This paper argues that Young and Muller's 'powerful knowledge' requires a more extensive conceptualization of the relation between knowledge and practice. However, rather than focus on the 'practice turn' in social theory as Carlgren has suggested, it is argued that what Rouse terms a 'normative practice' can help explicate the specialized…

"Dialectic Materialism as a Method of Doing Education" - was written over 30 years ago by one of us -- Huebner. Following an interesting dialogue we had over the last years, Dwayne suggested co-re-writing a revised piece to be published under both names. It explores at greater length the ideas that structured the initial piece and offers…

This article arises out of work undertaken within the After Religious Education project. It synthesizes the curriculum expertise of established researchers, with the expertise of current teachers of RE in England. A question drives our shared interests: how should we approach curriculum development in RE and how do we justify the approach taken?…

This article seeks to contribute to recent theorizing around the concept of powerful knowledge. I begin with a discussion of the current use of the term in both academia and the wider institutional environment of schools. I then give a detailed account of its origins in social realism before exploring different iterations of the concept in recent…

The work of teachers is regularly quizzed and questioned. The responses called for commonly implicate assessment, as this provides answers about learning, which many believe directly translate into answers about teaching. We question teaching differently, beginning with the basic what, how and who questions, while also posing the why question:…

In the ever-evolving realm of educational research, the design and validation of curricula is gaining prominence. Ensuring both the internal and external validity of such designs is vital, with external validity, specifically applicability, highlighting the practical feasibility and relevance in real-world educational contexts. Drawing on Dewey's…

How might we teach more successfully towards better relations between and among social groups? Recognizing factors that limit rapprochement with those with divergent worldviews has been a perennial concern for education research. However, more research is needed to understand how feelings of conflict arise, and thus this paper discusses terror…

In this paper, the author uses an AsianCrit analysis of US Department of War Educational Manual No. 42, Our Chinese Ally (EM42), a document of military curriculum from WWII. Their argues that EM42 demonstrates both a state-sanctioned [re]racialization of Chinese and Chinese Americans through simultaneous technologies of Sinophobia and…

This article addresses how 'powerful' curriculum theory might be constructed from the perspective of the German "Didaktik" tradition--highly compatible with Schwab's the Practical. To start with, I scrutinize Joseph Schwab's model of curriculum planning and Wolfgang Klafki's model of lesson preparation and examine two theories of content…

Teacher education programmes need to provide opportunities that support the integration of theory with practice. To date, there is little research on how to help preservice teachers apply professional knowledge to an important aspect of practice: lesson planning. The present research developed an educational approach to lesson planning by drawing…

Research shows that teachers and educators struggle to act when conflict appears in the classroom. This article argues that (political) conflict should not be avoided or eradicated. Teachers should enable conflict and attend to their pupils in the process, in order to enable further understanding of each other and their differences, as part of…

Amid debates about CRT in education, this paper critically analyses laws that have reportedly sought to expand 'education on racism, bias, the contributions of specific racial or ethnic groups to U.S. history, or related topics' with the hypothesis that there would be little evidence of anti-racist ideology in policies pertaining to curriculum.…

Empirical research on teachers' professional knowledge is mostly conducted worldwide with reference to the construct 'pedagogical content knowledge' (PCK) introduced by Lee S. Shulman. In the 'Consensus Model' (CM) and the 'Refined Consensus Model' (RCM), PCK was further developed and differentiated. Nevertheless, neither PCK nor CM and RCM…

Despite the rising popularity of scripted curricula in the United States public and charter schools, there has been little to no research that explicitly addresses how this phenomenon influences the democratic aims of our educational system. Using the six democratic values that Meira Levinson employed to evaluate the movement towards standards,…

Teachers are concerned with both student engagement and achievement of learning outcomes. Both are necessary, yet often considered in disconnected ways. We argue that such disconnection is a consequence of competing educational purposes, combined with an organizational framework for schooling that attempts to paste over the differences by…