This article reflects on the epistemological steamrolling that the 2021 Ofsted Curriculum Research Review (OCRR) accomplishes: in part, by the positioning of the problem and solution through highly selective cherry-picking (omitting key causal factors); in part, through the discursive move of acknowledging complexity before offering simple and…

Recent media reports about new programmes for "happiness lessons" in schools signal a welcome concern with children's well-being. However, as I shall argue, the presuppositions of the discourse in which many of these proposals are framed, and their orientation towards particular strands of positive psychology, involve ideas about human life that…

This paper focuses on an innovative curriculum for teaching culturally valued texts and the issues around the curriculum's implementation by teachers. The writers of this curriculum considered the subject-matter of this curriculum as a cultural "language" containing specific concepts, attitudes, and modes of thought. The curriculum…

Discusses "new rhetoric" within the context of the modern English department. Presents a brief history of the development of the traditional English curriculum through the 18th and 19th century. (JD)

An informal survey revealed that graduate students presented with Shakespeare's works felt academically unfit and powerless. These student-teacher-text power relationships parallel the power relationships between the dominant patriarchy and the female characters in "Othello"--Desdemona, Emilia, and Bianca. However, "Antony and…

Describes a framework for examining mathematical discourse and shows how to apply this framework to appreciate the complex relationship between discourse and understanding in mathematics. Focuses on the role of discourse and the different types that emerge as students solve a particular task. (KHR)

Discusses Lyotard's view of the narrative as a story through which meanings are legitimated. Reviews the development of the core curriculum of New York's Columbia College, arguing that it represents a "grand narrative" of the college. Discusses the effect of this narrative on students and faculty. (26 citations) (AJL)

Responds to Howley and Hartnett's article, which views the core curriculum at New York's Columbia College as an example of Lyotard's "grand narrative." Argues that the authors fail to note the negative effects of not considering other groups, such as women and minority groups, in a powerfully defining narrative. (AJL)

Two prominent recent education reform reports ("A Nation at Risk" and "Tomorrow's Teachers") are examined, using discourse analysis. This article concludes that the reports' language and discursive practices limit rather than expand possibilities for substantive curriculum reform. (IAH)

This collection of research on curriculum and program development in languages for special purposes (LSP) contains the following papers: (1) "LSP Curriculum Development--From Policy to Practice," by Ronald Mackay and Maryse Bosquet; (2) "The Problem of Needs Assessment in English for Specific Purposes: Some Theoretical and Practical…

This book addresses the need for higher education to create a community of critical thinkers. It suggests that contemporary curricular reform is already producing citizens of the world as it advocates diversity and multicultural education. The central argument is a defense of the "new education," and is rooted in the ideal of the citizen…