Argues that the hermeneutic tradition, used as an interpretive framework can be used as a powerful tool which allows curriculum theorists to reshape educational thought and practice. By placing educational experiences within an interpretive framework, curriculum theory can be reframed in terms of practice, deliberation, and choice. (GEA)

Outlines a theory of cognitive development designed to be useful in defining an ideal education and discusses the practical steps for achieving educational goals. Three stages of cognitive development are proposed and their implications for curriculum content and teaching strategies are discussed. (AM)

Contends that conventional teaching and textbooks fail to promote a critical analysis of the content they convey. Argues that failure to examine the meanings of words and ideas dehumanizes education, divorces knowledge from power, and promotes viewpoints which are both parochial and ahistoric. Describes how critical reading and the use of…

A pluralistic or eclectic use of educational theory is essential to curriculum deliberation in the sense that deliberation is enriched by the examination of problematic situations from a variety of perspectives. Skills, abilities, and sensitivities requisite to the practice of a critical pluralism are discussed. (RM)

Paul Hirst, a British philosopher of education, has something to say to American educators who are concerned with clarifying the purposes of secondary education. Hirst's thesis that liberal education is strictly grounded in the structure of propositional knowledge is discussed and critiqued. (RM)

Offers a conceptual framework for curriculum studies that establishes a linguistic and analytic basis for comparing the upper grades of secondary schools in the United States, England, Wales, and Australia. Reports fundamental contrasts between United States and other countries. Examines differences found in the areas of organizational structure…

Education is thought to provide a certain outcome--a "promise". I argue that a promise that education will counteract cultural and social disintegration involves a risk of engendering narrow social and cultural incorporation. On what reasonable basis could education contribute to civic life, when contemporary Western society is…

This paper examines some intersections among school literacy events and practices, identity formation, and the institutional practice known in the US as tracking. During a year-long, critical ethnographic study to examine how a team-taught, interdisciplinary curriculum impacted the development of students' literacies, it was found that not only…

Currently, definitions of "science", "reading", and "literacy" in the US lend a seemingly nonrelativistic permanence to these terms, and render them resistant to critique. This paper offers a theoretical frame for critiquing this permanence, analysing why early-literacy instruction is tightly tied to traditional forms…

Education in many countries is used to initiate children and young people into publicly accepted forms of knowledge and to further a common identity among members and citizens of the nation-state. This study discusses both an uncritical initiation to such knowledge and the value of criticality as an educational goal in terms of critical thinking,…

The exploration of history can be beneficial to curriculum change in three ways: (1) it can illuminate possibilities for action, (2) provide understandings of the unique contexts within which action has to be taken, and (3) play a part in the eclectic incorporation of theoretical knowledge in deliberation about change. (RM)

Five realistic suggestions are made with regard to stating objectives in order to facilitate the entire process of reaching the objectives. (JB)

Assesses the importance of the English philosopher Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) for curriculum development. His main contribution was arguing forcefully in favor of science in the controversy between classical and scientific education in Victorian England. Summarizes the main principles of Spencer's theory of knowledge, examines their application…

This paper discusses the reciprocal relationships among globalization, information and communication technologies (ICT), and the prospect of a "global village". The current metaphor of a "global village" (regardless of physical access to ICT) is problematic, and can be interpreted as a form of electronic colonization. However, through such…

Examines the social and cultural conditions in which U.S. art education was constructed, considering the social interests that underlay its formation. Traces curriculum theory from around 1870 to the present. States that the history of curriculum involves a story of social transformation, political interests, and economic agendas. (GEA)