Ideological influences on curriculum and teachers

Abstract

The school curriculum derives from beliefs about what schools should teach, for what purpose, and for what reasons. Over the years New Zealand schools have been influenced by differing sets of beliefs that have provided the rationale for curriculum decisions. Some decisions lie outside the control of a school and appear through curriculum documents. This article uses several ideologies as the basis of an analysis of how they have shaped curriculum documents and trends. It draws attention to the impact upon teachers and schools of changing conceptions of curriculum and policy changes as seen in curriculum documents, and in particular the documents of the 1990s.