This study focuses on the school-work connection from the perspective of curriculum design. The aim was to uncover considerations underpinning the design of learning environments in vocational education. The research took place in the Netherlands. A focus group methodology was chosen to elicit designers' considerations, which generally remain…

Argues that objectives are indispensable in planning an educative environment. Examines the "process model" which shuns curricular objectives, because they restrict children's inquiry. Proposes a method which recognizes the necessity of objectives while avoiding the restrictions on children's freedom which those restrictions often impose. (GEA)

Reviews theories regarding school knowledge, cognitive processes, and curriculum development. Contends that students are not taught theoretical concepts because of a misapplication of Piagetian Theory. Concludes that students should be encouraged to explore several perspectives of reality to understand knowledge and thinking. (CFR)

Examines the recent influences on and development of upper-secondary Australian education. These influences include youth unemployment, rapid technological and social change, immigration, increasing federal role, and limited entry to tertiary education. Changes include broader curriculum planning to include all students, and improvement of the…

Reviews studies that have examined curriculum packages, focusing on how school knowledge is ideologically structured and organized. Borrows from discourse analysis to develop a theoretical framework for investigating how knowledge and meaning-production can be influenced. Illustrates the framework's use to design and conduct a study of a physical…

The supportiveness of the principal was found to be significantly related to the organizational and theoretical dimensions of school-based curriculum development. When school staff saw the principal as supportive, there was higher perceived intimacy among staff, higher perceived curriculum satisfaction, more perceived group decision-making, and…

Questions the very assumptions that teachers can identify the skills and the knowledge that students need and that learning itself is controllable. Proposes a theory of curriculum development where knowledge and the learning process exist as a co-emerging, mutual, and dynamic relationship between the students and teachers. (MJP)

Maintains that Canadian scholar, Kieran Egan, developed a schema of childhood development that presents a bold, new approach to the stages of growth, both affectively and cognitively. Describes Egan's views and how the school curriculum must be adapted to correspond more closely to these views. (CFR)

Contends that curriculum theorists often distinguish between the formal or official curriculum from the actual or hidden curriculum. Argues that the hidden curriculum always has a normative, or moral, component and that educators have a responsibility to make the hidden curriculum as explicit as possible. (CFR)