Updated Curriculum = Overwhelming Innovation?

This week, in my PME 811 course, we discussed diversity and inclusion in innovation, teaching and learning, as well as Indigenous perspectives. Based on the articles that I have read, it seems that there is work to be done in incorporating topics such as women in education and Aboriginal culture. Would the updating of Canadian curriculum lead to a positive movement toward innovation, or would it be overwhelming for both teachers and students?

This new question led me to conduct some research. I will be teaching Kindergarten in the fall, so was curious to see when the curriculum was last updated. As an example, the English Language Arts curriculum was last updated in 1998. In looking at the high school level, the Canadian History curriculum was also last updated in 1998. With twenty years of history standing between the last update and now it is safe to assume that there is much that could be added.

In her a article "Integrating Aboriginal teaching and values into the classroom: What Works?" Pamela Toulouse explains that educators can make attempts in their individual classrooms to incorporate Aboriginal culture. For example, she suggests educators to present Aboriginal students with collaborative, holistic and visual learning opportunities (2). Similarly, in her article "Transforming Moral Education"Jane Martin suggests the importance of passing "new" information (such as the research on women in education) on to the next generation (68).

Following this research, I suppose that my final question is this: while the updating of curriculum could lead to innovation for our current education system, would it overwhelm educators? Students? They have been teaching/learning the same curriculum for years (some twenty and possibly more in other areas of Canada).

What do my read readers think about this? Can educational innovation overwhelm?

Works Cited:

Martin, J. R. (1987). Transforming moral education. Journal of Moral Education, 16(3), 204–213. 10.1080/0305724870160305

New Brunswick Curriculum Documents. Web. Retrieved from: http://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/departments/education/k12/content/anglophone_sector/curriculum_anglophone.html#3

Toulouse, P. R. (2008). Integrating Aboriginal teaching and values into the classroom. What Works? Research into Practice (Research monograph #11).