Why do so few school have a curriculum in place ??

[Bill]

Am I the only one that ends up in schools that are have been in existence for fifty years and are still writing their curriculum? What's the story? What has been happening at these schools in the past? So, here I am again at a school with no visible curriculum and we, the teachers, are expected to create it. I?m sure the next group of teachers will be in the same boat.

This all reminds me of the difference between the successful Japanese car and the junky American car. Why is one so much better than the other? It?s simple. When a Japanese executive retires his successor capitalizes on what has already been created, going on the perfect an already successful model. The incoming American executive, on the other hand, throws out everything that his predecessor created and in an attempt to make his mark, reinvents the wheel. Of course this wheel has a wobble to it, which is never corrected because the next guy in line starts all over again.

So it goes with so many international schools. Are educators beyond learning from the past we so adamantly instruct our students to rely on for clues to the future?

[Surfboy]

I agree. Many International Schools must reinvent the wheel. I would prefer it if a school would just adopt one county or provincial curriculum and be done with it. The IB and British know the secret. The American curriculum means "no curriculum".

[Frank]

I used to wonder the same thing and always wanted to know why each shool I worked at required that we create a new curriculum. At this point I have come to realize that each new staff member coming to a school brings with him or her a particular tallent. Eventually when the majority of staff members are new, the overall face of a school takes on a new perspective. To reflect this change and evolution a new curriculum needs to be in place that reflects the new entity that has evolved. In the case of school that have no curriculum in place you have to wonder. I once interviewed at a school and was told that no curriculum was in place because a set in stone curriculum inhibits creativity. I figured that phylosophy extended to all aspects of the school and decided to pass.