat ionaldevelopmentplan.aspx Rogers, C. 1969. Freedom to learn. Merrill Education. Roofe, C. (2018). Why can’t everyone pass? Context responsive teaching and learning in urban primary schools. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 26(3), 449– 466. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681366.2017.1417893 Scott, D. (2020). Teachers’ experiences implementing the national standards curriculum at the Riverbank High School. Journal of Education and Development in the Caribbean, 19(1), 1–34. Smith, T., Siry, C., Adams, J., Stewart, S., & Watson-Campbell, P. (2021). In E. Blair & K. Williams (Eds.), Handbook on Caribbean education (pp. 389–410). Information Age Publisher.

Additional Curriculum Experiences of Teachers for Theorising

In this section, the reader is invited to analyse the lived curriculum encounters of teachers and offer their own theorising about the meanings that can be derived. The provision of these encounters are expected to serve as examples to both pre-service and in-service teachers on how to document their own curriculum encounters. Additionally, they are intended to serve as examples of how to decipher the meanings they hold for their professional and personal selves and their students. Pseudonyms are used to protect the identities of the teachers and places in each story. Story 1: The Curriculum Encounter of Judene From a tender age, I aspired to become a teacher. I would jump at any opportunity to simply be a figure of authority. This passion followed me throughout high school where I would take charge of lessons whenever my teacher was absent. I can recall this very teacher assisting me while researching the offerings for college X. Her support was unwavering. Upon being accepted, my journey began. At this stage, teaching for me was having the opportunity to interact with and mould future thinkers, the ability to effect change, to be in charge of my space, and to simply share knowledge. I wanted to be just like the teachers. As my journey at college X progressed, it turned out to be very theorybased, being exposed to an extension of what was taught in high school and to theories of education. Practising the art of teaching was limited © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 C. Roofe, The Lived Curriculum Experiences of Jamaican Teachers, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-99450-1

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to three periods, the major one being my teaching practicum. While I had a strong command of my content, I struggled. I felt as though I was not adequately prepared for the realities of the classroom. Barring my struggle, I had a sense of belonging while in classes; I transformed in that space. Keeping in mind my core belief, I never framed myself as the central person of authority; therefore, students were comfortable enough to share views (right or wrong) and they made my classes their safe space. I am of the view that I am a constructivist at heart, who believes that students must be engaged by doing. This view was evident in my strategies and the activities I used, such as Businesses Launches, Interviews with professionals, and Field Trips to expose students to aspects of the curriculum. However, becoming more of an experienced teacher, I was assigned to the upper school (grades 10-13). While my philosophical belief remained the same, I was now pressured by time constraints, completing my syllabus (curriculum) and enabling my students to attain good results. Being human at the heart of teaching started to drift. Content coverage as part of the syllabus (curriculum) became the focus and it was also what the students and parents desired as they too would assess this. All was not lost as I continued to involve my students and allow them to be part of their journey through presentations, research, dialogue, and collaboration. My struggle had shifted but I was not fully aware. While one of the reasons I wanted to become a teacher was because of my teachers, this was mainly because of whom they were as individuals as opposed to teachers. They were supportive but concerning methods used, my experience throughout my schooling was highly content-based. I now wonder if I too unconsciously framed education as delivering content, after all, it was my own experience and what I knew. Clubs were optional and my only memory of any interaction outside of classes is limited to one field trip. While this experience made me who I am, it did make me reserved. In a class setting, I am not considered to be the most talkative and involved student which may very well be a result of my teachers enacting the curriculum as a source of knowledge. To this day, listening and taking notes is how I learn best then after classes; I’ll engage with additional content. My experience now triggers this thought, “Was I empowered as an agent of change and/or critical thinker at all?” It is my newly found knowledge that has awoken these thoughts. Considering the current demands of society, the curriculum has shifted from the traditional approach to one that reflects a greater emphasis

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on concepts and twenty-first-century skills (creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, and communication) and competencies. Students must be taught as such to effectively add to the development of the world. I am now cognizant of this fact. Therefore, the strategies I utilize should equip students for the uncertainties of society, develop their social consciousness, and allow them to live out their lives individually and in relationship with one another. These strategies should not be limited to the classroom where the formal curriculum (I was mainly exposed to) is implemented. For students to become contributors to society, they must be taught concerning their current experiences and linking these to future projections. These experiences (good or bad) are to be used to empower them with appropriate pedagogies. When the curriculum is implemented in such a way, learning will not be viewed as monotonous and meaningless. I too have a far way to go but as I continue on this journey, the future me will be more equip to mould young minds. Through education, students should be empowered to challenge the current and possible issues of society. As such, to begin this process, students must be exposed to critical thinking as well as problem and project-based learning. My aim through educating is to effect change. It is my responsibility as a curriculum maker to not simply receive or spectate but to implement, reform, and adapt the curriculum for my context and students. As a teacher, I should now recognize and accept my responsibility to use the autonomy I have within my classroom (a factor that pulled me towards this profession) for change. This autonomy should be used as such: assessing and adapting the curriculum based on my context, planning student-centred lessons, allowing students to lead lessons, connecting content to real-life experiences, considering the “how” as opposed to mainly “what”. While my mainly content-driven approach has been reaping rewards, after reflecting on how the world was required to adjust in the year 2020, I started to evaluate and self-assess my methods and how well I was preparing students for the changing world. Moving from the point of being unaware to now being inspired to transform is a result of reconceptualizing. While I have been interacting with the curriculum through the lens of a student, trainee teacher, and trained teacher, it was merely viewed as a formal document that is executed by varying methods. Furthermore, the formal, informal, and hidden curriculum all play a key role in allowing students to see the world in a new way but before I can do this for the students, I too must be able to see this new world. In reconceptualizing the curriculum through

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Currere, I am better able to make sense of my philosophical, psychological, and sociological underpinning (previously referred to as core beliefs) as well as identifying curriculum orientations to bridge the gap between being unaware to becoming inspired to transform. It is through these lenses that I am better equip to advancing the welfare of the whole human race. Story 2: The Curriculum Encounter of Balama I was born into a nuclear family. I have seven siblings; two sisters and five brothers with only six (6) of us belonging to my dad. My two oldest siblings my mother had in her previous relationship before she married my father. I was the 7th child of the eight children. I completed my primary education at a primary school. This is where I met Ms. Kentie, my grade four teacher who was very stern on deportment and appearance. I struggled to match up to her expectations. At one point, I realized she had a preference for children who were lighter in complexion and “good hair”. I was very clean and my hair well-groomed on a daily basis but I don’t think I met her requirements and this affected my self-esteem throughout my entire time at the primary level and I don’t think she knew how badly I admired her. She would make sure that every morning she checked all the students in her class to make sure we were wearing clean uniforms and our hair was neatly groomed and our shoes clean. When I entered grade six, I was one of those well-groomed students in the school, not only was I doing well academically but I took pride in my deportment something that I value to this day. I was successful in my common entrance exam and I earned a place at a top high school. I had to show her that while she was paying attention to deportment I was on my way to becoming a Professor. This was dream come through for my family. I was the second child of my family to be placed in a top high school. This was the beginning of a journey that would lead me to exactly where I am today. As I reflected on high school I realized that this is where I got most of my exposure because I only attended church and school because from as early as I can remember my mother was a Christian and was fully involved in her church life and because of this church was always on my agenda. I attended a New Testament church within the community. School became my happy place. I was free to be me. I made friends and I was introduced

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to a lot of things I didn’t know existed. I was placed in the Liberal Arts stream by the time I reached 4th form because I did well in History, Geography, Social Studies, etc. Nonetheless, my grades could never fall. I had to walk the straight and narrow where academics was concerned. I never considered myself a “bright” child but I learned how to push myself and I always managed to stay afloat and to this day I continue to push myself. My high school experience contributed to my current situation. I can remember how my Literature teacher made me appreciate reading and writing; through reading a book entitled “Shane”. I remembered at 4th form my grades were on all time high because I was reading materials most children my age would not pick up. I remember that in Caribbean History I use to find myself on the planation’s trying to understand why one group of people thought that the colour of their skin made them superior and I would be annoyed, and on the other hand, I was in Mathematics class counting the hours until the bell rang signalling the end of the sessions. Then and there I was turned off from any subject that incorporated using number, neither was I interested in athletics or anything practical. I was always reading and writing. My grades were always better in the subjects that had a lot of reading as content and this was evident as early as primary school. I graduated from high school with seven (7) CXC subjects with majority of them being from the humanities area along with Mathematics and English language. I wanted to become a teacher. I wasn’t forced. I sincerely wanted to teach I can remember the day when the teachers college called and told me that I was accepted it was the happiest day of my life. While attending college I perused a major in History and English language as an option. It didn’t take me a month to realize that English language wasn’t for me and so it led me to change my option to Social Studies something I don’t regret to this day. I did very well in my two options, and in second year, I met a woman who would inspire me and made me fall in love with how she taught History. Her name is Dr. Linzeloo. I admired how she taught us to teach History in a way that would impact the children’s life and allow them to connect their experiences to understanding the subject. At this point in my life, I’m currently pursuing a master’s degree. I’m acquiring a myriad of new knowledge that has my mind in a frenzy. I have been thinking of so many things I want to change in the field of

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education. I want to go on to completing my doctoral studies but on the contrary my fiancé is awaiting me to complete my studies so that we can continue raising a family. I currently have a twelve-years old daughter who just started high school and is in need of constant supervision. I’m happy that we no longer live in an era that stipulates that women are supposed to stay home and take care of the house and kids. Women have been dominating the seen. Modern-day women can have it all a good career as well as good family life. I find myself trying to fill the gaps in my teaching learning context. I have a good relationship with my students and colleagues. I am that teacher who likes to experiment with new ideas. I have made adjustments to my pedagogical approach since I’ve enrolled in this program. I love children and my only desire as a teacher is to see all of them excel. I’m not a selfish individual so I find myself sharing new ideas and encouraging my colleagues to become action researchers so that together we can reach every single child left in our care. I see myself in a few years adding value to the Ministry of Education, whether through consultations on curriculum reform or becoming a lecturer in the field of education. Did I make the right choices up to this stage in my life? Was I supposed to end up where I am? I am presently a trained graduate who has been an educator at a prominent non-traditional high school for the past 14 years. I am currently enrolled in a master’s program at the University Y. I believe that I will be an asset to the education sector at some pointing time in my life. One of my greatest fear is finishing my studies and end up being stuck at the same level of the education system I am currently at. I’ve learnt that hard work leads to much success. I want to become an action researcher, who will bring change to the teaching learning context. As I reflect, I realize that I didn’t divert from the dreams and aspirations I had while I was in primary school, in fact my high school years propelled me further along and today I’m still working on achieving the goals that I set many years ago when I barely understood the magnitude of work I had to take on in order for this dream to be realized. I predict that in a few years I will have articles in abundance that will shed light on the many gaps in education along with solutions to fix them. Story 3: The Curriculum Encounter of Celina I wanted to be an educator who is not focused on getting students to pass an exam, but instead to develop the holistic being who will rise to the

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challenges of society and make their mark. I had an incomplete application on a university’s registration portal for 4 years. Year after year, I would revisit and select a different program based on research or what I was feeling at the time. I started this program with a narrow definition of curriculum. I initially became interested in curriculum development after actively participating in the training of teachers in the implementation of the National Standards Curriculum (NSC). During the process, educators asked relevant questions that would ease their hesitation in utilizing the document that I do not think I addressed effectively. Questions such as its purpose; why now? Are schools ready for this? etc. Then and there I decided that I should be at the starting point of this relay and not be handing the baton from the third leg to the final leg of the race. As I regress further to my days of “playing school” and chastising my teddies with every word of my instruction or every letter of a word I was teaching them to spell, coming to my days in high school as a student and being instructed to copy pages upon pages of notes from my textbook to my notebook while my teacher sat quietly at her desk, I did not want to emulate my past educators who helped to formulate my ideas of teaching and learning in my mock classroom with my teddies. I want to give voice to my students as they actively engage with the formal, informal, and hidden curriculum. Growth, as a result of studying, has shown me that it is more than the document handed to us by the powers that be that define the term “curriculum”. It is within our power as classroom teachers to modify as we see fit. This differ from my days as a student where the silent mantra was “children should be seen and not be heard”. The lived curriculum as however taught me that if I’m to become the educator I dream of being, I would need to dismantle this preconceived notion of my ancestors of the classroom and decentralize the role of the teacher. Interacting with Freire’s Pedagogy of the oppressed has also reiterated the fact that students should not be treated like empty vessels to be filled with knowledge but rather co-authors or creators of knowledge. Like Freire suggested, it’s time we distance ourselves from “banking model of education” but how can we when we are pressured to complete a syllabus for standardized test? My high school teachers utilized the banking method. As a teacher, I now understand why. As teachers of students being prepared to sit exit exams, we are forced to “cram” content to get through the syllabus in time for exams. We hardly have time for all the creative activities we would like to utilize at the upper school level.

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Until we shift our focus from examinations, teachers, like myself, may always feel the need to utilize the banking model at some point in time. I remember feeling ill one day at school. My students, realizing the unlike practice of me being late for class, came enquiring of me at the office. They were told I was unwell and would be with them as soon as possible. I decided to muster up the strength to go be with them. Upon entering the class, I realize that the session was in full swing, with two students at the front of the room engaging the class in a revision session. Their reaction to seeing me was “wey you a go miss? You no sick? We have dis miss so you can go rest”. Not to interrupt, I slipped in the back to take a seat, beaming with pride as I watched my students take full control of their learning. This was not a run-of-the mill thing. It was in the making for three long years. When we started in grade 9, I realized quickly that they were not reading at their grade level and some had behavioural problems which I believe may have been linked to their reading abilities or lack thereof. I quickly sprang into action and pair a weaker student with a stronger one. My plans to pair students was faced with objections from students especially after they heard that they would be responsible for each other both in academics and in behaviour. Each pair was awarded 100% for just being in class that day but would lose points for behaviours which deviated from the class rules, for example, coming late for class, leaving class without permission, failure to submit assignment, and being disrespectful to fellow classmates and teachers. At the end of the term, whatever points they had remaining would be added to their term grade to boost their average. I no longer need this points system to monitor the behaviour of my students. This has taught me to respect and appreciate the informal and hidden curriculum. They are just as or even more important than the formal because if behaviours were not modified, I might have kept on struggling to teach the group. If they were not taught some form of self-guidance or personal responsibility, they would run amok in the absence of a teacher. I realize now that I was using the hidden curriculum to raise academic performance and also self-esteem of my students who could see that they have it within them to take on the role of leaders in the classroom and later, in society. A little Eureka moment here: I am a strong supporter of social constructivism and pragmatism! My past experiences with curriculum have caused me to realize the type of teacher I do not want to be but with academic knowledge I have been able to examine and understand deeply my experiences as I make

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connections between them, even ones that did not seem important at the time. This reflection has made it clear that my experience as a high school student drives me to become a better educator. My current studies, it is hoped, will help me to help others to see their role in the curriculum process because it must be seen as a verb and not a noun. It is a path that is lived.

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PAGE FOR REFLECTIVE NOTES

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Index

A active learning, 55 affective justice, 39 analytical moment, 6 Anglicans, 9 Aoki, T., 7, 18 autobiographical process of reflection, 56 autobiography, 37

B Baptist educational philosophies, 9 beyond boundaries, 47, 49, 50 British Caribbean, 8

C Caribbean, 8, 11, 15, 48, 59 Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE), 15 Caribbean colonies, 8 Caribbean Secondary Examination Certificate (CSEC), 15

Caribbean Secondary Examination Council (CSEC), 48 Cascade model of in-service teacher professional development, 54 Cascade Model of teacher development, 54 central authority for developing and disseminating curricula, 2 change, 13, 14, 26, 29, 30, 35, 36, 40, 41, 43, 46, 58–60 church-founded schools, 8 classroom teacher, 26, 63 collaborative and learning, 55 colonial education, viii, 8, 14 colonial heritage, 53 coloniality, 31, 54, 59 colonial legacy, 10, 15, 58 colonisation through interpellation, 7 The Common Entrance Examination, 12 communities of practice, 56 competitive system of schooling, 16 conceptualisation of curriculum, 3, 5 conscious instructional act, 39

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 C. Roofe, The Lived Curriculum Experiences of Jamaican Teachers, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-99450-1

87

88

INDEX

COVID-19 pandemic, 44 critical consciousness, 14, 16, 42, 63 cultural construction, 5 culturally relevant, 35, 57, 58 cultural references, 56 Currere and its theoretical underpinnings, 5 Currere as educational research, 17 Currere of the teachers, 54, 57, 59, 60, 62 Currere process, 18, 46, 56 Currere’s autobiographical methodology, 17 Currere, teacher professional development and decolonising intentions, 53 curriculum, vii, 1–6, 9–14, 16–20, 25, 26, 28, 30–32, 34–39, 42, 44–46, 52, 53, 55–61, 63–65 curriculum as a product, 2 the curriculum as “lived”, 7 curriculum as praxis, 2, 3, 16, 19 curriculum as process, 3 curriculum development, 5, 9, 11 curriculum is seen as multifaceted, 3 curriculum making, 57 curriculum studies, 36 CXC examination, 35 D decolonising intent, 59, 62–64 decolonising the curriculum, 58, 60–62 definitions of curriculum, 3, 5 dominant culture, 53 dysconsciousness, 13 E early childhood, 15 educational encounters, 5 education in Jamaica, vii, 10, 53

education system, vii, viii, 3, 9–13, 15, 17, 19, 41, 43, 57, 58, 63 elementary schools, 8, 9, 11 emancipation era, 8, 9 Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate and Evaluate, 49 ethic of care, 39, 60 examination-oriented, 15 exit examinations, 61

F fairness, equity, inclusivity, 63 family, 39, 41, 42, 50 feelings of helplessness, 51, 60 formal curriculum, 1, 2, 35, 61 formal, informal, hidden, and enacted types of curricula, 3

G global pandemic, 63 Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT), 12, 32

H higher education, 15, 33, 37 how power is utilised in schools, 53, 59 how school is structured, 53

I implementation of curriculum, 3 in-between spaces of their former lives, 26 independence in 1962, 11, 58 indigenous ways, 8 inequities, 44 in-service teachers, vii, 4, 5, 18, 19, 51, 55–57 intellectual control, 8, 15

INDEX

J Jamaica, 3, 7, 11, 15, 46, 55, 58, 59, 61 Jamaican classrooms, 53, 62 the Jamaican school context, 7 Jamaica Teachers’ Association, 54 job-embedded professional development, 55 job-embedded teacher professional development model, 55

K Kandel Report, 11 the knowledge society, 53

L legacy of colonialism, 59 life history and practice, 17 the lived curriculum, 1, 5, 7, 28 The lived curriculum experiences of Jamaican teachers: Currere and decolonising intentions, 66 lived realities, 53 Lumb Commissioners, 10

M Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, 54 Miss Sherese, 64 moral authority, 62, 63

National Standards Curriculum, 13, 61 needs, 64 non-cognitive factors, 62

P pedagogical approach, 32, 33 pedagogical questions, 58 personal and professional, vii, 4, 34, 50, 52, 60 personal and professional practice, 52, 60 personal histories, context, and aspirations, 5 philosophy, 36, 40, 41 Pinar, W.F., 5–7, 17, 18, 26, 43, 46, 49, 58 Pinar’s Currere, 7 plantation owners, 9 policymakers and implementers, 13 post-colonial Jamaica, 14 post-colonial societies, 17, 53, 58 pre-service and in-service teacher preparation programme, 55 pre-service teachers, 56 primary, 3, 11–13, 15, 19, 27, 31, 35, 45, 46, 61 Primary Exit Profile, 12 Professional development, 54 professional practice, 4, 14, 47, 56 psychosocial support, 44

Q quality education, 11, 58 N narrowed understanding of curriculum, 4 national curriculum committees, 11 National Education Inspectorate, 16, 17, 61 national exams, 64

89

R R.A.P. strategy, 49 reflective methodology, 17 Reflective questions, 66 reforming schools, 58

90

INDEX

regressive analysis, 57 the regressive-progressive-analyticsynthetic, 7 the role of colonisation, viii, 7, 9 the role of teachers, 14 S schooling, 1, 8–16, 19, 25, 26, 31, 32, 34, 35, 58, 59, 61 schooling practices, 14, 26, 59 Science, 28, 29, 55 secondary, 3, 9–11, 13, 15, 19, 35, 61 self-reflection, 20, 56 self-study strategy, 5 self-talk, 44 self-transformation, 14, 15, 20, 59 social justice, 18, 63 social justice-minded, 63 sociocultural and geopolitical diversities, 3 sociocultural diversities, 13, 59 spiritual connection, 44 standardised testing, 2, 3, 15, 57 students, vii, 1, 3–7, 12–16, 19, 26–37, 39–53, 56, 57, 59–66 students’ social circumstances, 63 subjective space, 6 synthetical stage, 6 T teacher educator, 3, 4, 55

teacher professional development, 34, 55 teacher professionals, viii, 14, 25 teachers, vii, 1–5, 7, 10, 11, 13–20, 25–27, 29–37, 39–41, 43–46, 48, 51, 53–58, 60–65 teachers as models, 46, 51 Teachers must be at the heart of this advocacy, 59 teaching and learning process, 4, 14, 40, 49, 62 teaching as therapy, 40 teaching is a journey, vii teaching practice, 48, 56 teaching with compassion, 44 technology, 54, 64 technology to teach, 64 tertiary-level education, 65 tertiary schooling, 10, 11 traditional system of professional development, 54 transmission style pedagogy, 11, 55 2030 Vision, 58

U unconscious biases, 26, 53, 57 undergraduate programme, 48, 50 UNESCO, 17 Universal Primary Education, 9

W Western societies, 53