IOE professor edits special issue journal about reconstructing powerful educational knowledge

The issue looks at the challenges facing curriculum theory, an educational theory concerning how the curriculum is developed and put into practice. It also examines the challenges facing Didaktik (a continental equivalent of curriculum theory) and educational foundations, which are educational theories based on sociology, philosophy, history and psychology.

By examining the potential to reconstruct these traditions, the journal asks whether a ‘powerful’ educational knowledge could be reinvigorated for educators’ professional work and practice. The articles argue this could provide a meaningful basis for educators to conceptualise their practice and provide a robust response to policies that focus solely on learning outcomes and technical efficiency.

Professor Zongyi Deng also contributed an article ‘Constructing “powerful” curriculum theory’ to the journal. He argues that Didaktik, together with Schwabian curriculum theory (a school of curriculum thinking developed by American educationist Joseph Schwab), provides a viable way of constructing powerful curriculum theory in the current global educational context.

The special issue consists of seven academic articles – written by international scholars from the US, the UK, Canada, Germany and South Africa – and an afterword by Professor Michael Young (IOE).

Zongyi Deng is Professor of Curriculum and Pedagogy at the IOE. He is also a member of the Subject Specialism Research Group at the IOE.

Links

• Towards powerful educational knowledge? Addressing the challenges facing educational foundations, curriculum theory and Didaktik
• Constructing ‘powerful’ curriculum theory
• View Professor Zongyi Deng’s research profile
• Subject Specialism Research Group
• Department of Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment

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Phil Meech for UCL Institute of Education