Principles for reflecting on the curriculum (Pierre Bourdieu)

Continuous assessment and an end-of-course examination focused on essential knowledge should reflect the importance of putting into practice knowledge acquired in different contexts.. Th

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http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=t713695259 Principles for reflecting on the curriculum

Pierre Bourdieu Online Publication Date: 01 December 1990

To cite this Article: Bourdieu, Pierre (1990) 'Principles for reflecting on the curriculum', Curriculum Journal, 1:3, 307 - 314

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Principles for reflecting on the

curriculum

PIERRE BOURDIEU

E D I T O R I A L N O T E For over twenty years Pierre Bourdieu's work has had a major influence on the sociology of education The relationship between social structure and curricu-lum has been of particular importance Over the last two years he has advised the French government on the planning and implementation of a national

curricu-lum reform The paper printed in this edition of The Curricucurricu-lum Journal

represents a first report prepared for the Minister of Education, Lionel Jospin It

is a significant statement about the direction national reform can follow and contrasts interestingly with the approach adopted in England and Wales and a number of other countries in the 1980s

PREAMBLE

At the end of 1988 a committee was formed by the Minister of Education, chaired by Pierre Bourdieu and François Gros, with a brief to reflect on the curriculum and to plan a revision of it, bearing in mind the importance of the coherence and unity of knowledge Other members included Pierre Baqué, Pierre Bergé, Rene Blanchet, Jacques Bouveresse, Jean-Claude Chevallier, Hubert Condamines, Didier Da Cunha Castelle, Jacques Derrida, Philippe Joutard, Edmond Malinvaud, François Mathey.)

In the first instance the members of the committee resolved to formulate principles which would guide them in their work They were conscious and aware of the practical implications and applications of these principles, particularly as they related to pedagogical issues They strove, therefore, to establish principles on the basis of strict intellectual rigour derived from the

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308 THE CURRICULUM JOURNAL Vol 1 No 3 intrinsic logic of knowledge and from definable assumptions and questions The committee was not expected to intervene directly and rapidly in curriculum

design They wished to delineate the main objectives for gradual change in the

compulsory curriculum These changes would take time if they were to follow,

or perhaps anticipate, the evolution of science and society

Specialist working groups will later continue a deeper reflective process for each of the main areas of knowledge They will attempt to suggest, through regular reports which will be completed in 1989, a number of precise observations that draw out the implications of the principles proposed in this paper They will not define the ideal content of an ideal curriculum The proposals will, in the main, consider the restructuring of the division of knowledge, a new definition of the transmission of knowledge, the elimination

of outdated or outmoded notions, and the introduction of new knowledge that stems from research as well as economic, technical and social changes These will then be discussed at an international gathering of experts

If, in the educational system, or elsewhere, it is essential to reflect on the notion

of change it is out of the question to contemplate abolishing the past The majority of innovations introduced in recent years were justified Although important to ensure that what is inherited from the past is not rejected outright it

is not always possible, at any one time and in any one area, to determine the

importance given to items that are 'out of date' as opposed to those that are still 'valid' It is necessary to consider constantly a new balance which reflects the influence of the past and the necessity of adaptation for the future

The necessary abstract and generalized shape of the principles thus defined can only be justified by the work to come This work will need to be guided by the rigour of these principles, while also testing them to determine and differentiate the content

FIRST P R I N C I P L E

Course content must be regularly reviewed so that new knowledge demanded by scientific progress and changes in society (European unification being a prime example) can be introduced Any addition of knowledge must be compensated for by a reduction elsewhere in the programme.

To reduce the breadth or difficulty of a part of the programme should not lower the standard or level On the contrary, if such a reduction is cautiously achieved it should raise standards, provided the time required for study is reduced and the work improved by substituting passive learning for active reading - and here we refer to audio-visual as well as literary texts A discussion

of practical approaches should give more room for creativity and imagination This implies, among other things, that the testing of learning and the evaluation

of achievements must be radically transformed An evaluation of standards

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reached should no longer be based on a heavy and haphazard examination Continuous assessment and an end-of-course examination focused on essential knowledge should reflect the importance of putting into practice knowledge acquired in different contexts This would, for example in the case of experimental science, involve practical tests aimed at evaluating creativity, critical abilities and the practical knowledge acquired

S E C O N D P R I N C I P L E

Education must give priority to all the areas which can lead to a way of thinking which is endowed with a validity and applicability of a general nature as opposed

to areas where knowledge could be acquired just as efficiently (and sometimes more pleasantly) through other means It is important to ensure that education does not leave unacceptable gaps which could endanger the success of pedagogic objectives Most notably, attention should be given to fundamental ways of

thinking or knowledge that are supposed to be taught by everyone and yet

may never be taught by anyone.

It is absolutely necessary to give priority to those areas where the objective is

to ensure that fundamental processes are thoughtfully and critically assimilated These processes — the deductive, the experimental, the historical as well as the critical and reflective - should always be included In order to redress the balance, the uniqueness of the experimental thinking process should be made clearer The outcome will be a positive reassessment of qualitative reasoning, a clear recognition of the temporary nature of explanatory models and an appraisal of the need constantly to train for practical forms of research enquiry It will also be necessary to examine whether and how each main area of knowledge (and each of the 'disciplines' within which they have been more or less adequately interpreted) can contribute to the different thought processes The logic and traditions of certain specialisms might involve a re-examination of where they are located in the curriculum

An appropriate place should also be found for certain techniques that are given tacit acknowledgement at the present time but are seldom transmitted methodi-cally, for example the use of dictionaries, the use of abbreviations, the rhetoric of communication, the setting up of a filming system, the creation of an index, the use of a 'ficher signaletique' or of a data bank, the preparation of a manuscript, the search for documents, the use of computer data, the reading of numerical or

graphical tables If all pupils were given the technology of intellectual enquiry,

and if in general they were given rational ways of working (such as the art of choosing between compulsory tasks or of spreading them over time), then an important way of reducing inequalities based on cultural inheritance would have been achieved

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310 THE CURRICULUM JOURNAL Vol 1 No 3

THIRD PRINCIPLE

Open, flexible and changeable programmes are a framework not a prison There should be fewer and fewer constraints the more you go up the hierarchy of the educational process Teachers need to collaborate in order to define and implement programmes There must be progression—vertical connections and coherence—and horizontal connections within specialist areas and equally at the whole programme level (for each class or year group).

The programme should not be dictatorial It operates as a guide for teachers, pupils and parents who need clear objectives and an understanding of the requirements of the level of knowledge being considered (Teachers could be asked

to talk to their pupils about this at the beginning of the school year.) This is why it

has to be seen alongside a review of underlying philosophy, the objectives sought,

the prerequisites and requirements necessary, and it should also include examples

of where it has been applied

Objectives and content of different specialisms and at different levels must be perceived and defined through their interconnections Programmes must predict

explicitly the places where they repeat part of other programmes and this should only occur where it is necessary to ensure that fundamental knowledge is acquired.

Although it can be useful to address the same question from different viewpoints (for example, the law of perspective from the viewpoint of mathematics and the history of art), we should strive to abolish, when it has been established that no purpose is served, all undesirable overlaps and double usages This would be true both between successive levels of the same specialist areas and between different subjects within one level

In order to require and obtain progressive and coherent curriculum courses we

must predetermine, as accurately as possible, the level expected at the beginning

(avoiding systematically vague titles which can be interpreted loosely) and the level

to be reached at the end of the year in question Programmes must be piloted to

ensure that they can be completed by the majority of pupils (to ensure success they must be accompanied by indications of the study time required at each stage) Every fundamental specialism must be taught through a process, planned over years, which guides the learner from a simple initiation through to a mastery of the thought processes and requirements which are unique to the specialism

Coherence and complementarity between courses offered by different specialist areas must be methodically investigated at each level and it will be necessary to establish a committee for common courses (at each level) to ensure coherence and avoid repetition

While there would be no wish naively to copy foreign models it is possible that a critical inspiration could be found in a methodical comparison of the curriculum offered in other countries, notably within Europe The comparison could provide

a means of bringing to light gaps and omissions and ought to permit the discarding

of remnants from an outdated historical tradition Not only would this increase

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the compatibility of the French with other European systems, it would also reduce any disadvantage faced against eventual competitors It would as well lead

to a conscious and explicit redirection of established programmes

FOURTH PRINCIPLE

A critical review of the compulsory curriculum must always reconcile two variables, compulsoriness and transmittability On the one hand the acquisition of

an area of knowledge or of a thought process is more or less indispensable for

scientific or social reasons at certain levels; on the other hand, its transmission is more or less difficult depending on the ability that the children have to assimilate and the training of the teachers involved.

This principle should lead to the exclusion of any premature transmission of knowledge It should lead to the mobilization of all the necessary resources (for

example, in terms of time allocated and teaching methods) to ensure efficient

transmission and assimilation of the areas of knowledge deemed to be essential (to have a better idea of the real transmittability, at a given level of a knowledge area or thought process, we should take account of research that would evaluate mastery of the knowledge taught in different specialisms to pupils of different levels of attainment and from different social strata) The eventual transformation

of the content of courses and the final modifications to a course should be established after a trial run in a real situation This should be done in collaboration with teachers who have received appropriate training The demands for adaptation by teachers should be supported through sabbaticals and through long secondments which would allow them to prepare for new thinking processes and areas of knowledge They should acquire new qualifications in the process of developing these new approaches

On a more general note, new systems would have to be erected with the objective of drawing together and analysing the reactions and reflections of teachers who would be asked to criticize and suggest improvements (the minitel system could be useful for that purpose) A permanent search for methodical and practical teaching research which would bring teachers together and directly involve them in innovation would be put in place

F I F T H P R I N C I P L E

In order to improve the effectiveness of knowledge transmission through a

diversification of teaching methods {while at the same time taking account of the

real rather than theoretical knowledge that has to be assimilated) it will be necessary to disinguish between specialisms as well as within specialisms what is

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compulsory and what is optional Teachers responsible for different specialisms

would come together to develop collective and group learning through, for

example, enquiry or field work approaches

The increase in knowledge renders invalid the concept of encyclopaedism It is impossible to teach all the specialisms or the whole of a specialist area - besides which, new specialisms appear which connect fundamental science and technical application (information technology is within each subject as well as existing as a subject in its own right) These areas would not be merely added to the curriculum Sooner or later the divisions of the curriculum will need redefinition

It is necessary to substitute for the actual, encyclopaedic, additive and compartmentalized teaching a system of defined compulsory and optional subjects, directly adapted to the intellectual orientation of the pupils and planned

to ensure the assimilation of essential knowledge Alongside this would be a range

of optional and interdisciplinary areas allowing the teachers to take the initiative This diversification of pedagogical structures, and of the status of different areas, will take account of the specific nature of each 'discipline' This represents a move away from the mere totalling-up of subjects which, as practised, is one of the major obstacles to any real transformation of the curriculum The redefinition would create alternative theoretical and practical applications, compulsory and optional courses, individual and group learning (and individualized programmes for

pupils) This would have the effect of reducing the number of hours on pupils'

timetables without increasing the number of classes allocated to each teacher It

would increase teacher autonomy since, within each de&nedprogramme of study,

they would organize their own study plan before the beginning of the school year

It should also lead to a more flexible and intensive use of apparatus and buildings (the relevant authority - department or commune - should involve teachers in the building or renovation of schools to ensure that education takes place in a setting which is adapted for quality and need

Group and multidisciplinary activities would best fit into the afternoon This is the case, for example, in the teaching of languages where the study of discourse, oral and written, and the image are brought together Language is at the junction of anumber of specialisms,presupposingthat good use is made of technical materials,

leads to relationships with outside partners (artists, the media, industries, etc.)

necessitating practical as well as analytical activity

SIXTH P R I N C I P L E

Concern to reinforce the coherence of teaching should lead to the enhancement of team teaching, that brings together teachers from different disciplines It should lead to a rethinking of the divisions within disciplines and a re-examination of certain historical regroupings It might succeed, although always gradually, in bringing closer together the different areas created in the evolution of science.

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Everything should be done to encourage teachers to co-ordinate their actions through workshops aimed at exchanging information on content and teaching method These would also give them the means (in adapted buildings and with new equipment, etc.) to enrich, diversify and broaden their teaching and leave behind, in the context of team teaching, the strict frontiers of their discipline (It would be desirable to have certain teachers who have a formal proportion of hours allotted to them for the co-ordination and organization of meetings, the printing of documents, communicating with colleagues, etc.)

Teaching sessions calling on teachers of two (or more) different specialisms, put together because of their affinity, should have the same status as other lessons (each hour taught in that way would, in practical terms, have to be acknowledged

as one hour teaching for each teacher) These sessions would be targeted at groups of pupils assembled on the basis of criteria different from those currently used These could be on the basis of attainment, or common interest, or a particular theme An allocation of hours, whose use would be freely and annually determined by the teachers involved, might officially be put aside for that purpose All means — enriched and modernized libraries, audio-visual techniques and so forth—would be mobilized to reinforce the attraction and efficiency of the approach The care taken to rethink and surmount the 'frontier' between the disciplines and corresponding teaching units should not be to the detriment of the identity of fundamental subject teaching It should, rather, bring out the coherence and problematic areas of the thinking process which is the character-istic of each specialism

S E V E N T H P R I N C I P L E

The search for coherence should be accompanied by a search for balance and integration between the different specialisms and, as a consequence, between different forms of excellence It would be especially important to reconcile the universalism which is inherent in scientific thought and the relativism taught through the historical sciences and it should reflect the plurality of lifestyles and cultural traditions.

Everything should be done to reduce the conflict between theory and technical, between formal and concrete, between pure and applied Practical features of the curriculum should be reintegrated within fundamental teaching areas The need to balance the room given to what we shall call, for the sake of convenience, the 'conceptual', the 'sensitive' and the 'corporal' is obvious at all levels, particularly in the early years The weight given to technical requirements and to theoretical requirements will be determined according to criteria which are unique to each level of the programme They will therefore take account of career interests, the pupils' power of abstraction and the time they will be entering working life

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Modern education should in no way sacrifice the history of languages and literature, of culture and religion, of philosophy and science It must, rather, reassess itself and work ceaselessly towards these histories in an increasingly subtle and critical manner For this very reason it must not be based on a representation given by those who reduce 'humanism' to a fixed image of 'humanities' The teaching of languages can, and must, provide the opportunity

to learn logic, just as much as the teaching of physics or biology The teaching of mathematics or physics, as much as the teaching of philosophy or history, can and must prepare the learner for the history of ideas in science or technology (provided, of course, the teachers are trained accordingly)

On a more general note, access to scientific methods derives from the acquisition of elementary logic and ways of thought - in other words, techniques

or cognitive tools which are totally indispensable in promoting rigorous and reflective reasoning The opposition between art and science which continues to dominate the organization of schooling and the mentality of teachers, pupils and pupils' parents can and must be surmounted The curriculum should be capable

of addressing simultaneously science and the history of science or epistemology

It should also promote art and literature, and aesthetic reflection and forms of logic that these subjects can develop Finally, it will be necessary to teach not only

a mastery of language and literature, philosophy and science, but also the active process of logical procedures and rhetoric that engagement with these subjects requires The apparent abstractness of these areas could be removed if common programmes were developed where the teacher of mathematics (or physics) and teachers of language or philosophy made clear that general competencies were required in the reading of scientific texts, technical briefs or approaches to argument and discourse A similar effort should be made to articulate thinking processes which are part of the natural human sciences, to inculcate the rational, critical-thinking mode which all sciences teach, and to ensure that these are based

on historical and cultural roots which reflect the range of scientific and cultural knowledge In this way the pupil should develop a comprehensive respect for diversity in time and space and for civilization, lifestyles and cultural traditions The National Council for developing all aspects of the curriculum and school programmes will be expected to put into practice all the principles outlined above Membership will be on a personal basis rather than through represen-tation of teachers, institutions or associations The National Council will operate

on a permanent basis (which presupposes that members will be freed from a proportion of their other duties) for a period of five years Changes will only be introduced every five years, with the jurisdiction of the National Council embracing all trends and types of education

Editor's note The Curriculum Association is grateful to Professor Bourdieu for

permission to publish this paper and to Martine Moon for the task of translation

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