Curriculum making across European nations

This is a short article, drawing upon our recent book, published in the Research Intelligence periodical, published by the British Educational Research Associatio

Conclusions: Patterns and trends in curriculum making in Europe

This chapter provides a summary and a concluding discussion on the main findings from the different cases and chapters throughout this volume. The chapter revisits the approach on curriculum making as non-linear and as framed around a conceptualisation of interrelated sites of activity – supra, macro, meso, micro and nano – presented in the introduction. A central conclusion of this book is that the meso site of activity stands out as critical for current developments within curriculum making, both in terms of a transformed role for the nation state in macro curriculum making, as well as implications of policy flows and processes from the supra site of activity. Based on our observations, we suggest an elaborated model for understanding curriculum making, with special attention to the significance of meso curriculum making and teacher agency. In the final part of the conclusions, we argue that there are a number of lessons to be learned from curriculum making in the European context. In line with the significance of meso curriculum making observed throughout the volume, we emphasize the importance of middle ground and mobility, the necessity of participatory curriculum making, and that systems of accountability need to be based on trust. We also underline the importance of a delicate balance concerning regulation – providing support, guidance and steering – together with a critical awareness of destructive as well as progressive forces for maintaining and providing the agency of the educational system for good curriculum making. KEYWORDS

Curriculum making across European nations

This is a short article, drawing upon our recent book, published in the Research Intelligence periodical, published by the British Educational Research Associationhttps://www.bera.ac.uk/publication/autumn-202

Curriculum Making: A conceptual framing

This chapter provides an introduction to the European case study chapters in this volume on curriculum making. The chapter explores different conceptions of curriculum and curriculum making. It offers a critique of existing thinking about curriculum making as something that occurs within reified levels within an educational system. Such thinking often construes curriculum making as occurring through linear and hierarchical chains of command from policy to practice. Drawing upon previous conceptualizations of curriculum making, the chapter develops a new approach to understanding curriculum making. This is a heuristic rather than a normative framing; it is essentially non-linear, framed around the concept of intertwined sites of activity – supra, macro, meso, micro and nano – within complex systems, with curriculum making framed as types of activity rather than institutional functions

Curriculum making: A conceptual framing

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Nytt vin i gamla läglar Socialdemokratisk kyrkopolitik under perioden 1944-1973

The purpose of this dissertation is to analyse the principal elements of SAP (the Swedish Social Democratic Workers Party) church politics in the period 1944 to 1973. The central issues discussed are the relationship of church and state, freedom of religion, and political reforms touching the General Synod, the parish organisation, and the ordination of women. In this study, I suggest that the SAP adopted the idea of a national church, and imbued it with new meaning. This process of transformation can be equated to the biblical analogy of new wine in old bottles, the new wine being the principles of democracy, decanted into old bottles, the existing church system. The course of the SAP:s policies is outlined as three phases: the conflict phase (1944-1951), the formation phase (1951-1956) and the consolidation phase (1958-1972). During the 1950s the tensions diminsihed between the two groups of activists which are identified within the SAP: The ?separatists?, who held that the established church was incompatible with freedom of religion and should be abolished, respectively the ?modifiers?, who wanted to preserve the established church, and believed it to be essential for freedom of religion. The purpose of the 'modifiers'' policies is described as an attempt to effect the integration of the Church of Sweden into the political system. The ?modifiers? reform policy became the guideline for SAP:s church politics. At the congress 1960 the party took on a new course called ?the freedom of religion approach? and the party manifesto gave 'the principles of democracy and religious freedom' precedence in determining the relationship between the Church of Sweden and the state. At the congress 1972, the SAP backed a proposal to disestablish the Church of Sweden. On 21 March 1973, however, the social-democratic government announced that it would not continue with a formal proposal of disestablishment since major bodies within the Church of Sweden had rejected the idea. This study shows that the failed attempt to disestablish the Church of Sweden in 1973 equally proved to be the embodiment of a successful process of integration and adaptation on the part of the Church of Sweden into democratic society. This study also demonstrates that preconceptions derived from a Lutheran confessional approach characterised the social democrats' political and ideological rhetoric. SAP:s church politics rested on a secularised confessional basis, a 'secularised Lutherdom'