STRATEGIC BEHAVIOURS TO PRESERVE CURRICULUM STUDIES AS A FIELD

Authors

  • David Callejo Pérez Saginaw Valley State University
  • Donna Adair Breault Ashland University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14210/contrapontos.v18n2.p02-17

Keywords:

Curriculum Studies, Curriculum History, Doctoral Education, Curriculum Theory.

Abstract

In the last ten years, curriculum professors have seen the impact of their programs decrease.  In the midst of these challenges, many in curriculum studies work to re-align themselves to maintain complicated conversations at the risk of losing programs altogether.  In this article we explore historical and organizational contexts to offer strategic trajectories for curriculum studies to connect in new ways.  Our article is not a treatise on the demise of curriculum studies and doctoral programs—it is an evaluation of the dramatic shifts within. The concerns in our essay are contextualized within the changing nature of education and doctoral programs.  We argue that curriculum studies does not fit new models of graduate work because it struggles with its identity and has eschewed most practical applications of theory to bridge the divide among varied perspectives in curriculum thought and their role to curriculum work. Curriculum has historically served a critical and unifying role in education to understand the daily lives of educators; support reflective process of teaching; and increase valuation of education as policy.  With this in mind, we argue that in order for curriculum studies to survive, we need to imagine new ways of connecting to practice and policy.

Author Biographies

David Callejo Pérez, Saginaw Valley State University

David M. Callejo Pérez is the Associate Provost at Saginaw Valley State University.  His research is engaged in promoting social change within the educational system by intertwining my research to impact policy. He has authored books eight on Civil Rights in the South, Urban Schools and Higher Education, over 100 peer-reviewed articles and refereed academic papers. David has also worked with over $12 million as PI, evaluator, and lead researcher on projects in the US and Latin America.  His most recent books The Red Light in the Ivory Tower: Contexts and Implications of Entrepreneurial Education (2012) and Curriculum as Spaces: Aesthetics, Community, and the Politics of Place (2014) won national book prizes


 

Donna Adair Breault, Ashland University

Donna Adair Breault is Dean at the Dwight Schar College of Education.  Her interests include connections between curriculum, organizational theory, and educational foundations. Her recent publications include Curriculum as Spaces: Aesthetics, Community, and the Politics of Place (2014, Peter Lang, co-authors David M. Callejo-Perez & William L. White), Experiencing Dewey: Insights for Today’s Classroom (2014, Routledge, co-editor, Rick Breault), The Red Light in the Ivory Tower: Contexts and Implications of Entrepreneurial Education (2012, Peter Lang, co-author David M. Callejo-Perez), and Professional Development Schools: Researching Lessons from the Field (2012, Rowman & Littlefield, Co-author Rick Breault).

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Published

2018-07-04

Issue

Vol. 18 No. 2 (2018): CONTRAPONTOS

Section

Articles

License

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.