In this DLL Research seminar, Prof. Mark Priestley (University of Stirling) will explore different conceptions of curriculum and curriculum making. He will offer a critique of existing thinking about curriculum as content and 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, he will offer an elaborated 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.

The seminar will:

•Explore the notion of curriculum as social practice, understood systemically across multiple layers or sites of activity

•Provide an overview of existing thinking/literature about curriculum levels or layers

•Introduce of a conceptualization of curriculum making as social practice within different intertwined sites of activity

•Consider the implications for curriculum making, including the key importance of meso activity (support, infrastructure and leadership) which sits between macro policy and micro school-based curriculum making. This appears to be a key factor in enhancing teaching agency for curriculum making.

The webinar will be delivered through MC Teams. Please register here and we will send a link to your email nearer the date.