The Decima Research English Curriculum

Abstract

ln this final decade of the millennium Canadian educators at all levels are being asked to justify their programs and instruction in terms of the requirements of business and industry. Curriculum development does not escape such scrutiny. In this paper I describe the struggle that occurred over conflicting ideologies when a new English language arts K to 12 curriculum was being developed. I describe what occurred when a personal growth model of English language arts was directly challenged with an academic rationalist model justified on the basis of appeal to public opinion and the needs and requirements of technologically-sensitive commercial and industrial sectors. The struggle that took place in one Canadian province over what many educators consider to be the central subject area curriculum suggests that this ideological clash is likely to characterize the most serious challenge for professional educators in the decade of the 1990s.