Self-Study, Ideology, and Teacher’s Self-Knowledge in Guiding Curriculum Decisions

Abstract

What a teacher believes and envisions as an educator has a profound influence on teaching and learning. This paper explores the importance of self-study and teacher’s ideology as a methodology to systematically assess the evolutionary nature of teacher’s ideology and its importance in envisioning teaching and learning in K-12 education. Ideology is used in this paper to analyze how self-reflective practices and self-study are part of ideological formations in teachers and how a systematic analysis of teacher’s ideology is the lens through which we are able to unpack and critically analyze the impact that ideology has on curriculum and instruction in classroom settings. The paper presents a methodology teacher can use to deconstruct and assess their ideology to improve their instruction and support students’ learning in the classroom. van Dijk (1998) multidisciplinary approach to the study of ideologies via discursive formation will be used as an analytical lens in this paper.