Ivor Goodson Bücher

The Changing Curriculum provides a valuable introduction to the curriculum theories of Ivor F. Goodson. As Kincheloe states, «this paradigm of curriculum study grasps the multi-dimensionality of the relationship between past and present curricular practice. In this context, Goodson recognizes the ties between history, education and politics.» The Changing Curriculum reviews the historical and social emergence of curriculum as a concept and curriculum theory as a practice. The early chapters seek to situate work on curriculum in its full social and ideological context. Later chapters provide examples of this kind of curriculum theory in looking at studies of school subjects and the relationship definitions of curriculum to forms of education, notably the study of American private schools.

It is widely recognised that we are living through an 'age of the narrative'. Many of the constituent disciplines in the social sciences resonate with this trend by using life history and narrative approaches and methods. As we move on from the modernist period which prioritised objectivity into the postmodern regard for subjectivity, this resort to narrative is likely to become more apparent and explicit in academic as well as social and commercial discourse. One aspect of this narrative form which is commonly overlooked is that of the pedagogic encounter. This is the phenomenon which is addressed by all narrative and biographical research. Fundamentally reflecting and examining the narrative of our lives in the process of learning, this book provides a series of studies and guidelines for what we have termed 'narrative pedagogy.' It presents a resource for an exploration of those narrative processes that can lead to meaningful change and development for individuals and groups within a learning environment and in life-learning. This focus on life history allows us to identify and support routes to learning within the narrative landscape of learners and through these pedagogic encounters.