ABSTRACT
Michael Young’s recent work on ‘powerful knowledge’ has resonated with concerns being expressed around the globe in respect of the status of discipline knowledge in curriculum thinking and curriculum practice. This chapter argues that the thesis is a vital corrective to curriculum theory based on defective conceptions of the status and form of discipline knowledge. The chapter suggests that Young’s thinking is entirely consistent with both contemporary epistemological theory and wide-ranging empirical work on high-performing education systems. While some commentators have suggested that Young is preoccupied with a return to ‘traditional’ forms of general education and has eschewed his previous positions on vocational education and training, I argue that his concern to assert the ’separate authority’ of discipline knowledge represents a radical, forward-looking agenda.
