Despite the increasing popularity of studies on teachers' national curriculum adaptations, there is no comparative study elucidating teachers' adaptations in centralized and decentralized educational contexts through sense-making theory lenses. This paper presents a comparative case study of Turkish and Swedish senior classroom teachers'…

In this case study, we explore pedagogical practices that could promote powerful knowledge in school history. We analyse teaching sessions conducted by two teachers. The cases were selected from an observation study that focused on historical literacy in Finnish schools. While Michael Young's ideas of powerful knowledge have gained considerable…

This paper focuses on a specific example of an all-too-rare phenomenon in education studies: the successful resistance by ordinary classroom teachers of policy change at the macro-level. Focusing on the withdrawal of the 2013 Draft National Curriculum for History in England, it considers the views of six teachers who were personally involved in…

Previous papers in this issue of "JCS" have presented case studies of the state-based curriculum commissions that developed the "Illinois Learning Standards" of 1997 and Norway's "Laereplanverket 1997" ("L97") (1997). The studies were developed using as a framework a body of German research that sees…

This case study of the development of the Norwegian compulsory school curriculum of 1997, "Laereplanverket 1997," parallels a study of the development of the "Illinois Learning Standards" of 1997. The pair of case studies is designed to explore the administration of state-based curriculum-making and, in particular, the use in…

This case study of the development of the "Illinois Learning Standards" of 1997 parallels a study of the development of the Norwegian compulsory school curriculum of 1997, "Laereplanverket 1997." The pair of case studies is designed to explore the administration of state-based curriculum-making and, in particular, the use of…

The content for the school science curriculum has always been an interplay or contest between the interests of a number of stakeholders, who have an interest in establishing it at a new level of schooling or in changing its current form. For most of its history, the interplay was dominated by the interests of academic scientists, but in the 1980s…

Using Singapore as a case study, this paper examines how the discourses of democratic elitism and meritocracy help allocate different citizen roles to students and define the nature of the social studies citizenship education programmes for different educational tracks. While the Singapore education system is not unique in its stratification of…

Broadening the role of teachers in curriculum development was among the fundamental objectives of educational reforms in the formerly communist Eastern Europe in the 1990s. The research done so far, however, calls into question the degree to which teachers perceive the relevant changes in curriculum and their new role. This article first describes…

National curricula are being challenged and transformed by the impact of migration and European integration. This paper examines how cultural diversity and Europe are intertwined in geography, history, and citizenship education curricula in Greece, Germany, and England. This question is explored using quantitative and qualitative methods through a…

School-based curriculum development has been a highlight of China's new curriculum reform since 1999. This reform introduces a curriculum policy change towards devolving partial power in curriculum decision-making to teachers, and invites their active involvement in transforming their role from being book-knowledge transmitters to curriculum…

The Business Education Council (BEC) is a national curriculum agency in England established to plan and administer nondegree courses in business education. Reported here are findings of a case-study investigation into the implementation of BEC national certificate courses at a further educational college. (RM)

Suggests that the formation and implementation of the National Curriculum for England and Wales has been a dialectical process involving legislators, administrators, and teachers. Using case studies, discusses some problems with the curriculum and schools' responses that may work against a truly national curriculum. Criticizes reduced local…