Code 838

Question No.3

Critically examine the significance of situation analysis in

curriculum Development? (20)

Ans: Situational Analysis and Curriculum Development

Parental Involvement

The first part of community involvement in Wesley Intermediate is parental. Until recently, this

has largely been non-existent as Polynesian parents generally hold the teacher in very high

esteem. This acknowledgement, although it sounds very admirable, does not help teachers in

New Zealand schools that are governed by very different rules and societal expectations. In

pacific cultures, it is expected that the teacher would chastise the student in place of the parent.

This understanding hinders development of teacher parent relationships and fosters a ‘hands

off’ approach to education from the parents. Involving the parents in the life of the school is a

very important necessity for curriculum development at Wesley Intermediate if progress is to

be made, in this area.

Wider community Involvement

The next part of our threefold community is the people living and working in the local area.

These people make a huge impact upon the life of the school. They are the ones who talk about

the people involved with the school. They make assumptions and formulate opinions that can

have a positive or detrimental effect. Involving these people in the learning process is not often
done but is vitally important to the overall success of the school.

Involvement of other Agencies

More and more we are seeing increased community and governmental agencies becoming

involved. The coming year’s curriculum will have to change to integrate these agencies’ input

into the developmental process. Communication between these three facets of community is

imperative for the successful amalgamation of them into a holistic approach to education and

community/society.

Multiculturalism

Multiculturalism is a major factor when looking to develop curriculum at Wesley Intermediate.

The school community is made up of three dominant cultures. These are Tongan, Samoan and

Maori with another three of four other minority cultures also: Cook Island, Nuean, Samalian,

Japanese and European.

Because of the cultural diversity there are many cognitive problems that can occur over the

course of a lesson. The traditional practice or understanding of an excerpt of curriculum can

cause a melting pot of confusion to occur amongst the students. This diverse understanding

can be looked upon as an unassailable problem or it can be looked upon as a means of bringing

a multileveled fully rounded kaleidoscopic view of the excerpt of curriculum. Using diversity, as

a strength not only enhances the learning environment, it moulds, fashions and sharpens the

curriculum developers ability to provide unique life changing curriculum.

Economic Change

As we know that in our times economics plays a big part of most processes. Curriculum
development at Wesley Intermediate is one of these such processes. Over the past 40years

Wesley Intermediate has gone from having one of the highest decile ratings to now having the

second to lowest decile rating. This has a very definite effect upon curriculum development as

it changes the presuppositional understanding of the families and students who access the

school. Curriculum must be relevant to the learner’s outlook on life. The students at Wesley

Intermediate have very different life experiences than students attending a decile 10 school.

The curriculum needs to identify and redress these issues that are different for every school.

Community Involvement

A curriculum developer is always trying to develop relevant life preparing curriculum.

Community involvement should be a paramount desire of any learning establishment where

education for not only life but also eternity takes place. The community needs to be looked

upon as a huge mostly untapped resource that can bring understanding and reason into many

facets of the curriculum.

Students’ Ethnic Background

Ethnicity plays a large part in what presuppositions under-gird our eventual worldview. All

ethnic groups have certain traditions and cultural glitches that are always presumed in their

worldview presuppositions. Wesley Intermediate is a school community that consists of multiple

ethnic groups as mentioned earlier. This is the issue that needs to be dealt with at the

curriculum development stage. Any curriculum development will need to take into account that

some ethnic groups cannot always take part in certain parts of the curriculum. However, this

is an ideal time for us to use these situations to deal with the immense diversity that exists
amongst human beings whether at a religious, cultural or personal level.

Emotional and Social Development

One of the most critical issues curriculum development needs to address in my school situation

is the area of emotional and social development. I am continually astounded at the lack of

emotional stability and social response that exist amongst the children that I come into contact

with at Wesley Intermediate. In general, common societal-values no longer exist, a survival of

the fittest mentality combined with selfish indulgence seems to be the ruling the masses at the

moment in the school – a reflection, perhaps, of society on the whole. Curriculum development

at Wesley Intermediate has to take into account the abnormal behavioural issues faced and the

fact that many of our students come from dysfunctional families. Dealing with these issues

inadvertently steers the curriculum into certain areas and away from others.

State of Bodily development

The students at Wesley Intermediate develop much faster than students from other cultures,
because most of students are Polynesian. It is not unusual to find a 11-12yr old boy weighing on
average around 70kg and standing at 1.60m tall. This rapid development at an early age can give
them the appearance of being much older than they are. Because of this there needs to be an
understanding of developmental issues that need to be dealt with which might not exist in other
schools.

Physical Needs and Health

Low socio-economic areas are always areas of concern where issues of health and physical needs
are concerned. Because the students’ bodies grow so rapidly they need to obtain good healthy
food unfortunately when finances are tight, which is more often the case than not. Accordingly,
food sometimes becomes a lesser priority. A lot of our students would start the day off with the
purchase of a pie and a can of coke. This is a real concern and must be dealt with constantly at a
curriculum development level. A whole part of the students understanding of what it is to be
physically healthy needs to be change as it directly effects their ability to function in the
classroom.

Intellectual Development

On average, Wesley Intermediate pupils are two to three years behind their peers nationally. This
fact is a major influence upon curriculum development as learning outcomes have to factor in the
gaps in ability of the learners. There are many reasons for these gaps occurring.

• The first major reason why students at Wesley Intermediate have gaps in their learning is that
many of them have come from other countries where English is not spoken or is a second
language. Some of these students parents can only speak very broken English and would mostly
speak their native language at home.

• A lack of ambition is also evident and possibly responsible for the slow development
intellectually. The drive to get a good education, or to educate oneself is not inherent in the
upbringing of the students, and, while there are always exceptions, it is simply not present in
their general home culture. There is a lack of understanding of what it takes to push the
boundaries of understanding not just for intellectual development but also for the “wow” factor
of learning. Students seem to lack the awareness that with understanding there comes an opening
of many doors, not simply in the mind, but in society and later in the workplace.

• There is often no reading material in the homes of these children at these early critical
developmental stages. This means that the students lack two to three years of formal reading and
comprehension of texts. Parents are unaware or are simply not interested the evidence supporting
the idea that reading to children at home when they are very young will reap the reward of
extremely literate children.