The relationship between knowledge structure and curriculum

A Case Study in Sociology

Datos Bibliográficos

ID4097233
AutoresKathy Luckett (0000-0002-3544-4221, University of Cape Town, autor de correspondencia)
Año2009
Volumen34
Número4
Páginas441-453
Fecha de publicación2009-06-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaStudies in Higher Education (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0307-5079 • E-ISSN: 1470-174X
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/03075070902772018
OpenAlexW2165673336
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas13
Referencias citadas7

This article aims to address a theoretical question, ‘what is the relationship between knowledge structure and curriculum structure?’, by answering an empirical, context‐specific question, ‘what drives and legitimates the curriculum in one sociology department?’, with an emphasis on surfacing the ‘recontextualising rules’ at work in this particular institutional context. These questions were explored by conducting a case study in the wake of a departmental review. The conceptual framework for the article is based on Bernstein's sociology of education and on those who have developed his work further. The findings support Bernstein's characterisation of sociology as a discipline with weak external boundaries, a horizontal segmental structure and a ‘weak grammar’, and, it is suggested, with knowledge claims that tend to be legitimated by social rather than epistemic relations. In this particular case study, the horizontal, segmental structure of the discipline was seen to be reflected in a curriculum that currently lacks coherence and cohesion

Curriculum · Epistemology · Grammar · Higher education · Linguistics · Pedagogy · Political science · Social science · Sociology · Sociology of Education · Sociology of knowledge · Educational Theory and Curriculum Studies · Educator Training and Historical Pedagogy · Global Educational Policies and Reforms