ABSTRACT
Teachers are employed in schools primarily either to teach or to enable pupils to learn various types of knowledge, which are often subsumed under the general heading of the curriculum. This chapter examines the social nature of systems of knowledge, the ways in which they are controlled and stability and change in the school curriculum. The curriculum is deeply influenced by the structure of the society, the ideology of those with power and of those who teach, and by the present state of normal sciences and behaviour. These constraints govern the nature of the distribution of the social stock of knowledge. Teachers who see themselves as 'professionals' claim that they know what knowledge and methods are best-suited to their pupils and that, therefore, they should be responsible for making the selection out of the stock of knowledge of what shall form the school's curriculum.
