ABSTRACT
The issue of democracy and the curriculum in the English and Finnish educational contexts is a vexed one. Is democracy even an appropriate concept when discussing the curriculum, and, if it is appropriate, what do we mean by democracy? Ultimately, what is studied as part of a curriculum revolves around debate over knowledge and control. What constitutes appropriate or sufficient knowledge that is necessary for students to study, and who determines what this knowledge is? Such questions go to the very heart of democracy and the curriculum. As authors of this chapter, we have defined democracy as the processes that are in place to allow the various stakeholders a voice in how the curriculum is constructed, maintained and modified. We appreciate that this is a loose definition of democracy, when compared to debates within political philosophy or theory, but it will serve our purpose within the parameters of this chapter.
