Encyclopedia of Curriculum Studies

The study of curriculum, beginning in the early 20th century, first served the areas of school administration and teaching and was used to design and develop programs of study. The field subsequently expanded and drew upon disciplines from the arts, humanities, and social sciences to examine larger educational forces and their effects upon the individual, society, and conceptions of knowledge. Curriculum studies now embraces an array of academic scholarship in relation to personal and institutional needs and interests while it also focuses upon a diverse and complex dynamic among educational experiences, practices, settings, actions, and theories.

The Encyclopedia of Curriculum Studies provides a comprehensive introduction to the academic field of curriculum studies for the scholar, student, teacher, and administrator. This two-volume set serves to inform and to introduce terms, events, documents, biographies, and concepts to assist the reader in understanding aspects of this rapidly changing, expansive, and contested field of study.

Key Features

• Displays different perspectives by having authors contribute independent essays on the nature and future of curriculum studies
• Presents a unique and in-depth treatment of the Twenty-Sixth Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education (NSSE), a 1927 publication that has taken on legendary dimensions for the field of curriculum studies
• Contains bibliographic entries which feature specific publications by curriculum leaders that helped to define the field
• Helps readers to learn unfamiliar terms and concepts, to become more comfortable with specialized phrases, and to understand the many significant and perplexing concepts and questions that characterize the field

Key Themes

• Biography and Prosopography
• Concepts and Terms
• Content Descriptions
• Influences on Curriculum Studies
• Inquiry and Research
• Nature of Curriculum Studies
• Organizations, Schools, and Projects
• Publications
• Theoretical Perspectives
• Types of Curricula

The Encyclopedia of Curriculum Studies offers the careful reader a surprisingly revealing depiction of the conventions, mores, and accepted research and writing practices of the field of curriculum studies as it continues to expand and change. Availability in print and electronic formats provides students with convenient, easy access, wherever they may be.