Curriculum, Pedagogy, and the Constitutional Rights of Teachers in Secondary Schools

• Main Author: HUNTER, Howard
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 1983
• Subjects: Education; Education Law
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/2134; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sol_research/article/4086/viewcontent/CurriculumPedagogyConstitutionalRightsTeachers_1983.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

American schools have served as battlegrounds for competing social policies for generations. Major national disputes have centered on racial problems, busing, and federal funding. Local debate continues over curricula, teacher competence, pedagogical methods, textbooks and library books, discipline, and such trivial matters as hairstyle. Nationally, the current debates about school prayer and tax credits for the payment of private school tuition have consumed the time and resources of numerous individuals. These disputes show no sign of abating. Teachers are the most significant participants in the educational process. Their work involves those activities--speaking, writing, and questioning--that constitute the core values protected by the first amendment. The law, however, subjects teachers from the kindergarten through the university levels to a variety of limitations on both written and spoken expression. Statutes, ordinances, regulations, and contract provisions affect classroom activity, academic research, publication decisions, hiring and firing within the school, and sometimes, the scope of permissible behavior outside the school itself.