In the wider context of ways that Literacy works to enforce control by elites, the maintenance of high culture, racial stratification, national identity and social injustice through education, this review essay reflects on Allan Luke's collected essays republished by Routledge in 2018 as "Critical literacy, schooling, and social justice: The…

Educational theorizing makes use of various tools and perspectives to understand how differentiation processes in education have emerged as responses to socio-historical developments. Drawing on a systematic literature review, this article finds that educational research has framed these responses in five different ways: as structural-functional…

In this article, I share a number of thoughts and concerns about the current and future status of a field in which I have been a participant for five decades. I know that many others share these worries as well. Speaking honestly, I am deeply concerned that too much of the field of curriculum has lost its way. Too much of it is characterized by a…

Although the first educational applications of the "funds of knowledge" (FoK) concept were carried out in the late 1980s, there have been numerous developments and proposals since then, many of which have been made within the last few years. It continues to be, therefore, a valid, cutting-edge educational approach; one which seeks to…

The articles in this special issue include different perspectives on comparative policy studies with an aim to understand transnational education policies in relation to the logic of national educational systems and to grasp the ongoing reframing of teacher identity and teaching as a result of the policy activities of 'new' and coordinated…

Why should we assume systematic comparative research on state-based curriculum-making to be possible at all, given the high complexity and large variety of institutional forms of educational and political systems across nation-states? On the other hand, how can we explain the significant endeavour of nation-states all over the world to align their…

This paper introduces the questions and approaches of a five-nation cross-cultural study of state-based curriculum-making discussed in this issue of "JCS." The paper reviews the two decade-long interest of many nations in state-based curriculum-making and presents a framework for thinking about state-based curriculum-making as a tool of…

This paper frames the problem underlying the cross-cultural Organizing Curriculum Change (OCC) study of state-based curriculum-making. The paper discusses the increased use by states over the past two decades of the century-old instrument of the state-based curriculum and the tool of the curriculum commission. The paper contrasts the slender…

This is the second of four essays discussing John Dewey's short essay, "Education as engineering". Dewey's views are remarkably timely against the background of recent discussions about the role of evidence in educational practice and a call for research that tells us "what works". Dewey's view is nuanced and helps one to see what one should and…

States that WHAT WORKS is a respectable document that successfully summarizes the extensive body of information on teaching and learning gathered over the last 10 years. Claims that it does not respect the need for teacher autonomy and that it will probably be used to control and standardize teachers' classroom practices. (GEA)

Describes study of lesson planning based on the thinking processes of elementary teachers. The study focuses on how teachers gather, organize, interpret, and evaluate information to be taught. (KC)

Described is a project which explored how elementary teachers' intuitive knowledge (the common sense sort of information built from personal experimentation on the physical environment in contrast to formal knowledge learned in school) affects their educational practices. (RM)

Compares two comparative studies on the status of mathematics education in the United States and the USSR. The findings of the study "An Analysis of Mathematics Education in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics" by Robert B. Davis and others and an unpublished report by Isaac Wirszup are discussed. (AM)

Results of a study that examined elementary teachers' beliefs related to curriculum integration in language arts and reading instruction showed that while teachers generally favor integrating language arts instruction, only minimal amounts of integration actually occur in their classrooms. (RM)

The International Study Association on Teacher Thinking (ISATT) believes that what teachers do is a result of what teachers think. The 1983 and 1985 (ISATT) conferences focused on researchers' conceptions of teachers and teaching and conceptual frameworks and methodological problems being used in current research. (RM)