ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with the utility, or the usefulness, of the concept of curriculum. Before we start, however, this needs to be distinguished from the narrow technocratic concept of utility which is rooted in the product approach. As Kelly (2009) notes, utility in the sense of the usefulness of providing a detailed prescription of the intended learning – as in a set curriculum – should not be the guiding principle of a democratic curriculum. The concept of curriculum does however have a number of uses. It provides a framework through which the values, aims, principles and processes of its educational practice can be made public. Curriculum provides an opportunity, arguably even a requirement, to articulate its practice. This framework, as we have seen, is sometimes agreed locally, as it was throughout England and as it is being developed in Finland. At other times it is developed nationally, as was the case in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland. The value of making the youth work curriculum explicit or public will now be analysed on three distinct levels: the communication of its practice, the legitimation of its practice, and the development of its practice.
