Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies

The Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies (CACS) is a constituent association of the Canadian Society for the Study of Education (CSSE). The mission of CACS is to support discussions of curricula that are of interest to Canadian educators. Curriculum is broadly understood to mean any complex structure(s) that supports learning and teaching.

Although CACS is concerned with curriculum in general, the association has a particular interest in several areas as defined by the following five special interest groups: (1) Arts Researchers and Teachers Society, (2) Canadian Critical Pedagogy Association, (3) Science Education Research Group, (4) Language and Literacy Researchers of Canada, and (5) Francophone Group for the Study of Education in a Minority Context.

CACS is a constituent association of the CSSE along with 10 other associations and one graduate student committee. In turn, the CSSE is a constituent organization of the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences (CFHSS), a group that brings together over 66 scholarly associations and 73 universities and colleges, representing more than 50,000 scholars, graduate students, and practitioners from across Canada. The federation supports the advancement of research in the humanities and social sciences, and CSSE is one of a very small number of large associations within the organization. The CFHSS offers its member organizations a range of programs. For instance the CFHSS hosts the single largest annual multidisciplinary gathering of scholars in North America (approximately 9,000) and administers a series of research seminars on Parliament Hill (federal government). But perhaps more importantly, the CFHSS acts as a representative to the federal government on matters relating to research in the humanities and social sciences. This means that CSSE, and thus its constituent associations (including CACS), has a voice on Parliament Hill as well.

In recent years, CACS has sponsored a biannual mid-year conference called Provoking Curriculum. In addition to this, CACS has typically sponsored a 1-day preconference before the 4-day CSSE congress (in which CACS is the largest constituent group offering sessions). The online Journal of the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies is well regarded in the field.

CACS presents awards each year: two PhD dissertations awards, two master's theses awards, an outstanding publication in Canadian curriculum studies award, Ray Ryan Statistics Canada Prize for Curriculum Studies, and finally, a Ted T. Aoki Award for Distinguished Service in Canadian Curriculum Studies.

CACS is also affiliated with the International Association for the Advancement of Curriculum Studies and through CSSE provides an occasional research session at the American Educational Research Association annual conference.