The Lawrence Stenhouse Model For Curriculum Development
The Lawrence Stenhouse model of curriculum development sees the curriculum as a powerful element of transformation in teaching. In this model , the role of teachers and professors is paramount. Educators become researchers of their own teaching experiences.
Lawrence Stenhouse was born in Manchester in 1926. He devoted his career to teaching at various levels. He also studied and researched the subject of curricula during the 1970s .
What is a curriculum?
In order to better understand what the Lawrence Stenhouse curriculum model means , we should first define the term curriculum.
This term has various meanings and definitions. The first relates to the résumé, which is also known as the curriculum vitae. It consists of a list of the professional experience and knowledge as well as the school and academic education that an individual has.
The second meaning of this term relates to the curriculum or study plan that an educational institution follows. This includes both schools and universities. The Latin word curriculum literally means run, race, today it could also be translated as career .
Therefore, a curriculum provides the structure and the basis for the teaching content, techniques and methodologies that are applied and used during the teaching.
The Lawrence Stenhouse curriculum model
According to Lawrence Stenhouse, the curriculum or syllabus is not a simple listing of content or simply a representation of methodology and goals. For this British education researcher , a curriculum is an entire educational project.
Ideological, socio-anthropological, educational, epistemological and psychological concepts are brought together. All of these factors then determine the goals that the teaching should achieve.
Lawrence Stenhouse is also of the opinion that a curriculum reflects the intentions that a society has with regard to the types of individuals living in it. Hence, a curriculum includes a vision of knowledge, the role of educators and a concept of the educational process.
Based on these considerations, he states that teachers and professors have a crucial role to play in the development and implementation of the curriculum.
Educators should know what changes they want to make in their students. In addition, it is up to them to choose how they want to teach in order to achieve these changes.
For this reason , continuous learning and exploration in teaching practice is crucial, because theory and practice are closely linked.
The key ideas in the Lawrence Stenhouse curriculum model
Below we summarize some of the most insightful ideas that Lawrence Stenhouse expounded in his curriculum model:
- First of all, the involvement of educators in the formulation and development of curricula is crucial. So they can decide what and how to teach. Therefore, the curriculum model is flexible, open, creative and innovative.
- In addition, teachers should study and reflect on their own actions. In addition, they should also do this with the needs of their students in mind. By doing this, they will understand their own teaching practices better and can then change, modify and perfect them accordingly.
- Schools should also question external requirements and this curriculum model goes exactly in this direction. The professional development and perfecting of teacher research will enable them to think more critically. And teachers have to ask themselves what kind of students they are training and for what kind of society they are doing it.
- Lawrence Stenhouse proposes a curriculum model that includes three elements. The model takes into account the nature of one’s own knowledge and methodology both in the learning process and through the coherent focus on the teaching process.
- The evaluation process is different in the Stenhouse model. Since the curriculum process is understood as a pedagogical inquiry, teachers rate the dynamics rather than concrete results.
Final thoughts
In his curriculum model, Lawrence Stenhouse claims that research and action are a path to greater teacher emancipation and autonomy. Of course, this autonomy only exists to the extent that teachers oppose the demands and authoritarianism that schools and society impose on them.
