No, exactly the opposite. The IPC is very pluralistic and explicitly based on the need to understand both the independence and interdependence between cultures and nations. It starts from an understanding of three ideas - that the nature of work is changing for many people, careers are changing for many people and global interaction is developing fast. These ideas are not 'ours', they are the synthesis of a number of different analyses of how the twenty-first century will develop and, therefore, what the world into which our children will grow will look like.
A template can be found in the IPC General File, (the green one), titled ‘IPC Background Information.’ There you will find a hard copy of the document "Producing your IPC Unit".
You can also find an electronic Word version on the disc sent to your school with the box of materials.
Alternatively, please contact the IPC office and we will email one to you.
Culture: A dictionary definition
1a. The totality of socially transmitted behaviour patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought. b. These patterns, traits, and products considered as the expression of a particular period, class, community, or population: Edwardian culture; Japanese culture; the culture of poverty. c. These patterns, traits, and products considered with respect to a particular category, such as a field, subject, or mode of expression: religious culture in the Middle Ages; musical culture; oral culture. d. The predominating attitudes and behaviour that characterize the functioning of a group or organization.
Each of these definitions seems to suggest to me that ‘culture’ is well-represented in the IPC and weaves its way through many if not all modules.
The IPC certainly addresses, in an age appropriate way,:
• Socially transmitted behaviour patterns
• Arts and beliefs
• Products of human work and thought
It absolutely addresses, in an age appropriate way:
• Patterns, traits and products as expressions of a particular period, class, community or population
It addresses, in an age appropriate way:
• Patterns, traits and products with respect to a category such as musical culture, oral culture
It also addresses, in an age appropriate way:
• The predominating attitudes and behaviour that characterize the functioning of a group or organisation.
So, I think the IPC is a curriculum that deals with cultural issues remarkably well. The point is, I suppose, whether we need modules devoted to the study of ‘culture’ and my own view is that this is inappropriate for children of primary age. It’s much better that they are able to build up a body of awareness about culture before they start treating it as a subject of study. There’s plenty of time for that later.
Except, of course, in one circumstance. It may well be that children of a particular nationality may benefit, when away from their home base, from a specific programme that keeps them in touch with the particular culture of their own country.