I spoke with a couple of groups yesterday about what are sometimes referred to as educational “commonplaces” (knowledge, child, society). The commonplaces as iterated above are referenced in some educational literature. For example, Holmes (1984) writes, “In terms of emphasis, the aims of education may be child-, society-, or knowledge-centered.” However, Holmes evidently deems this notion so ubiquitous that he fails to reference his source. Schwab is the key curriculum theorist who articulates the notion of commonplaces, alluding to the bodies of experience that play into the act of curriculum planning, including the following: subject matter, learner, milieu, teacher (503-504). He goes on to ponder what curriculum planning might look like when one centres activities more on one commonplace than another: “Imagine a child-centered planning which emphasizes above all else the present inclinations of students, the interests they bring with them or those which can be aroused by the shrewd placement of provocative objects and events in the educational space” (509). Just as easily, we might imagine a curriculum emphasizing other commonplaces.
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References
Holmes, B. (1984). Paradigm shifts in comparative education. Comparative Education Review, 28(4), 584-604.
Schwab, J. J. (1973). The practical 3: Translation into curriculum. The school review, 81(4), 501-522.
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