This article investigates how learning outcomes, a concept inspired by an Anglo-Saxon curriculum approach, are expressed in policy documents, with an emphasis on expectations articulated to teachers. Developments in education policy for the last two decades reflect a widespread expansion of learning outcome orientation in curricula and assessment…

The article sets the international context for the development of a curriculum of education for sustainable development and shows the directions being taken in the Francophone community. Building on a significant number of studies carried out in France, we constitute a typology of the positions of French-speaking researchers involved in those…

The purpose of this study is to describe an alternative understanding of "Bildung-centred Didaktik" through an examination of Wilhelm von Humboldt's conception and practice of educational reform--"Bildungsreform," 1809-1810--in which the concept of science ("Wissenschaft") was regarded as the fundamental goal and…

Educational theorizing makes use of various tools and perspectives to understand how differentiation processes in education have emerged as responses to socio-historical developments. Drawing on a systematic literature review, this article finds that educational research has framed these responses in five different ways: as structural-functional…

This contribution will outline the development of a specific approach of theoretical educational thinking in Germany, associated with the notions of "Didaktik"/didactics and "Fachdidaktik"/subject-matter didactics as well as its comparative, generalized form called "General Subject Didactics" (GSD). The first one…

Since the passing of No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 (NCLB), teacher autonomy over curricular decisions has been restricted. As a result, state and local school districts faced increased pressures to adopt highly prescriptive and standardized literacy curricular programmes. Given this context, literacy curriculum adoption has become a widely…

2020 looms large for Indigenous education in Australia, with the 'Refreshed' "Close the Gap" strategy hanging over the collective heads of schools, Indigenous students and their families. After a decade of promises, there is now an acknowledgement within the government that programmes to improve student outcomes in literacy, numeracy and…

Illustrating the rising trend across education systems, the article examines the socio-historical constitution of the "politics of pupil self-evaluation" in the case of Finnish compulsory education assessment policy discourse. By studying self-evaluation as a 'politics', which, drawing on studies in governmentality, engages in the…

This case study of the development of the Norwegian compulsory school curriculum of 1997, "Laereplanverket 1997," parallels a study of the development of the "Illinois Learning Standards" of 1997. The pair of case studies is designed to explore the administration of state-based curriculum-making and, in particular, the use in…

President Donald Trump has promised an expansion of voucher programs for private schools in the United States. Private Christian schools are likely beneficiaries of such an expansion, but little research has been conducted about the curricula they use or their suitability for public funds. This article describes and critiques the depiction of race…

This study of the creation of a new upper secondary school in Iceland focuses on the way in which networking and collaboration across school boundaries contributed to a new form for school practice. The aim is to understand the value of school-community interaction and how the collaboration has expanded both the activities of the school and the…

Why should we assume systematic comparative research on state-based curriculum-making to be possible at all, given the high complexity and large variety of institutional forms of educational and political systems across nation-states? On the other hand, how can we explain the significant endeavour of nation-states all over the world to align their…

This case study of the development of the "Illinois Learning Standards" of 1997 parallels a study of the development of the Norwegian compulsory school curriculum of 1997, "Laereplanverket 1997." The pair of case studies is designed to explore the administration of state-based curriculum-making and, in particular, the use of…

Previous research concerning teacher practical knowledge has revealed its epistemological foundations, content structure and research methodology, but little research examines its ethical dimension. Based on a four-year project in China, this study probes the ethical dimension of an experienced teacher's practical knowledge, explicated in a…

This paper introduces the questions and approaches of a five-nation cross-cultural study of state-based curriculum-making discussed in this issue of "JCS." The paper reviews the two decade-long interest of many nations in state-based curriculum-making and presents a framework for thinking about state-based curriculum-making as a tool of…