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SPIRE Week 1 Reading reflection

 

But That's Just Good Teaching! The Case for Culturally Relevant Pedagogy Author(s): Gloria Ladson-Billings Reviewed work(s): Source: Theory into Practice, Vol. 34, No. 3, Culturally Relevant Teaching (Summer, 1995), pp. 159-165 Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1476635

Binks, L. and Anjola Akinduro (2021) Whose Curriculum is It Anyway? Decolonising the Literature Curriculum at Townley. available here: NATE_TE_Issue 23_Summer_2020_p41–47_BINKS_ET_AL.pdf (1).pdf


Both documents suggest that there is a distinct difference between teaching and what is taught to students.


Pedagogy is the science of teaching, the scaffolding that one climbs to learn. This is a universal idea. It has no cultural or political influence. It is purely the engineering behind teaching.

However, what is taught to students (the materials and texts used) must be culturally relevant to them, particularly to students of diverse backgrounds.

For example, on a basic level, we all agree that using letters to represent objects is a good way to teach kids how to learn the alphabet.

However, the objects we select to represent the letters must be culturally relevant to that student, or when you have a diverse group, must include relevant objects that reflect the group as a whole.

As a teacher, it is important to recognise that school only forms a part of a person's learning. Their social environment and, at times, physical appearance contribute to creating uniquely different individuals who can and are often marginalised in a traditional mainstream educational system.

Though these uniquely different individuals can and do learn with the same pedagogical process, the material and texts often used in mainstream education tend to marginalise and exclude some people due to a lack of connection.

Developing a more inclusive curriculum that acknowledges the diversity of students can significantly enhance the quality of education. This approach not only benefits students but also improves the effectiveness of teaching.

Both papers use black experiences to make their points. Their observations can be applied across a more comprehensive educational system to improve education for everyone.

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