Content area
The purpose of this study was to determine whether collective negotiations is dependent or independent of program development. This required an examination of the relationship between collective negotiations and program development in an attempt to determine the impact of either on the other.
As a prerequisite for examining the impact of collective negotiations on program development, it was necessary to describe the status of collective negotiations in schooling and to examine alternative approaches to program development. In this study, the status of collective negotiations was restricted to the positions of the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers. The program alternatives were restricted to the special case of Behaviorism as proposed by Skinner and Humanism as represented by Classical Humanism and the New Humanism.
An examination of the literature on collective negotiations revealed that "curriculum" described in terms of "what shall be taught" comes within the area of professional decisions that are subject to collective negotiations. Curricular matters must be considered within the context of program development.
Classical Humanism can provide a basis for program development. The primacy of selecting between and among competing views of the ideal man requires the intervention of program development.
Both the New Humanism and Behaviorism deal with learning. Learning is dependent on content. If the New Humanism and Behaviorism do not concern themselves with the problem of selecting and ordering content for schooling, then neither can serve as a basis for program development.
Given the power struggle that characterizes collective negotiations, it cannot provide an orderly mechanism for determining "what shall be taught." Program development, on the other hand, can provide a systematic basis for determining "what shall be taught." Therefore, program development may give substance to collective negotiations. Program development is independent of collective negotiations, but collective negotiations must be dependent on program development.