Reinstating knowledge

Diagnoses and prescriptions for England’s curriculum ills

Dados Bibliográficos

ID12271908
AutoresJohn Beck (0000-0002-8128-8194, Homerton University Hospital, autor correspondente)
Ano2012
Volume22
Fascículo1
Páginas1-18
Data de publicação2012-03-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoInternational Studies in Sociology of Education (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0962-0214 • E-ISSN: 1747-5066
EditoraTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/09620214.2012.680322
OpenAlexW2048636576
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas9
Referências citadas15

This paper examines three recent accounts of what has allegedly gone wrong with the school curriculum in England in recent years and their prescriptions for remedying these ills – all three accounts sharing strong proposals to reinstate knowledge at the heart of the curriculum. These analyses, despite some significant similarities, come from very different political standpoints. They are: first, proposals by the current UK Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove to 'shrink' the National Curriculum whilst promoting a new English Baccalaureate; secondly Frank Furedi, Kathryn Ecclestone and Dennis Hayes' critiques of 'therapeutic education' and thirdly Michael Young and Johan Muller's proposals, grounded in a social realist epistemology, for a 'Future 3' curriculum which respects the objectivity of knowledge but also recognises its fallibility and openness to change. The paper concludes by suggesting that Michael Gove's basic objective is to shape what Basil Bernstein called a neoconservative prospective educational identity; the paper offers a critical assessment of this project and briefly considers an alternative approach, focusing on some issues relating to citizenship education

Citizenship · Curriculum · Epistemology · Objectivity (philosophy · Openness to experience · Pedagogy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Educational Theory and Curriculum Studies · Educator Training and Historical Pedagogy · Global Educational Policies and Reforms · Law · Psychology