Reinventing the Curriculum: New Trends in Curriculum Policy and Practice

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Scotland's Curriculum for Excellence offers an example of a different approach to national curriculum development. It combines what are claimed to be the best features of top-down and bottom-up approaches to curriculum development, and provides an indication of the broad qualities that school education should promote rather than a detailed description of curriculum content. Advocates of the approach argue that it provides central guidance for schools and maintains national standards whilst at the same time allowing schools and teachers the flexibility to take account of local needs when designing programmes of education. Reinventing the Curriculum uses Scotland's Curriculum for Excellence as a rich case study, analysing the strengths and weaknesses of this approach to curriculum design and development, and exploring the implications for curriculum planning and development around the world.

Reviews

As Priestley and Biesta note, there is currently something of a renaissance of interest in curriculum and this volume makes a very fine contribution to that discussion. The book examines carefully but provocatively many of the features and tensions flagged in current curriculum reforms internationally the concerns about more child-centred and active learning; the active role of the teacher; the aim to build particular types of individuals for the 21st century; the policy concerns with economics and measurement. This is an important, provocative and beautifully readable collection. * Lyn Yates, Pro Vice-Chancellor of Research, University of Melbourne, Australia *
This book marks a distinct turn in substantive books about curriculum it moves us from a generation of books about competing models of curriculum design to a more intense, empirical and grounded account of Scotlands ground breaking Curriculum for Excellence. In addition it provides both fascinating international comparisons and significant critique of some popular curriculum concepts this book has a razor sharp edge and cannot be read without being forced to re-examine many comfortable assumptions about curricula around the world. * David Leat, Professor of Curriculum Innovation, University of Newcastle, UK *
Reinventing the Curriculum provides an up-to-date and valuable text for those interested in trends in curriculum policy and practice and the ever accompanying tensions and contradictions in curricular conversations. The book provides a much appreciated analysis of Scotland's Curriculum for Excellence and places the Scottish approach in a more international perspective. The authors successfully encourage the reader to become critically engaged with the direction of curriculum for the 21st century. * Nienke Nieveen, Senior Curriculum Researcher, SLO Netherlands Institute for Curriculum Development, The Netherlands *
Reinventing the Curriculum is an essential text for all curriculum scholars and teachers who wish to understand and explore 21st century curriculum making. Grounded in a case study of Scotlands Curriculum for Excellence and against the backdrop of international trends, the authors present a critical analysis of the educational legitimacy, purpose and value of current initiatives. In doing so, they remoralize, repoliticize and revitalize conversations about curriculum development. * Anne Phelan, Professor in the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy, University of British Columbia, Canada *

Author Bio

Mark Priestley is Professor of Education at the University of Stirling, UK. He is a member of the Council of the British Educational Research Association. Gert Biesta is Professor of Educational Theory and Policy in the Faculty of Language and Literature, Humanities, Arts and Education at the University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg. He is editor-in-chief of Studies in Philosophy and Education.