Research Handbook on Curriculum and Education: (Elgar Handbooks in Education)

This incisive Handbook brings together a wealth of innovative research from international curriculum and education experts to ask the question: what knowledge should be taught in school, how should it be taught, and for what purpose? Providing a comprehensive account of curriculum history, philosophy, and recent theoretical developments, the Handbook explores timely debates concerning the national curriculum in countries across Asia, Australasia, Eastern and Western Europe, countries in the American continents such as Brazil and Canada. Chapters delve into the relationship between curriculum and democracy, focusing on specific school subjects to examine what the recontextualisation of rational knowledge means for subject selection and design. Opening up a three-way conversation between Didaktik theory, social realism, and cognitive psychology, the Research Handbook puts forward a novel and powerful research programme in curriculum studies. This innovative Handbook will be an indispensable resource for academics and postgraduate students of curriculum studies, education policy, and education management. Its discussion of new generative research programmes will also benefit education policy makers and analysts.

Table of Contents:
Contents Introduction: social realism, didaktik, and cognitive science in curriculum and education 1 Elizabeth Rata PART I CURRICULUM: HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, AND THEORY 1 Education for science and democracy 21 Michael Johnston, James Kierstead, and Baptiste Roucau 2 Politics, knowledge, and education in Classical Athens 39 Stavros Moutsios 3 Historical consciousness and democracy 50 Arie Wilschut 4 A philosophical defence of liberal education 64 Alka Sehgal Cuthbert 5 Rob Moore, social realism, and the sociology of education and knowledge 79 Brian Barrett 6 Epistemic traces and the structures of knowledge 90 Johan Muller 7 Disciplines and subjects 101 Jim Hordern 8 Tradition and renewal in the geography curriculum 112 Alex Standish 9 Beyond curriculum binaries: subjects and competencies 129 Ursula Hoadley 10 Cognitive theory: implications for curriculum knowledge 146 David C. Geary 11 Cognitive load theory and the curriculum 156 John Sweller PART II KNOWLEDGE STRUCTURES AND THE CURRICULUM 12 Significance of teaching content 169 Ilmi Willbergh 13 History education in primary school: knowledge and traditions 180 Martin Stolare 14 From discipline to school subject: a biology example 192 Niklas Gericke 15 Teaching science epistemology 206 Edit McIntosh and Michael Johnston 16 Teaching writing conventions 228 Tessa Daffern 17 Vocabulary for academic literacy 245 Clarence Green and Claire McLachlan 18 The Curriculum Design Coherence Model 262 Elizabeth Rata 19 Teacher education and the curriculum 281 Richard Pountney and Diane Swift 20 Professional knowledge for mathematics teaching 293 Brian Hudson 21 Signature pedagogies for pedagogical leadership 303 Wu Pinhui Sandra and Charlene Tan PART III CURRICULUM SUBJECTS FOR TEACHING 22 Literature for education 315 Brian Boyd 23 Politicised literacy in the teaching of reading and writing 330 Melissa Derby 24 Music and the contested nature of knowledge 343 Graham McPhail 25 History in the curriculum 354 Joseph Smith 26 A compulsory history curriculum: the New Zealand case 368 Paul Moon 27 Teaching mathematics: a cognitive load theory account 379 Greg Ashman 28 Grammar and powerful knowledge in school English: an Australian perspective 389 Mary Macken-Horarik 29 Knowledge in vocational education 406 Gavin Moodie PART IV NATIONAL CURRICULUM 30 Theoretical knowledge in the Brazilian school curriculum 422 Newton Duarte 31 Teachers and school subjects in Finland 433 Mikko Puustinen 32 Czechia: beyond the communist-democratic dichotomy 444 Michaela Dvoř‡kov‡ and Dominik Dvoř‡k 33 Georgia: transformation of the national curriculum 455 Revaz Tabatadze and Dominik Dvoř‡k 34 Political education in a pluralistic society: the India example 468 Prakash Iyer 35 Core socialist values and curriculum policy in China 480 Xiaoming Tian 36 Struggles over knowledge after apartheid in South Africa 495 Jonathan Jansen 37 Secularism and education in New Zealand 509 Roger Openshaw 38 Land-based education in Canada 521 Frances Widdowson 39 The Singapore mathematics curriculum: influences and confluences 536 Ban Heng Choy and Jaguthsing Dindyal 40 Knowledge in the new Norwegian curriculum 552 Erik Bratland

About the Author :
Edited by Elizabeth Rata, Professor, School of Critical Studies in Education, Faculty of Education and Social Work, University of Auckland, New Zealand

Review :
‘Education has become a battleground for binary-positions over what we should teach and how. The Research Handbook on Curriculum and Education provides an authoritative set of accounts to enable the reader to navigate and understand the rich theoretical, practical and contextual influences that inform this complex and contested landscape.’ ‘The Research Handbook on Curriculum and Education is an inspiring volume that profoundly combats superficial understandings of curriculum issues and the nature of knowledge. These scholars open up key avenues for deeper understandings of how the educational system can advance its core – to make knowledge accessible for new generations and to shape new generations' capacity to advance insights and enhance knowledge.’ ‘The Research Handbook on Curriculum and Education assembles contributions from leading scholars whose works focus on curriculum and schooling. The contributions focus on how socio-political vectors play a role in the making, enactment, and outcomes of school curricula. The Handbook is essential reading for scholars who have an interest in studying school curricula and those involved in researching teacher education.’ ‘This Handbook is a crucially important text at a time when curriculum is at the forefront of many educators' minds. It provides a powerful opportunity to revisit the core principles and theory around curriculum that underpin all that we do in schools.’ ‘The Research Handbook on Curriculum and Education will be of use to anyone – whether a teacher, parent, educationist, or policy maker – who cares about providing the best education for our children.’ 'The Research Handbook on Curriculum and Education is important for all History teachers. It recognises that the History curriculum must draw from the discipline so that what is taught to children and young people is the objective study of past events that are independently verifiable, empirically substantiated, and open to ongoing critique and revision as new evidence comes to light.' ‘The Research Handbook on Curriculum and Education offers a significant and exhaustive inquiry into the theoretical underpinnings, methodologies, and practical applications of curriculum design and development. It not only encapsulates profound theoretical perspicacity but also provides pragmatic recommendations. Forty comprehensive chapters from international curriculum experts will assist in promoting educational quality on a worldwide canvas.’ ‘Contributors to this outstanding anthology include historians, philosophers, sociologists, psychologists, educators, didactitians, and literary scholars from 18 countries. The acquisition of universal, yet fallible and revisable knowledge, as the core curriculum principle is defended. Issues of design, transformation, implementation, politics, powerful knowledge, and teacher education are addressed in national contexts.’