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To what degree the definitions of a progressivist curriculum as included in this section are
actualised in school curriculum (rather than only as a theoretical concept) is reported in
Chapter 8: Conclusion.
2.8.3 Entitlement approach.
Given the recent emergence of the entitlement approach, it is not anticipated that it will
feature significantly (if at all) in the analysis of school curriculum for this project. The
entitlement curriculum, as applied in this research, does not refer to general access to
education for disadvantages or low SES students, as is sometimes the case (see, for example
an analysis by Barber of the Union’s response to Thatcher’s education plans in the UK).
Although Barber’s statement that an entitlement approach “...emphasizes not only skills, but
also confidence, motivation and the love of learning” (Barber, 1992, p. 452) is allied with the
way it is used by Gilbert. To be clear, although the entitlement approach to curriculum is not
necessarily in opposition or contradiction to the following statement, its purpose in terms of
its applicability to Humanities curriculum is not used in the case of this research, as described
by Cox:
If we do not put a positive developmental model of early childhood education in the
place of the formal model we may find that we have created a generation of children
among whom many have not received their entitlement to educational opportunities
because what was offered was not accessible to them. (1996, p. 766)
The entitlement approach, then (which is still in its early years of development), takes on a
more futures perspectives, and as applicable to this research is described by Gilbert in the
following way:
...an entitlement approach to social education (Gilbert, 2003), where students are
given the technical mastery and the best available knowledge of concepts and values
as resources for building a desirable society. Students are entitled to be provided with
the concepts, processes and skills associated with contemporary institutions and
practices, and required for effective participation in society. However, students are
also entitled to apply and develop these learnings critically in ways which respect
their cultural origins, and which enable them to construct lives according to their
developing identities and commitments. (2005, p. 4)
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