Representations of Truth, Knowledge, and Teachers' Roles in the British Columbia Math Curriculum and Its Consequences for the Implementation of the New Provincial Curricular Policy

• In Event: Fairmont Roundtable Session Four
  In Roundtable Session: Interrogating Truth and Knowledge in Curriculum Legislation and Policy (Table 1)

Abstract

This paper analyzes the new math curriculum of British Columbia (BC), Canada, to discuss the representations of truth, knowledge, and teachers' roles. It aims to understand how curriculum policies construct meanings throughout explicit written goals and implicit discourses. It analyzes all curricular documents from the new and old BC math curriculum using Bacchi & Goodwin's (2016) methodology “What is the problem represented to be?”. It finds contradictions between the old and new curriculum representations of knowledge and teachers’ roles, concluding that BC policies should i) establish a clear meaning to assessment and pedagogy and ii) give autonomy to teachers implementing the curriculum. These are essential actions to amplify the representations of truth and knowledge in the new BC math curriculum.

Author

• Ariane Faria dos Santos, University of British Columbia
  Presenting Author