ABSTRACT
While case-study methods of research have a long history of use in educational enquiry, they have a particular attraction for those with an interest in curriculum for, in curriculum research, case studies offer a means of integration across the disciplines of the social sciences. They also offer an emphasis on synthesis rather than on analysis and a means of approaching hidden curriculum, informal social structures and unintended consequences of action on the same terms as formal curriculum, social, and management structures. In other words, those who share a view of the curriculum field as organized around issues rather than around theories, find in case study an empirical genre appropriately flexible, eclectic and capable of creating surprises.
