ABSTRACT

This chapter explores three waves of standardisation in education. The first, entitled the terminological phase, emerged in the 1960s and focused on creating a language of curriculum terms and definitions. The second wave, standardisation by indicators, emerged in the early 1990s in order to develop more specific measures of quality in the teaching and learning processes and to contribute to a shift in educational reasoning. The third wave, standardisation by design principles, represents a new wave in curriculum policymaking that is characterised by a specific programmification, that is specified procedural standards of how to implement the curriculum. The chapter addresses aspects of its history and trajectory related to the making of the national curriculum. It focuses on the history of educational standards, the argument is put forward that it is crucial to draw attention to processes of standardisation, their driving forces and special constructs.