The dialogic space offered by curriculum-making in the process of learning to teach, and the creation of a progressive knowledge-led curriculum

• Published in: Asia-Pacific journal of teacher education Vol. 43; no. 3; pp. 210 - 224
• Main Authors: Lambert, David, Biddulph, Mary
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Routledge 27.05.2015; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Children; Cultural Capital; Cultural instruction; Curricula; Curriculum Design; Curriculum development; curriculum futures; curriculum making; Experiential learning; Foreign Countries; Geography Instruction; Intellectual Disciplines; Knowledge; Knowledge base for teaching; Knowledge level; Knowledge management; Learner Engagement; learning; Pedagogical Content Knowledge; Pedagogy; Preservice teacher education; Primary secondary education; Professional development; Skill Development; Social Capital; Student Experience; Student teacher relationship; subject disciplines; Teacher Education; Teaching effectiveness; Teaching practice; United Kingdom; young people; Youth; United Kingdom
• ISSN: 1359-866X; 1469-2945
• DOI: 10.1080/1359866X.2014.934197

There is widespread system response to the perceived needs of education for twenty-first century, where learning-to-learn is privileged and schools are organised to prepare young people for work. One casualty of such skills-led teaching is deep thinking about curriculum questions and the knowledge contents of teaching in relation to the needs, motivations and experiential knowledge of students. In this paper we argue for greater conceptual clarity between curriculum and pedagogy, and between the worlds of children's experience and disciplinary knowledge, in order to deepen teachers' understanding of the practice of teaching. The paper shows how using the conceptual tools of curriculum making is key to becoming, and developing as a teacher. This paper supports subject specialism in teaching in a manner that respects the social and cultural capital of young people and their role in knowledge creation together with the emancipatory significance of gaining epistemic access to disciplinary knowledge.