ABSTRACT
A deliberative partnership requires mutual, high trust and discursive collaboration in public space, and this is provided by Y. Engestrom’s framework of Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) for boundary crossing and justification. The Curriculum Workshop is presented as a pragmatic approach with specific organizational and discursive rules, related to CHAT for the special situation in the planning of curricular innovation through deliberation. The models have their own significance, but a greater degree of effectiveness in curricular planning may well be achieved through a stronger transfer of elements from the models. The Boundary Crossing Laboratory is, according to Engestrom, a setting for the modification of complex organizations such as medical facilities or schools. The Curriculum Workshop and its elements supported the collaboration of school-based communities with representatives of school authorities and experts for curriculum innovation. The many benefits of curricular innovation in the field of education have been experienced simultaneously with constraints and limitations from barriers and constraints in each group.
