Liberal education has long been a fascination for scholars and educators. At one time largely the concern of colleges and universities, over the years it has become central to the discussion of general education in both schools and colleges. Yet it has not been without its critics even from within. In asking what it means to be an educated person…

This article addresses a key contrast in how teachers may regard the uncertainties of their work, considering how an orientation to uncertainty can be regarded as a decision-making style. Through the use of case studies, the author contrasts two teachers. One is oriented "toward" uncertainties in her work and describes her herself as being always…

This article is concerned with theorizing a curricular response to what has become known in Australia as the "history wars" (Macintyre & Clark, 2003). The central debate in the history wars is over the representation of the colonization of Australia. Because History curriculum serves as an apparatus for the social (re)production of national…

The aim of this article is to explore, through the case of the official Israeli state curriculum, how the educational system is affected by social changes and how it responds to them, and to suggest curricular directions that go along with the new social reality that has emerged in Israel during the past decade. We offer a conceptual-theoretical…

Against the backdrop of growing conflicts in Israeli society and concerns about its democratic character, the current curriculum guidelines and official textbook for civic education in Israel were set to offer a more inclusive civic education that would stress ideas such as pluralistic and democratic citizenship. However, this curriculum does not…

Epistemological analysis is used to further conceptions of the practical in curriculum endeavors. Employing a broad conception of knowledge, the practical is seen as having rich possibilities for dealing with significant curriculum issues. (Author/MLF)

Curriculum development is a moral enterprise because it is concerned not so much with what is as with what ought to be. (Author)

Considers the liabilities imposed by the acceptance of a political orientation toward the concept of the free school or the open classroom. This orientation results when a notion of freedom taken from political theory is applied to education without careful consideration of the relevant differences between political and educational activity.…

Considers the interconnection of curriculum problems and the processes by which they are treated and argues that much is to be gained by seeing curriculum problems and processes as instances of much wider sets of problems and processes generally belonging in the area of public policymaking. (Author/MLF)

For the mathematics experience to be liberating, the curriculum must share how and why mathematical knowledge is developed, with special emphasis on its grounding in belief, intuition and subjectivity, and facilitate our understanding of the world in which we live and create and the beliefs we act upon. (Author)

Examines traditional theoretical assumptions about the pedagogy of writing and critical thinking, and shows that they are linked dialectically. Illustrates how a pedagogy of writing can be used as a learning vehicle to help students learn and think critically about any given social studies subject. (Author/MLF)

Briefly summarizes recent advancements in information processing psychology, particularly work related to the representation of knowledge stored in long-term memory. Illustrates through example the educational possibilities yet to be derived from the study of cognition. (Author/MLF)

An argument is developed that suggests the authority of a work of literature lies in its transcendent themes having the power of illumination through the development of an increased understanding of one's own life and the lives of others. (Author/MLF)

To make aesthetic forms a significant force for changing what schools do requires that we reconsider the nature of the aesthetic experience and begin to uncover the complex of connections between aesthetic, ideological, and economic/political forms. (Author/MLF)

Two methods and examples of how novels that deal with educational issues can assist teachers in understanding educational problems. (Author/MLF)