ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an analysis which is made of school subjects in terms of their evolving nature, and forces that maintain stability or bring about change. B. S. Stengel argues that a 'school subject is a "negotiation" between academic disciplines and everyday life. She also argues against the commonly held view that school subject knowledge is a distillation of knowledge from the academic disciplines. Subject departments in a school are a central and immediate unit of organization for teachers. According to L. S. Siskin power relationships between the head of a subject department and its members can vary from autocratic to non-directive and democratic. Based upon research undertaken in the mid-1970s and subsequently reinforced in other studies, I. F. Goodson contends that it is possible to categorize three traditions of school subjects — academic, utilitarian and pedagogic — and to trace how they have evolved over time.
