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유행중심의 국가교육과정에 대한 비판 (사립학교)

Author
주영한국교육원
Date
21:20 15 Nov 2007
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2814
유행 중심의 국가교육과정 포기 고려
- 영국 사립초등학교 연합회 -

□ 개요
사립초등학교연합회(Independent Association of Prep Schools : IAPS)에서 최근의 국가 교육과정이 지나치게 시류중심으로 흐르고 있다고 비판하면서 최근 교육과정에 포함된 육아, 비만, 시민정신, 반동성애(homophobia) 같은 부드러운 내용들을 가르치는 대신에 1950년대의 전통적인 철자법, 구구단, 핵심적인 연대 등을 중시하는 지식중심의 교육과정으로 돌아갈 것을 고려하고 있다고 함.

□ IAP의 비판
- IAP 의장 Michael Spinney "국가교육과정에 너무 많은 사회적 현안들이 포함되어 있는데 우리는 그런 사회적 관심사에 매달려 있고 싶지 않다. 점점 학교의 수업이 그때 그때의 사안에 매달려서 학생의 지적 수준이 위협받고 있다. 학부모들도 과거의 기준을 선호하고 있다“
- 사립학교는 국가교육과정을 따라야 할 의무는 없으며 이러한 국가교육과정에서 벗어날 것인지에 대한 논의가 이루어지고 있다고 함
- 사립학교에서 공립학교와 다른 교육과정을 채택할 수는 있지만 GCSE를 보아야 하는 상황에서는 크게 벗어날 수는 없음
- 사립학교 교장들 사이에서는 수업시간의 1/4 정도를 전통적인 교과목에서 멋어나 삶의 기술, 재정문제, 인종문제, 기타 시사적인 문제들에 투입하는 것에 대한 우려가 제기되고 있음
- IAP는 600개 학교 이상의 회원으로 조직 되어있는 영국 prep school의 대표적 단체임
※ prep school or preparatory school : an independent school designed to prepare a student for fee-paying, secondary independent school.

- Headmasters' and Headmistress Conference(HMC) Bernard Trafford 의장도 “시민정신, 성교육, 건강관리, 안전 등 수많은 것들을 교육해야 한다. 학교가 사회의 질병을 해결 치료하고 있는 실정이다. 그런 일에 시간을 다 써버리면 아동을 제대로 교육시키지 못한다는 비판을 받을 것이다”고 주장

□ 교육부의 견해
- DCSF 대변인은 “교육과정이 우리가 사는 세계를 반영하는 것은 당연한 것이며 아이들에게 필요한 지식을 제공하는 것이다. 그런 것을 가르친다고 교수학습이 학문적으로 덜 진지해지는 것은 아니다” 라고 주장


Private schools set to abandon ‘too trendy’ national curriculum
Nicola Woolcock

Britain’s leading independent schools are preparing to abandon the national curriculum because recent Government reforms place too much emphasis on “fashionable causes”.
They intend to return to a traditional core of knowledge popular in the 1950s – spending more time on spelling, multiplication tables and key historical dates. This could be at the expense of lessons on softer subjects such as parenting skills, obesity, citizenship and homophobia.
Michael Spinney, chairman of the Independent Association of Prep Schools (IAPS), said: “The national curriculum is in a number of respects being overwhelmed by a social agenda that has accompanied it. That social agenda is not something that we want to get sucked into.”
Mr Spinney and the other main associations representing independent schools are discussing whether their members should move away from the national curriculum. They are not obliged to follow it.
Thousands of privately educated children could soon be following an alternative curriculum to that offered to state school children. However, it would not be so radically different as to prevent them from taking GCSEs.
There is concern among independent school headteachers about the Government’s “tinkering” with the curriculum for children aged 11 to 14. A quarter of lesson time will be freed from traditional subjects so that pupils can learn about life skills, financial literacy, racial issues and other contemporary subjects. IAPS represents most of the country’s prep schools, with more than 600 members.
Mr Spinney said: “Increasingly, we are living in an era where teaching and learning are sacrificed in favour of fashionable causes, often with disastrous effects upon standards of learning. The time has come to set up an independent schools committee to analyse the national curriculum.
“The Government is increasingly putting a social agenda into the equation. It has an issue about multicultural society and subjects such as slavery. What we’re interested in is knowledge, rigour and fundamental skills. The curriculum has to be flexible and relevant to the needs of children, so we have to go back to the content. We want to have a debate with the other independent school associations on where the curriculum is going.”
Mr Spinney said that parents wanted a return to “old standards of education” and for their children to become employable. Last week he met members of the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses Conference (HMC), which represents 250 of the most elite schools, and the Girls’ Schools Association (GSA), to discuss the issue. He told the conference of the GSA yesterday that the consultation would probably take a year.
Bernard Trafford, chairman of the HMC, said: “We should use our independence. The curriculum has lessons in citizenship, sex education. Health and safety will be next. It’s just crazy, schools are being looked upon to solve society’s ills. If they spent all their time on that then there would be complaints that we weren’t educating children properly.”
Pat Langham, president of the GSA, said: “Some national curriculum initiatives have been like a roller-coaster and state schools are trapped in the cars, hurtling towards measurement. We aren’t. Although I would rather be working alongside state schools, we are interested in the proposals.”
She added that personal, social and health education used to be taught as part of the and ethos of the school rather than in lesson time.
A spokeswoman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families said: “A curriculum which reflects the world in which we live helps to engage children in learning and give them the knowledge they need to succeed, but it does not follow that teaching and learning is less academically rigorous.”