ABSTRACT
There seems l i t t l e doubt t ha t teachers p lay a v i t a l r o l e i n sus ta in ing p r e v a i l i n g d e f i n i t i o n s of the value content of the cu r r i cu lum. Given t h i s s i t u a t i o n i t i s important t ha t fo r a p l u r a l i s t perspect ive to be adopted, teachers should focus upon t r a d i t i o n a l l y held educat iona l concepts and hypotheses and chal lenge them. The concept of 'compensat ion ' , f o r ins tance, has had a wide ranging in f luence on cur r i cu lum ideology and terminology i n the urban con tex t . I t i s u n l i k e l y t h a t many teachers working i n the urban s i t u a t i o n have not heard the view tha t c h i l d r e n from low soc io-
-economic backgrounds are c o g n i t i v e l y and l i n g u i s t i c a l l y 'd isadvantaged ' . The i d e o l o g i c a l basis of concepts of t h i s nature which encourage a s o c i a l pathology view of c h i l d r e n and t h e i r f a m i l i e s must be quest ioned very s e r i o u s l y . Teachers must be encouraged t o ask whether such a view i s p a r t i c u l a r l y damaging i n the m u l t i c u l t u r a l s i t u a t i o n , and whether i t tends to j u s t i f y an e thnocen t r i c approach to the development of knowledge.
