Journal of Elementary Education, Vol 29, No 2 (2019)

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‘An Examination of Educational inequalities and implicit curriculum across socially stratified schools'

Afia Kanwal, Sham Haidar, Wasima Shehzad

Abstract


Curriculum provides specific kinds of exposure to learners as a continuous process and determines learners’ abilities. As per different educational policies, developing an integrated curriculum in primary education is one way of balancing equal content exposures for all learners across socioeconomic classes. However, schools within the country vary greatly in terms of curriculum and its delivery. Curriculum variations lead to disparities in educational content. This research studied the nature of variations in English curriculum used in different types of schools since there are different school systems in the country. The study explored reasons for disparities and hidden curriculum across socially stratified schools in Pakistan with a specific focus on the English language instruction. The study used phenomenological methods to gather data through interviews, demographic and analysis of the fifth class English textbooks across 30 different schools. Results show how and why curriculum differs across low, middle and high cost schools and elaborate on how teachers can support instructions to minimize the differences. 


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