The New Curriculum History - Parkes

Peter Lang AG
Chapter Two: The New Curriculum History

Author(s): Robert John Parkes
Source: Counterpoints, Vol. 404, INTERRUPTING HISTORY: Rethinking History Curriculum
after 'The End of History' (2011), pp. 21-42
Published by: Peter Lang AG
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/42981093
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The
In this c
set out. I
upon wh
theory,
lum as t
history,
sis, and
no singl
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reader o
what ha
hermene
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1992). Su
curriculu
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pedagog
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2004).
Reconceptualizing Curriculum History

According to Pinar, "curriculum theory is a distinctive field of study, with a
unique history, a complex present, an uncertain future" (2004, p. 2). He
22 Interrupting History
argues that in comparing curriculum the

sociology, and philosophy, we should not
locate its origin within the field of educat
understanding that "curricula are historic
that inscribe styles of reasoning, standar
school practices and its subjects," and the
practice of governing and an effect of po
tution of particular rationalities, ident
1997, p. 151). In investigating curriculum
is important to note that curriculum theo
ever existed as anything like a monolithi
lum theorizing remains multiple, fractur
and cultures of curriculum vary, sometim
enee have argued that "the central prob
understood as a double problem of the
practice, on the one hand, and of the r
society, on the other" (1986, p. 22). At
trajectories in curriculum theory freque
either one or the other of these two centr
Orientations Towards the Central Problems

of Curriculum Theory
When the first problem- the relationship between educational theory and
practice- is the focus of curriculum theory, heuristics tend to define the variety
of roles adopted by the curricularist. For example, James B. Macdonald's
(1975) somewhat dated but still efficacious map of the field identifies three
distinct approaches to curriculum theory: (1) a form of evaluative curriculum
philosophizing that uses theory as a guide for engaging in curriculum devel-
opment and research; (2) a form of curriculum conceptualizing that uses
theory to build curriculum constructs that can be tested empirically for the
purpose of determining the most efficient and effective curriculum prescrip-
tions and pedagogical practices; and (3) a form of intellectual "free play" that
uses theory to articulate and critique conceptual schema, to reconceptualize
contemporary curricular practices, or to generate new curriculum orientations
and possibilities. In practical terms, this tripartite scheme can be rearticulated
as a distinction between bipolar tendencies in curriculum scholarship: the
curricularist as consultant or educational designer who works to design effec-
tive courses, pedagogical practices, and/or units of study; and the curricularist
The New Curriculum History 23
as generalist or theorist/critic who question

about education (Cherryholmes, 1987; Petřin
It is possible to depict the ways different cu
with the theory-practice problem as the resu
three orientations that produce different fo
tional research may be conceived and cond
theoretic (propositional knowledge in the fo
"knowing that..."); (2) the practical (judgm
decisions, or "knowing I/we should.. ."); an
form of productive procedures, or "knowing
While deliberative curriculum inquiry is e
practical," much of radical curriculum theor
theoretic" and has positioned itself against "
portance of these various forms of knowledge
that "a curriculum perspective that Chooses'
questions appears to be naïve, obfuscating,
wrong, confused, or fuzzy" (Reynolds & Webb
If the second problem- the relationship be
becomes the focus of curriculum theory, then w
orientations in the field of curriculum sch
which scholars deal with the problem of edu
identified as being system-oriented, system-su
system-opposing theorists. Others have sugge
inevitably: (1) social transmissionists who ado
tion associated with the traditional model of
Tyler Rationale, which is concerned with
"knowledge transfer" from one generation t
knowledge about effective pedagogy through
carefully designed and controlled interventio
a reconceptualist orientation that encourages
lum as lived experience and/or human me
concerned with understanding curriculum, i
tion, and effects; or (3) social reconstructionis
orientation, associated with various forms of
attempts to make explicit the implicit or h
through curriculum as social practice, and
vehicle of liberation and emancipation, soc
empowerment, and/or cultural critique (A
Such distinctions can be closely related to
praxis-oriented knowledge interests articulate
theorist Jürgen Habermas. When constru

curriculum inquiry often is positioned b
what they perceive as the "instrumentali
technically oriented curriculum theory (
Sometimes scholars develop heuristics th
two central problems of curriculum theo
portance of considering the theory-practi
together. This results in hybrid schema.
has identified the deployment of five "value
lum theory that result in discussions of
describes as technical, political, scientific,
viewpoints results in different curricu
Alternatively, Kliebard (1987) identifies cu
narians, social efficiency experts, deve
depending on whether they were concerne
curriculum prescription, instantiating
design, or correcting the "ills of society"
another schema, Eisner and Vallance (197
as the development of cognitive processes
development of intellectual processes and
with locating, testing, or developing the
sired curricular outcomes; self-actualizat
enabling or self-empowerment process; s
the reform of society in the interests of
future for our children; and academic ra
ing the young into the knowledge, skills,
provide them with the tools required to
tradition. Despite the limitations of the
attempting to map the curriculum field, it i
ulum scholars with specific movements b
orientations to solving educational problem
of curriculum. Of all the contemporary ap
radical curriculum theory in its critical-r
most influence on my approach in this vo
Radical Curriculum The

Although by no means a unified approac
curriculum theory has two prominent and
and reconceptualist curriculum theory. These

and borrow from each other, and they may
within the reconceptualist movement itsel
(2009) to use the synthetic epithet "critical-rec
working within this tradition. What has been
lum theory is usually identified with the eme
education" movement that included the work
later, Basil Bernstein in the United Kingdo
Gintis in the United States, R. W. Connell in
and Jean-Claude Passeron in France. Radical c
in the American pragmatist and socialist move
ley, 1992). There are traces of this genealogy
some contemporary radical curriculum theor
ever, the writings of Giroux and other radica
the adoption of a Gramscian and Althusserian
critique, Marcusian emancipatory philosophy,
"critical pedagogy," a turn towards the work o
cal theory of the Vygotskian Cultural Histor
Miedema & Wardekker, 1999).
In the 1980s radical curriculum theory was
the work of Michael Apple, Henry Giroux, an
many ways foundational in the critical pedago
In Australia, radical curriculum theorizing em
form of the socially critical curriculum mov
pact in the area of English, and more broadly
Much of the literature on feminist approache
derstood as a strand of radical theorizing, of
McLaren- "pedagogy" over "curriculum," plac
set of practices whilst remaining in many cas
1991). Sharing vocabulary drawn from neo-M
Marcuse, and Althusser, and concerned with
critical consciousness, cultural capital, and so
ist curriculum theories both contrast wit
"hermeneutically oriented" approaches within
radical curriculum theorizing. Although neith
impact in "mainstream" Australian curricu
emergence of a movement (Green, 2003), both
cance for this book, for it is as a work of cr
history that this study attempts to engage wit
curriculum after "the end of history." Explor
and methodological issues of critical-reconc

relationship to the New Curriculum History
of this chapter.
Curriculum History and the

When Pinar published his influential collec
Reconceptualists in the mid-1970s, he descr
just under way" (1975, p. xi). Only a few
emerging body of reconceptualist curriculu
the writing published to date may be some
tary in its significance for the field" (Pin
adoption and continuing use of conceptu
phenomenology in order to understand th
and somewhat later, its appropriation of po
the reconceptualists is not a consistent met
tion of their work. The three markers of
work- (1) an interest in going beyond the
tionale; (2) the deployment of various f
continental European genealogy); and (3) an
tion or emancipatory intent- help to blur
make between reproductionist and reconce
while downplaying differences in approach
of radical curriculum theory, broadly conc
With a view of curriculum as a "complica
modes of inquiry for scholars working w
movement are not "scientific" or "techno-r
philosophical, and literary (Pinar, 2004). Sc
tion frequently challenge notions that rec
from practice" (see Wraga, 1999), with arg
should be marked by richness, diversity, di
rationalities, and theories, and should be tou
in a hundred thousand contexts" (Morrison
the North American curriculum scholar Edm
fecundity, and multiplicity as it applied to
article in Curriculum Perspectives , the Au
curriculum studies journal.
According to Short (1991) in his thorough
curriculum studies, historical inquiry aims
actions and associated events that occurred som

striking features of historical inquiry are its appli
methodologies and its use of compelling story
explanation. In contrast, in Shorťs view, the f
sophical inquiry is to grapple with life's centr
covering issues related to epistemological, meta
cal, axiological, ontological, and cosmological p
follows a process of intellectual and conceptua
tions are raised about contemporary pro
constructions; answers are proposed; the implic
and the reasonableness of any answers are subjec
is often identified by a form of dialectic inquir
of analysis, synthesis, and criticism. Finally, lit
embraces forms of both artistic and hermeneu
inquiry attempts to help us understand the
through creative artworks, hermeneutic or "in
develop an understanding of the meaning peop
and actions. Typically, this involves a procedure
a text associated with the topic of inquiry and
relation to each other, the whole text, and the
whether this act occurs inside a conservative, c
of reference, there will be different expectations
realized through this process.
The adoption of historical, philosophical, and
within critical-reconceptualist curriculum stud
the interdisciplinary study of educational exp
takes. This stands in contradistinction to narrow
limited to the study or design of a school d
quence guides or official published syllabi. The
the "course" of our individual and collective
seen clearly in the field. However, the "reconc
did not stop with the appropriation of a ph
Implicated in the movement from modernism
of curriculum inquiry, the reconceptualizati
hermeneutic tradition, the impact of which ha
tion' to 'representation' as an organizing princip
critical pedagogy" (Green, 1993, p. 202). Wh
meant for the field is a broadly realized "text
wide range of insights, interpretive tools, meth
nental philosophy, literary theory, social

understanding of curriculum as social text
Reading Curriculum as T
Understanding curriculum as text require
literary, social, and hermeneu tic theo
reconceptualist curriculum theory has inc
array of theoretical traditions and, as a r
"text" that it consistently mobilizes, there
nature of text that are widely shared by
curriculum theorists. In the latter half of
was used in a range of disciplinary fields
cluding fashion, food, gestures, actions, an
just that which is written down on a page
porary philosophical hermeneutics- as the
much of the critical work conducted in t
read the world, lived experience, and all h
hermeneutists, poststructuralists, postc
critical theorists, and curriculum reconce
commodates all human practices, produ
curriculum-, text becomes a synonym for
rial culture as text, curriculum (as c
experience) is rendered capable of bein
1990).
Once curriculum is understood as a text in this way, it can be "read" by
teachers, students, and educational administrators. It problematizes research
that assumes a stable relationship between planned and enacted curricula, or
between educational experience and its documentation and interpretation.
Rendered as text, curriculum becomes subject to negotiation as the agency of
its "readers" is exercised through individual interpretation. Constituted inde-
pendent of its readers, the text is never "a fully imagined and fully controlled
product of its author's mind" because inevitably it carries a surplus of mean-
ing, or at least it can be read in a variety of ways that go beyond the author's
intended meanings (Fuery & Mansfield, 2000, p. 145). Curriculum as text is
thus incapable of representing the world in an unproblematic way; rather, "the
world it 'represents' is manifold and diverse, always subject to interpretation,
construction and reconstruction" (Kemmis, 1993, p. 52). This particular kind
of understanding of text has led some researchers to argue that "texts do not
exist on bookshelves: they are processes of s

the practice of reading . . . [ensuring that] t
author" (Eagleton, 1983, p. 74). Because a t
specific sociocultural situation, and its interp
events occurring around the time of reading,
meaning- it remains an inexhaustible galaxy o
of codes and code fragments, such that their
rie (Eagleton, 1983; Silverman, 1990). Rat
entities, texts constitute their boundaries vi
constituted by intertextuality, the transform
across texts. In other words, texts are never
mind, but instead reproduce and rework s
located in other texts. The intertextual relati
ing not only references to ideas drawn from
textual structures in composition, make text
appear. Resultantly, text must be understood
bears within itself possibilities of meaning t
syntactic arrangement" (Gallagher, 1993, p. 6
The suggestion that meaning is not solely
syntactic arrangement does not mean that "an
tation. Rather, it should support recognition
interpreted alongside and in response to the
sociohistorically constituted subjectivity and c
genre-based reading expectations, rather than
thing that is found within it. Meaning in th
more importantly, relational- never solely o
Thus, we should work on the assumption tha
that the text is constantly being reinvented b
p. 36). Understanding the process of reading
Young argues that "text functions as a transgres
author as centre, limit, and guarantor of tru
(1981, p. 31). The text, by inviting the birth
author (Barthes, 1968/1977).
We must be mindful, however, of Gallagher
very act of reading, and conditions implicate
and in the structure of the text . . . [are the]
tute the limits within which the reader con
text" (1993, p. 5). While the text precludes an
or method of reading, the author's linguistic
making some readings more or less likely. Stat
The text mediates: it is neither a direct expression

from it. So meaning in the text is dual. It is
organization and syntax and in the relation of the
332)
We might add that, in addition to emerging from the relationship of text to

world, and reader to (authored) text, meaning is determined by the "cultural
tools" or wsociocultural templates" that mediate these relationships, whether in
the guise of text-forms or reading strategies. Conceptualizing curriculum as
text draws attention to the "semiotically mediated" nature of the educational
encounter. Practically, this means that as individuals engage with and appro-
priate the physical and symbolic tools made available in the curriculum, they
both reproduce culture and simultaneously transform it via mutations they
introduce into the social through unexpected interpretations and novel tool-
use, a consequence of the demands of unique and situated performance. In
sociocultural terms, curriculum functions as a culturally framed and socially
mediated educational experience that constrains possible outcomes and expe-
riences through its representational strategies and structures, and
simultaneously provides possibilities for the agency of individual learners as
they navigate and negotiate unique situations, and in the process, it redefines
the educational experience (Engestrom, 1999; Wertsch & Penuel, 1998).
The meaning of curriculum as text for curriculum inquiry can also be un-
derstood, in part, from a useful comparison with educational policy research
methodology. Jenny Ozga, exploring educational policy as text, has argued that
"we should not restrict our understanding of texts to those that come with
'policy texť stamped all over them" (2000, p. 95). She makes the case that
beyond
White and Green papers, Bills and Acts of Parliament, regulations governing
decision-making at all levels of provision . . . [we should] extend the category of policy
text to include documentary or other materials that can be read as significant within
the discursive parameters of an investigation, provided that detailed justification is
given for their inclusion. (Ozga, 2000, p. 95)
I think it is clear from the critical-reconceptualists that the same case can be
made for "curriculum text" in the kinds of historical, philosophical, or literary
inquiry undertaken by the contemporary curriculum historian. In practice,
this means broadening the base of the curriculum text from syllabus docu-
ments to textbooks, teaching resources, academic articles (that posit
educational ideals or analyze the pedagogic effects of discourse), educational
policy documents (where they describe the intended experience of students
and educators), newspaper articles and editorials (that critique existing school
practices and outcomes, or express opinions about ideal educational realities),
statements made by education ministers during

representations of a course or program in a un
construct particular visions of the teaching pr
gogic "ideas" that can be located within and/
practices become a potential object of study. S
has involved the production and interpretation
as those that emerge from autobiograph
educational experience; we see the production o
work of the early reconceptualists (Pinar & Gr
means, after the hermeneutic turn, using
"educational experience" as if it were a text, w
that records such experience (in written or oral
According to Mann, "to regard a curriculum
first of all to think of it as a set of selections f
(1975, p. 135). Because of the curriculum's inev
possibilities are opened for "reading" curric
political, racial, gendered, aesthetic, queer, Ut
tional, theological, or historical text (Pinar, R
1995). The possibilities are almost limitless, bu
"disarticulation" of the text- the disruption of
as common-sense, obvious, transparent, natural
opens the text up to critical questioning (MacLu
of representation" that is implicated in curricu
act of writing a text that interrogates curriculu
that takes seriously Alison Lee's (2000) descript
in which the production of a new "intertextual
curricularists must be selective both in what th
compose, no single critique is or will ever be e
ever, a critique's success is perhaps best judg
encourages the reader to think differently abo
curriculum field.
Discourse Analysis as a Mode of C
The reconceptualization of curriculum theory d

of curriculum as text. After its initial hermeneut
studies continued to show signs that its practit
new ways of engaging in reconceptualization. In
of reconceptualist theorizing- or if one prefer
theorizing- appeared. Some of the theori

reconceptualist inquiry began to adopt ap
were noticeably influenced by poststructu
of postmodern social theory. The 1990s a
curriculum scholarship to issues of langu
drawing particularly upon poststructuralis
resource. In Expanding Curriculum Theor
(2004), Reynolds and Webber proclaimed
of postmodern curricularists who work as
'do curriculum' on an alternate playing
methods from various forms of poststruc
typically challenges wan idea, concept, tr
immediately puts it under erasure, challen
knowledge, power, and will in curri
Certainly, there has been a turn to
cultural studies and the virtually ubiquitous post

work of the original reconceptualists . . . bu
radically untraditional characteristics (such as th
spaces, theorizing social justice) for granted
theoretical limits of curriculum theorizing. (Wr
This particular kind of approach to curri

possibilities that arise through a conceptu
discourse"- discourses about pedagogy, an
effect (by inscribing a particular set of m
critical insight of poststructural discourse
statements outside of discourse. Thus, an
or scholar is subject to the same "suspicio
discourse theorist. To place a Foucauldi
statement "il n'y a pas de hors-texte" (19
discourse/text, because it is discourse th
claim made.
Conceptions of Discourse in E
Let me begin my exploration of "discourse
Stephen Ball's claim, made inside a somew
discourse are related but distinct cultu
nature of this relationship depends upon
to which one subscribes. The phenome
asserted that "text is any discourse fixed by w

his intention, this limits the definition of text t
reader of Ricoeur, it renders discourse simpl
cautioned against the tendency to reduce disc
ing of text as a "material object" rather than
reworking or rewording Ricoeur's proposition,
material object and material practice- is cons
discourse bleeds beyond the boundaries of a s
across texts, forming a network of intertextu
appreciate these statements and their signifi
History, we need to understand what is meant by
There are multiple conceptions and definiti
contemporary theory, and a wide variety of w
is taken up as a practice in educational theo
Mills, 1997). It would seem that almost the fu
has been mobilized within the field of curric
oriented study of the concept of discourse rev
ing from the interaction of ideas across t
poststructuralism, linguistics, post-Freudian p
the field of cultural studies. It is important t
of contemporary research credits Foucault w
adoption of the term discourse , it has been
Sawyer (2002) that it is not the strict Foucau
mobilized in contemporary scholarship. Sawy
origin of the "broad usage" of the term, part
used, is two other French theorists, the Marx
analyst Jacques Lacan, and many of the theor
field of British cultural studies during the 19
the confusion himself, stating in The Archaeolog
own formal definition, he has used discourse
sometimes as the general domain of all statem
alizable group of statements, and sometim
accounts for a number of statements" (Fouca
common or broad usage of the term often fl
senses, with different disciplines placing mor
tion or another, two particular conception
literature: We might describe them as the lite
definitions.
Within Literary and Cultural Studies, discou
sets of "authoritative statements" that are said to stand in "intertextual rela-
tionship" with one another. Texts thus inst

as "discourse," or sets of "authoritative
statements" or "master narratives" not on
power, but also are so seductive that often i
ous to think otherwise. Understood in t
"discourse" functions as a kind of scaffoldin
reasoning are constructed. Such "authoritat
the "flesh" of the text, but also discursive
"intelligibility" to different audiences as fa
Popkewitz, 2001). Mobilized as a term for
course" has been heavily influenced by Fou
claimed as its origin. Foucaulťs insight that
knowledge are joined together" (1980, p.
discourse theory in education.
For Foucault (1991), "discourse" was unde
that form the objects of which they speak,
or written that are or can be grouped acco
their existence as authoritative statements
tualize the "rules" that form the "condition
constraints and affordances of a linguistic
formation for objects, operations, concept
conditions that broker the limits and form
memory, reactivation, and appropriation. T
can and cannot be said but also what may b
given discipline, community, or institution
as Foucault expresses it, "discourse can be b
power" (1980, p. 101). Importantly, Foucau
on what he describes as "the archive," the s
that have been made in a given field, di
conceptualization of discourse presents the
riculum as archive, or a series of statem
pedagogical intent or that have engendered,
tive effect. In a Foucauldian sense, "discour
of "knowledge systems" (Popkewitz, Frankl
" serious speech acts: what experts say when t
fus & Rabinow, 1982, p. xx, emphasis in th
and accepted within a discipline, community
Practically, Foucaulťs discourse analytics
tween intradiscursive, interdiscursive, a
"between the objects, operations and co
"between different discursive formations" or

sive transformations and transformations outside of discourse . . . discourse
and a whole play of economic, political and social changes" (1991, p. 58).
According to Baker and Heyning (2004), within educational research, the
adoption of Foucault-inspired approaches to "discourse analysis" has resulted
in a tendency towards historicization and philosophizing projects that provide
insight into the "conditions of possibility" for certain curricular or pedagogic
discourses; denaturalization projects that challenge the universality and nor-
mativity of particular educational practices; and critical reconstruction projects
that marshal towards reconceptualizing the curriculum imagination, or a
particular policy or pedagogic practice. While this book is readily identified as
a work of critical reconstruction, it is clear that such a project overlaps in
significant ways with historicization/philosophizing and denaturalization
approaches, and may not be possible without them.
Although versions of Foucaulťs definition of discourse, and approaches to
discourse analysis purportedly influenced by Foucault, are widely mobilized in
educational research and have had some play in the field of curriculum stud-
ies, an alternative definition that has arisen within the discipline of linguistics
enjoys currency in education studies more broadly. In linguistics, discourse is
typically defined as language in use. This conception of discourse has led some
linguists to focus almost exclusively on the grammatical (syntactic, grapho-
phonemic, phonological, semantic, pragmatic, and morphological) rules used
by a speaker to construct meaning in different communicative situations and
cultural contexts, resulting in emergent subdisciplines such as "conversation
analysis." In other words, linguists studying "discourse" are concerned with
how the mobilization of linguistic resources to construct meaning varies as a
function of communicative purpose, cultural and situational context, and
relationship between interlocutors. They typically study language as social
semiosis, a set of signifying resources to be deployed for social purposes.
Within such a sociolinguistic perspective, "discourse," or more correctly, a
"discursive formation," appears as the regularly repeated written or spoken
text-forms (registers and genres) that are the conventions for making meaning
under specific sets of conditions constituted by purpose, context, and audi-
ence. Discourse therefore operates as a culturally constituted limit condition,
and also manifests via a set of socially shared presentational, orientational, and
organizational resources that shape linguistic and nonlinguistic behavior
(Halliday, 1985; Lemke, 1995).
Given the context-bound regularities that are apparent in the reproduc-
tion of specific forms of discourse, the sociolinguist James Paul Gee has
proposed that human beings navigate between alternate "discourse communi-
ties" (Gee, 1990). Gee's suggestion, redolent

everyday and scientific thinking, is that w
from our home/family environment, and
courses" within scholastic and ultimately
understanding and controlling one's own l
becomes the key to successfully negotiating
so is frequently depicted as a kind of socia
important part in distributing. Thus, a key
adopted by linguists studying "discourse
systematic attention to linguistic and semio
tions and contexts. This approach to discou
and cultural studies approaches in its atten
that are made to construct meaning, an
method- based upon the work of Halliday
linguistics school- rather than an intertextu
Oftentimes, linguistic and cultural defini
is the case in the various forms of Critica
tioners of CDA can be identified by their a
and discursive practices mirror the sociop
individual lives, constructing their "practi
tique" that relocates discourse and text wit
and consumption. Drawing upon the close
choices deployed within texts, the CDA an
examples of how a text constructs an un
contribution to CDA has been Gee's conc
lower-case d as "language-in-use" and Discou
doings-thinkings-feelings-valuings" (Gee
values, beliefs, attitudes, social identities,
positions, and clothes" (Gee, 1992, p. 107);
form of life or their way of being in the
course," approaches that purport to be form
all adopt a strategy that involves exposing
semiotic tools, the ways in which text (incl
ates as an ideological instrument, a tool of
CDA not only works across, and often b
various definitions of discourse articulat
adopts an approach to discourse that is info
poststructuralism, despite its claims, becau
conceal realities as much as it constructs th
While the space created by the blurring of

domain of curriculum studies, the approach t
the critical-reconceptualist is typically literar
This has particular consequences for curriculu
produced is that there is no escaping disco
considered to be embodied in, and to shape, b
tice). Subjectivity is understood as an arti
historically contingent. Unsurprisingly then,
promises no trans-subjective truths from rese
recovered by the act of interpretation, nor an
authorize the method of inquiry.
The recognition that the researcher is as mu
course as that which is studied, and tha
interpretation, marks a moment of self-reflexivi
olds and Webber argue that:
the purpose of discourse analysis [in curriculum theor

discourse means, but to investigate how it works, wha
exteriority), how it interacts with nondiscursive prac
power and knowledge. (Reynolds & Webber, 2004, p
Further, within a poststructuralist approach to

likely to be given to the effects of statement
they permit and create, rather than to their
1993). Pedagogic or curriculum discourse an
historian thus is not a way of constituting the
classroom speech act or vocal exchange; instea
way of highlighting how "serious statements"
constitute and coordinate particular forms of k
reasoning about the self and the world at par
social circumstances (Popkewitz, 2001). This in
objects of curriculum history.
Reading Curriculum as Disc

Methods of the New Curriculu
James B. Macdonald (1975) has asserted that th
ulum theorizing are inevitably statements ab
ways of knowing- the "nature" of what is to
(epistemology); (2) pedagogical decision-ma
realities- what can be taught and learned w

situation (ontology); and (3) valued skills, c
currently being, or should be taught (ax
curriculum from within the field defy an
"descriptive, explanatory, controlling, legitim
(Huebner, 1975, p. 256). Pronouncements
tive or idealistic statements about what cu
statements about what curriculum actually
experienced (Smith &l Lovat, 1995). A di
from the perspective of the New Curric
experience and an "archive" of statements
about education (and the particular discipli
or appropriated). Understood in this wa
methods and strategies that inscribe princi
ters for particular styles of reasoning (Popk
In order to understand how curriculum
reasoning" or constitutes sociohistorically s
draw on Eisners tripartite model of curricu
(1979) Eisner argues that the explicit curric
of reasoning") that is advocated in the offi
education authority- is only a small com
students learn. He argues that in unders
school (and for our purposes, the "ration
important to consider what he terms the "
teaches because of the ideas and values it
organization, timetabling methods, organi
implicit curriculum, which is not form
intended, is defined by the messages tha
meanings they construct. In many ways, it
lum," with some important differences
concept in curriculum theory.
A central concept in radical curriculum t
been understood as those outcomes from
intended by educators yet still arise as a res
values, and dispositions that are learned
routines and expectations of the educat
Seddon, 1983). Thus, it is best understoo
deeply implicated in social reproduction. W
almost always cast negatively as a mecha
hegemony of the classes who can exercise
implicit curriculum seems to be constructed a

to Dewey's idea of "collateral learning" that un
of this covert curriculum as potentially positiv
1993, p. 9), the implicit curriculum does not
curriculum frequently does) a pedagogical dev
tion of an ideologically laden "false consciousn
curriculum "fits" more readily with a Vygotsk
the social and tool-mediated activity of schoo
and transforms culture. For Vygotskians, edu
zone" in which knowledge is co-constructed b
(as educational experience) becomes the crucib
tion create each other (Cole, 1985; Engestrom,
is unnecessarily reductionist to understand th
instrument of social control. Inevitably, like
both constrains and enables particular ways o
effects are independent of whether a given cu
invisible (Bernstein, 1990).
For Eisner, the curriculum is not constituted
itly or visibly according to official syllabi, and im
social practices; it is constituted also by that
terms the "null curriculum." The null curriculum makes clear how the curricu-
lum functions to construct a system of reasoning. Eisner argues that the null
curriculum is formed as a result of those intellectual processes that are empha-
sized or neglected by schools, and the content or subject areas that school
curricula addresses or ignores. It is worth quoting at length Eisner's concep-
tion of the null curriculum. According to Eisner:
There is something of a paradox involved in writing about a curriculum that does not
exist. Yet, if we are concerned with the consequences of school programs and the role
of curriculum in shaping those consequences, then it seems to me that we are well
advised to consider not only the explicit and implicit curricula of schools but also
what schools do not teach. It is my thesis that what schools do not teach may be as
important as what they do teach. I argue this position because ignorance is not simply
a neutral void; it has important effects on the kinds of options one is able to consider,
the alternatives that one can examine, and the perspectives from which one can view a
situation or problem. The absence of a set of considerations or perspectives or the
inability to use certain processes for appraising a context biases the evidence one is
able to take into account. A parochial perspective or simplistic analysis is the
inevitable progeny of ignorance. (Eisner, 1979, p. 83)
What this means for curriculum theorizing, and curriculum history, is that it is
important to attend to not only the curriculum that is advocated, and the
curriculum that is enacted or experienced, but also the knowledge that is
neglected. The curriculum therefore embod

validated in part by its neglect of alternat
consequences emerge from a null curriculu
tional program withhold from students ide
used. However, Eisner is not arguing for t
teaches everything. In his own words, he pr
I am not suggesting that any of us can be without

comprehensive view of all problems or issues. I
Such a perspective requires omnipotence. Yet if on
wisdom, weaken prejudice, and develop the abilit
thought, then it seems to me we ought to exami
areas of thought and those perspectives that are n
Therefore, Eisner's notion of the null curr

riculum critique not only in terms of what
the basis of what is missing or absent. The
larly important as a methodological tool, b
"allows one to raise questions about what
never be identified if one were to focus o
explicit curriculum . . . [and places us] in
quences of each" (Eisner, 1979, p. 85). In n
though not a poststructuralist himself
conducting poststructuralist curriculum inq
When used as part of a poststructural
inquiry, the null curriculum moves from b
not taught as part of the official and un
important methodological tool. One of the
studies of curriculum Mis to figure out
provided and why other opportunities are
study of what is valued and given priority
(Cherryholmes, 1987, p. 297). By identifyi
that are valued in a curriculum and examin
styles of reasoning that are neglected, a pic
system of governance that is constitutive
particular ways for individuals to constru
they are. Stated another way, curriculum a
self-formation (Palermo, 2002; Popkewitz,
As a methodological construct, the null c
given the application of different frames o
lum is implicated in the production of spec
wanted to understand what forms of herm
curriculum work and what forms were neglect

as Shaun Gallagher's Hermeneutics and Edu
because it provides a typology of various forms
own inquiries, Eisner uses an aesthetic lens to
arts remain in many ways a null curriculum i
Haraway's approach to the history and philoso
adopts a diffractive approach to curriculum in
tion-speculative or science fiction particularly-
means of posing new options and alternatives t
with figures such as "the cyborg" that expose t
riculum constructions of our collective pas
"diffractive lenses" open possibilities for the p
earlier hermeneutic work in the curriculum f
deconstructive inquiry that invite interpretat
standing as a goal, but resist the attraction of n
an ultimate truth.
The notion of the null curriculum compleme
lum inquiry. The null curriculum functions in
presence" in deconstruction, defining a curric
what it neglects or deliberately rejects. As Hal
out the unspoken and unwrittens- silenced trut
by their absence" (1999, p. 9). In its initial app
universities, deconstruction was associated spe
challenged conceptual oppositions within a text
implicit hierarchies. Concerned over the proble
definitions, Derrida has declared deconstruc
philosophy, a school, a method, a discourse, an
1990). Resisting definition, Derrida has ass
inventive or it is nothing at all" (1989, p. 42).
of Derrida's refusal that deconstruction is a m
by the term method . If the concept of method su
systematized and closed, then deconstruction
(Royle, 2000). However, deconstruction is not d
Deconstruction not only teaches us to read literature m

it as language ... it also enables us to interrogate t
political presuppositions of institutionalized critical me
our reading of a text ... It is not a question of callin
institutions, but rather of making us aware of what we
subscribing to this or that institutional way of reading
Therefore, it would be safe to say that de

that systematically exposes the multiple w
problematizing any attempt to close on a s
In this sense, deconstruction may be und
tool of the New Curriculum History that
the play of signs, which it aims to keep in
reading and interpretation that resist the
(Caputo, 1987).
Despite the problems of defining actual
has attempted with "apologies to Derrida"
can be identified as signature deconstruct
list includes practices of making visible u
voices; subverting definitions by listing va
ing dissensus; finding exceptions to sta
renarrating and resituating text. This list
tion of the methodological scope of th
History that can rightly be called poststru
structive hermeneutics. The New Curricu
their work as deconstructive or genealogi
curricular or pedagogic ideas change over
cated in any change, but they must also ac
as they inevitably engage in "authorial pr
phrasing, quotation and elision, all in
narratives with explanatory power" (Corm
nizing that historical work is a textua
examining and interpreting textual data b
brings a reflexive turn to the work of th
attempt at defining the methods of the N
tempered by Cormack and Green's sug
analysis "is at once symptom and technol
transgression as it is a matter of disciplin
this warning in mind, I take up the challe
in the chapters that follow, exploring- th
genealogical inquiry- the emergence of "e
porary theory and its influence within His

The New Curriculum History - Parkes

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Peter Lang AG

Chapter Two: The New Curriculum History

Reconceptualizing Curriculum History

argues that in comparing curriculum the

Orientations Towards the Central Problems

as generalist or theorist/critic who question

theorist Jürgen Habermas. When constru

Radical Curriculum The

and reconceptualist curriculum theory. These

and methodological issues of critical-reconc

Curriculum History and the

actions and associated events that occurred som

nental philosophy, literary theory, social

exist on bookshelves: they are processes of s

The text mediates: it is neither a direct expression

We might add that, in addition to emerging from the relationship of text to

statements made by education ministers during

Discourse Analysis as a Mode of C

The reconceptualization of curriculum theory d

theorizing- appeared. Some of the theori

cultural studies and the virtually ubiquitous post

This particular kind of approach to curri

asserted that "text is any discourse fixed by w

tionship" with one another. Texts thus inst

"between different discursive formations" or

ties" (Gee, 1990). Gee's suggestion, redolent

While the space created by the blurring of

the purpose of discourse analysis [in curriculum theor

Further, within a poststructuralist approach to

Reading Curriculum as Disc

realities- what can be taught and learned w

implicit curriculum seems to be constructed a

neglected. The curriculum therefore embod

I am not suggesting that any of us can be without

Therefore, Eisner's notion of the null curr

curriculum work and what forms were neglect

Deconstruction not only teaches us to read literature m

Therefore, it would be safe to say that de

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