Curriculum and its implementation in the lens of Ted Aoki: Implications for Ghanaian mathematics education

Abstract

Curriculum as a blueprint for the development and delivery of education in a country has been viewed from varied perspectives. Aoki (2004) gave three perspectives to school, which are the “rational thinking”, “doing” and “being and becoming”. The first perspective connotes that teaching seeks to provide learners with the requisite knowledge and intellectual skills in their areas of specialisation. This consequently leads to the cognitive development of the learners. The second perspective posits that “doing” is to equip learners with practical skills needed in the world of work. The school equips learners with the functional skills needed to complement the knowledge in executing jobs in their chosen profession. The third perspective suggests that the school intends to develop the learner with the social competence to fit well into the society. Learners need collaborative and co-operative skill in order to study, work and live with others in the social world. In the view of Aoki (2004), the school curriculum ought to equip learners in the three domains to enable them to receive a holistic education. The three perspectives of the school curriculum have relevance on countries’ curricula such as that of Ghana. There are a lot that curriculum developers and educators of Ghana can learn from Aoki’s (2004) perspectives especially the third one which seems to have received minimal consideration for a very long time.

Keywords: Curriculum, implementation, experiential, transformation, technicist.

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