ABSTRACT
Education is a ‘contested terrain’ (Edwards, 1979; Giroux, 1983) in which contrasting conceptions of what should be taught and how are struggled over, with some conceptions becoming dominant and others suppressed. Kliebard (1995), in his aptly titled The Struggle for the American Curriculum: 1893–1956, depicts four conflicting approaches to education that have clashed throughout the twentieth century: humanism, developmentalism, scientific or social efficiency, and social meliorism. These four conflicting approaches are underpinned by differing political, ethical, and epistemological conceptions of the aims of society, the relationship between school and work, and the nature of learning. For example, humanists are primarily concerned with passing on the accumulated, often canonical, knowledge to students. In contrast, developmentalists connect education to children’s development, learning processes, and knowledge.
