Two concepts emerging from McLaren’s ‘Critical Pedagogy’ chapter are: Ideology and Critical Pedagogy and the Curriculum, highlighting the hidden curriculum.
‘Ideology refers to the production and representation of ideas, values and beliefs and the manner in which they are expressed and lived out by both individuals and groups’ McLaren( 2009,p79)
As we build a New Curriculum and prepare to deliver the next phase, National 4,5 this is increasingly important to Pedagogy, as relevance and meaning engage students and challenge 21st Century learners. Yet the question of how much control one has over pedagogy in favour of predetermined outcomes remains.
‘The Curriculum favours certain forms of knowledge over others and affirms the dreams, desires and values of select groups of students over other groups, often discriminatorily on the basis or race, class and gender. In general critical educational theorists are concerned with how descriptions, discussions and representations in text books, curriculum materials, course content and social relations embodied in classroom practices benefit dominant groups and exclude subordinate ones. In this regard, they often refer to the hidden curriculum, (the unintended outcomes of the schooling process)’ McLaren(2009 ,p86)
‘The unintended outcomes of the schooling process’ would suggest an intangible, somewhat uncontrollable outcome, not conducive with current pedagogical approaches which may have far reaching effects and will be pursued in further discussion.
McLaren, Peter (2009). ‘Critical Pedagogy: A Look at the Major Concepts’ in Darder, A., Baltodano, M. and Torres, R. (eds.) (2009) The Critical Pedagogy Reader 2nd ed. New York: Routledge.
