Curriculum: Foundations, Principles, and Issues

Citation

Ornstein, A. C., & Hunkins, F. P. (2017). Curriculum: Foundations, Principles, and Issues (7th ed.). Pearson.

Chapter Summary

The seventh edition has ten chapters and runs to 364 pages in the bound book. The authors describe an approach that avoids favoring either theory or practice, avoids advancing a particular political or social position, and does not treat curriculum as an administrative challenge; the aim is to give readers the information to form their own views on curriculum today. Learning Outcomes open each chapter, and Discussion Questions and "Curriculum Tips" (concrete suggestions for future teachers and administrators) support the text. The ten chapters fall into a framing chapter, four chapters on foundations, four on the curriculum process, and one on international education. The publisher also stresses current topics: reform initiatives such as the Common Core, accountability and high-stakes testing, and universal pre-K; technology and online education; brain research; and income inequality.

Chapter 1: The Field of Curriculum

The opening chapter introduces curriculum as a field of study. The publisher's change list places new discussion of technology and online education, including MOOCs, here.

Chapter 2: Philosophical Foundations of Curriculum

The first of the four foundations chapters. According to the publisher, this edition's coverage of the Common Core and universal pre-K, of digital literacy and global skills, and of brain research appears in this chapter.

Chapter 3: Historical Foundations of Curriculum

The historical chapter. The publisher mentions new coverage of global skills here.

Chapter 4: Psychological Foundations of Curriculum

The psychological foundations chapter. The publisher places expanded sections on brain research here and in Chapter 2: plasticity of the brain, the effect of social media on brain development, and the growing importance of executive function.

Chapter 5: Social Foundations of Curriculum

The social foundations chapter. According to the publisher, it includes coverage of universal pre-K, expanded reports on international achievement tests (including tests of creativity and problem solving, toward the end of the chapter), and the impact of income inequality on schools and curriculum.

Chapters 6–9: Curriculum Design; Curriculum Development; Curriculum Implementation; Curriculum Evaluation

These four chapters move from the foundations to the stages of the curriculum process: design, development, implementation and evaluation. The publisher's page lists their titles without further description.

Chapter 10: International Scenes in Education

As its title indicates, the final chapter takes an international view of education; the publisher's page lists the title only.

Key Concepts

Chapters 1–5: Field and Foundations

• Curriculum as a field: the subject that Chapter 1 introduces.
• Philosophical, historical, psychological and social foundations: four lenses on curriculum, one chapter each (Chapters 2 to 5).
• Current reform initiatives: the Common Core, accountability and high-stakes testing, and universal pre-K.
• Brain research and executive function: topics the publisher says were expanded in Chapters 2 and 4.

Chapters 6–10: Process and International Context

• Curriculum design, development, implementation and evaluation: the stages covered in Chapters 6 to 9.
• International scenes in education: the subject of Chapter 10.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• A balanced stance by design. The authors state that the book does not favor theory over practice or advance a particular political or social position, which suits a seminar in which students must compare positions.
• Clear structure. A framing chapter, four foundation chapters and four process chapters make a sequence that can be read in order or used as a reference. The title's three terms (foundations, principles, issues) map onto this plan.
• Teaching aids. Learning Outcomes at the start of each chapter, Discussion Questions at the end and Curriculum Tips make the book usable in a graduate course; the Enhanced eText adds embedded videos.
• Topical coverage in this edition. The publisher lists new material on Common Core, high-stakes accountability, digital literacy, brain research and income inequality.

Limitations

• Topical material dates quickly. The edition's emphasis on the Common Core, MOOCs and universal pre-K tied it to the policy debates of its time, so readers outside that period or outside the United States will find parts of it dated.
• A single chapter for international education. Chapter 10 is the only chapter whose title is devoted to an international view, while the rest of the contents list is organized by curriculum topics.
• Cross-cutting topics are spread across chapters. According to the publisher, technology and online education appear in Chapter 1, digital literacy and global skills in Chapters 2 and 3, and brain research in Chapters 2 and 4, so a reader following one theme must move between chapters.
• Survey, not argument. By the authors' own account, the book offers information rather than a thesis; readers looking for a sustained theoretical position on curriculum will find it in other books.

Where It Fits in the Course

In the curriculum list, this is the survey textbook for graduate students. Null's Curriculum: From Theory to Practice is a shorter introduction that organizes the field into five traditions of curriculum thought, and Kelly's The Curriculum: Theory and Practice is a long-established British introduction asking what a curriculum is for and who should decide it; either is a gentler first read. Wiggins and McTighe's The Understanding by Design Guide to Creating High-Quality Units is a hands-on planning guide for units, a practical companion to the design chapters.

For deeper theoretical and historical reading, Pinar's What Is Curriculum Theory? treats curriculum as a complicated conversation and the field as an academic one rather than a planning procedure, and The Curriculum Studies Reader is an anthology of original arguments by Bobbitt, Dewey, Tyler, Eisner, Freire, Greene, Pinar and Noddings. Ornstein and Hunkins is the broad map; these books provide primary sources and a specific stance.

How to Use This Book

The book is aimed at graduate students in curriculum and instruction, educational leadership or teacher education, and at school leaders and curriculum workers. An introductory course in education or teaching experience will help, since it assumes familiarity with how schools are organized.

A practical plan: read Chapter 1 for the framing, then take the foundations chapters (2 to 5) in order of interest, since they are written as separate lenses and each can be used on its own in a seminar. Treat Chapters 6 to 9 as the core of the curriculum-work sequence and read them together, using the Curriculum Tips to translate ideas into practice. Chapter 10 adds a comparative view and suits readers considering international systems. For essays, use the Discussion Questions to frame arguments and read the original sources the book points to; for courses with time for one more book, add an anthology or a theoretical text to supply the primary arguments.