Connecting literacy to curriculum ideologies

Curriculum is an ideological act. Ideologies in education are seen as belief systems that provide tools which help us determine what and how to teach. They influence what is considered as problematic and non-problematic in our educational practices (Eisner, 1985). Schiro (2008), after an intensive review of the works of Posner (1992), Schubert Theory Into Practice, 31, 236-244, (1996), and Kliebard (2004), articulated four curriculum ideologies: scholar academic, social efficacy, student centered, and social reconstruction. This article aimed at investigating how thinking about literacy and teaching varies when considering the assumptions embedded in each of those ideologies. It, moreover, reflected on the importance of choosing ideologies that are aligned with societies students live in so that they are truly prepared for “the word and the world” (Freire, 1973) and so that they become more autonomously persistent and cognitively involved in tasks they are undertaking. Based on that assumption, we argue that teacher education programs that are still skills-oriented or competence-based (by the technical meaning of a skill or competence) are no longer appropriate in a world that is so uncertain, fluid, money-driven, diverse, and disconnectedly connected. We advocate for alternative programs that prepare teachers who are able to play the role of both literacy teacher and social activist. © 2020, Australian Curriculum Studies Association.