ABSTRACT
The nature of the term ‘curriculum’ is complex, multi-layered and contested, being “conceived differently at different times by different scholars working in different countries and regions, working in different institutional settings with differing demands: universities, governments, schools, and corporations” (Jung and Pinar, 2016). However, it is also a multi-layered concept that can be seen to be operating at a number of levels i.e. the policy level, the programmatic level and the classroom level. The policy level operates at the intersection between schooling, culture and society and defines the purposes and expectations of schools. The chapter is set against the background of the current policy context in in England, which has become something of an outlier in recent years involving a strong political steer towards a so-called knowledge-rich or knowledge-based curriculum since 2010. This context has been critically analysed by Young (2014) in his well-known work on “powerful knowledge”, the curriculum and social justice in the future school. An important contribution of this work is the ‘Three Futures Model’ based on a recognition of the shifts in international policy over recent years from content knowledge to generic skills and an analysis of the national policy context in the UK since the election of the Coalition Government in 2010. The chapter takes as its starting point the Three Futures model and examines these futures as potential policy options. In conclusion it sets out a direction of travel towards a curriculum that not only aims to develop powerful knowledge but also creative know-how for all.
