Curriculum Studies, The Future of: Essay 1

We can think of six specific traditions of analysis that have had and will continue to have an impact on curriculum studies: technical, aesthetic, autobiographical, ethical, political, and historical. The first, technical, is concerned with what works—that is, its primary impulse is to examine the ways in which curricular and pedagogical goals are met. The second, aesthetic, treats curriculum as a construction that is best understood through the lenses of the arts so that it participates in the drama of creating meanings. The third, autobiographical, asks what curricula mean in terms of the actual experience of students, teachers, and others involved in the educational encounter. The fourth, ethical, is deeply concerned with curriculum as a moral encounter. It asks educators to treat others in a ...