To educate feeling: Implementing social integration curriculum in Trinidad and Tobago, 1950 to 2000
In Trinidad and Tobago, a small multiethnic state in the Caribbean, education policies aimed at reducing inter-ethnic and inter-religious tensions, and at integrating diverse ethnic and religious groups into a national identity were implemented as content and pedagogy in the social studies curriculu...
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| Format: | Dissertation |
| Language: | English |
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ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
01-01-2011
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| Online Access: | Get full text |
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| Summary: | In Trinidad and Tobago, a small multiethnic state in the Caribbean, education policies aimed at reducing inter-ethnic and inter-religious tensions, and at integrating diverse ethnic and religious groups into a national identity were implemented as content and pedagogy in the social studies curriculum and as structural education policies meant to improve access to secondary schooling and social mobility for disadvantaged groups. Historical institutionalism theory in conjunction with frameworks and theoretical perspectives from comparative and international education, globalization and education, political science and public administration were used to analyze primary and secondary historical documents from the 1851 to 1950 period, semi-structured interviews of government bureaucrats and educators, and policy documents and policy-related documents from 1950 to 2000. Data analysis revealed that rules, routines and procedures from the 1851 to 1950 period were so institutionalized in the Trinidad and Tobago education system that they constrained the behavior of policy actors making it difficult for actors to adjust rules, routines and procedures to do things differently than they had in the past. As such, curriculum and structural education policies aimed at reducing inter-ethnic and inter-religious tensions, and at integrating diverse groups into a national identity during the 1950 to 2000 period were often formulated and implemented in much the same way as they were during the 1851 to 1950 period. Data analysis also revealed that the implementation of structural and curriculum policies aimed at reducing inter-ethnic and inter-religious tensions and at integrating diverse ethnic and religious groups into a national identity were hindered by several factors, including: the command and control nature of the Trinidad and Tobago bureaucracy; poor coordination between ministry of education agencies; the wording of statues; the knowledge and attitude of teachers; managerial skills; work load at all levels of the education system; as well as other contextual factors that are inherent to the Trinidad and Tobago case. |
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| ISBN: | 9781267010575 1267010576 |