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| Stasz, C., & Brewer, D. J. (1999). Academic Skills at Work: Two Perspectives (MDS-1193). Berkeley: National Center for Research in Vocational Education, University of California. |
Educators continually redefine the academic disciplines, whether or not they invoke transfer as a rationale for doing so. Although the academic curriculum still holds sway in most educational institutions, there are signs that sharp boundaries within the academic disciplines and even between academic and vocational programs are beginning to blur. Within academic curricula, for example, we see a growing number of interdisciplinary courses that either blend separate academic strands (e.g., English and social studies) or reflect a more integrated approach to a subject matter (e.g., integrated science courses, which combine biological and physical sciences or "systems"). Similarly, within academic disciplines, there is interest in creating curricula that emphasize application or "doing" in addition to "knowing." These shifts within academic disciplines seem to be occurring apart from any outside pressure; rather, they are changes that educators within each subject matter area see as valuable or necessary improvements.[4]
The mathematics community has been active in this area for some time, beginning with the standards developed by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) (1989). A recent NCTM publication, Connecting Mathematics Across the Curriculum (House & Coxford, 1995), promotes and illustrates the connections and uses of mathematics within mathematics itself; between mathematics and other disciplines; and in the life, culture, and occupational experiences of adult communities. Mathematics must be taught not as an isolated body of knowledge, but in contexts that are meaningful and relevant to learners. However, what counts as a "meaningful" context is unclear.
Any proposals to redefine a school "subject" find that a subject is defined by history, curriculum, tests, texts, and teachers. Teachers, as subject matter specialists, play a significant role in defining what gets taught, how it gets taught, and to whom (Little, 1992). Similarly, the "content" or disciplinary knowledge and skills of various occupations is defined by communities of practitioners, complete with the field's historical precedents and current working context. Any attempts to draw lines between the two face substantial challenges.
Previous attempts to identify math skills at work in order to create standards for school curricula illustrate the dilemmas. In the early 1980s, for example, several studies were carried out in England and Wales to identify the math skills and competencies needed for employment. The intent was to define mathematics requirements for students who leave school for employment at age 16 (Cockcroft, 1982). Several studies found wide discrepancies in employees' reports of mathematics skills used on the job, which resulted in underestimates of their actual skill use (Harris, 1991a).[5] Most of the hairdressers in the study, for example, denied that they used ratio and proportion when asked about mathematical skills, but when asked a practical question about mixing things, they would describe the need to mix correct proportions. Harris interprets her findings as an illustration of the differences between the origin, uses, and techniques of mathematics at school and work. Without some detailed examination of the survey data and actual work situations, these discrepancies would not have been identified. Yet survey data remain a predominate way to identify skills at work within the positivist framework and are influential in defining school subject matter content.[6]
[4]The trend toward academic and vocational curricular integration pertains primarily to middle schools (grades 6-8) and secondary schools. The elementary school curriculum has typically been more integrated between subject areas as all subjects are taught by the same teacher and as differentiation is relegated to higher grade levels (either middle, junior high, or high school, depending on the school district).
[5]For other discussions of discrepancies in identifying skills from different theoretical perspectives, see Berryman (1993), Lave (1988), Stasz (1995), and Stasz et al. (1996).
[6]Several federally funded efforts to define industry skill standards rely entirely on survey data (Bailey & Merritt, 1995).
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| Stasz, C., & Brewer, D. J. (1999). Academic Skills at Work: Two Perspectives (MDS-1193). Berkeley: National Center for Research in Vocational Education, University of California. |