Understanding Curriculum: An Introduction to the Study of Historical and Contemporary Curriculum Discourses

by William F. Pinar, William F. Pinar, Patrick Slattery

Perhaps not since Ralph Tyler's Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction (1949) has a book communicated the field as completely as Understanding Curriculum. From historical discourses to breaking developments in feminist, poststructuralist, and racial theory, including chapters on political theory, phenomenology, aesthetics, theology, international developments, and a lengthy chapter on institutional concerns, the American curriculum field is here. It will be an indispensable textbook for undergraduate and graduate courses alike.

Genres: Education

Paperback

First published April 4, 2006

About the author

William Pinar (born 1947) is an American educator, curriculum theorist and international studies scholar. Known for his work in the area of curriculum theory, Pinar is strongly associated with the reconceptualist movement in curriculum theory since the early 1970s. In the early 1970s, along with Madeleine Grumet, Pinar introduced the notion of currere, shifting in a radical manner the notion of curriculum as a noun to curriculum as a verb.[1] Apart from his fundamental contributions to theory, Pinar is notable for establishing the Journal of Curriculum Theorizing, founding the Bergamo Conference on Curriculum Theory and Classroom Practice, and founding the International Association for the Advancement of Curriculum Studies.

Although Pinar is known best for his publications concerning curriculum theory, he has also spoken about and written on many other topics, including education, cultural studies, international studies, and queer studies.
(from wikipedia)

Reviews

[Ioana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Behold the bible of (US) curriculum discourse. Each chapter tells the story of curriculum from a particular perspective--with 15 chapters and over 850 pages, Pinar et al to some degree survey most of what has been written in the field since its inception in the 1820s and beyond. A good 230 pages are dedicated to the history of curriculum studies, with the rest describing contemporary curriculum perspectives: political, racial, gender, phenomenological, poststructuralist/deconstructed/postmodern, auto/biographical, aesthetic, theological, institutionalized, international.

Certainly it could use an update (contemporary for Pinar as of this edition is 1980-1994, and since, there have been some exciting new works in curriculum: see, the "mythopoetic" perspective, Expanding Curriculum Research and Understanding: A Mytho-Poetic Perspective, 2000 Peter Lang, and the 2008 Pedagogies of the Imagination, Springer). Also, it's a bit tedious (i.e.: encyclopedic in nature, "synoptic"), and at times, the tone is a bit overdone... (Phenomenology "can seem mystical, aspiring to a truth that seems religious in nature, accessible only to those who believe" --this as a way to *introduce* phenomenology, *before* even saying what it is! ... )

Certainly has its flaws, but undoubtedly is still the only survey of its scope, and a must-have of any student of curriculum/education.

[Charles Tuite · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a thoroughly-researched collection, and contains quite a lot of valuable information for understanding how the curriculum selection and development processes have historically worked in tension with societal trends and norms. The weakness with this book is that the voice it uses is, for lack of a better way of referring to it, full of itself, and thus is a fairly stilted read. The content is invaluable, the writing would benefit from some consideration of future readers and how to hold their interest long enough for the excellent information to come through.

[Jana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pleasure reading this is not. However it does provide a very good overview of how curriculum has grown and changed as a field of study. The author is not shy about giving his opinion on scholars that view things differently and I feel like this cheapens his narrative a bit. Internecine squabbles are not new in academia and are on full display in some areas of this book. However, he is deeply researched and gives authors their credit by quoting from them extensively.

[Magda Elshanbaky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Its very good

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a comprehensive look at the underlying theories of curriculum for k-12 education. It is massive at over 1161 pages and is in paperback form. Hauling this thing to class is going to improve my arm strength.

This is one of the driest, most complex readings on curriculum that I have come across. Having read about 400 pages of it, I decided to drop the class and hoping that I can sell it to someone else that cares more about this topic than I do (nope still have it).

It was dry and boring and biased. I did not share the author's views of the history of curriculum and would have appreciated other voices to have been included. Pinar does a great job of citing sources, but almost cites too much.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Content good; tone...

[Rasolonjatovo Elie]

i want to read the full text