ABSTRACT
This chapter concentrates on looking at the curriculum mainly along the channels that reflect issues, concerns and the development of personal and social qualities that can apply to several contexts, with the other two dimensions in the background. It is the second dimension that often covers the vast amount of human competence and understanding that traverse and sometimes transcend the publicly labelled topics being studied. It can include what is sometimes called the ‘hidden curriculum’ as well as the official one. As was discussed in the previous chapters, the increasing complexity of human society in the present and the future requires the development
not just of children’s knowledge and understanding, but also of personal qualities and characteristics, like determination, flexibility, imagination and sociability. Vital foundations for a very long lifetime in the next millennium are being laid down during the first phases of education, so it is important to study their acquisition.
