What Is Curriculum Theory?

Citation

Pinar, W. F. (2019). What Is Curriculum Theory? (3rd ed.). Routledge.

Chapter Summary

The third edition is a short book of about 240 pages, with eight chapters in five parts. The publisher describes it as a primer for prospective and practicing teachers. It asks them to question the historical present and their relation to it, and to reflect on what it means to teach, to study, to educate and to become educated. Its central device is Pinar's concept of currere, the Latin infinitive of "curriculum", which the publisher presents as an autobiographical method of self-study. The part titles follow the stages of that method: the problem of the present, the regressive moment, the progressive moment, the analytic moment and the synthetical moment.

Part I, Chapter 1: Curriculum Theory

The opening chapter introduces the field named in the title. According to the publisher, curriculum is understood in the book as more than the implementation of objectives to be assessed by standardized tests: it is communication between older and younger generations, informed by academic knowledge and characterized by educational experience.

Part I, Chapter 2: From Autobiography to Allegory

The second chapter completes Part I ("The Problem That Is the Present"). Its title describes a movement from autobiography, which the publisher identifies as the method of currere, to allegory, a form the publisher also names in its description of the new Harlem Renaissance chapter.

Part II, Chapter 3: The Harlem Renaissance

Part II is "The Regressive Moment: Reactivating the Past". The Harlem Renaissance chapter is new in the third edition, where the publisher describes it as a new "allegory-of-the-present".

Part II, Chapter 4: Mortal Educational Combat

The second chapter of the regressive part has a title that frames education in terms of conflict.

Part III, Chapter 5: The Dissolution of Subjectivity

Part III is "The Progressive Moment: The Future in the Present". It begins with a chapter on the dissolution of subjectivity.

Part III, Chapter 6: The Future in the Past

The title of this chapter echoes that of Part III, "The Future in the Present", and turns to the past. The publisher lists a new section on the future of curriculum and a new section on technology among the additions to this edition, along with an expanded section on Freedom Schools; the table of contents does not show in which chapters they sit.

Part IV, Chapter 7: Anti-Intellectualism and Complicated Conversation

Part IV is "The Analytic Moment: Understanding the Present". Its single chapter pairs anti-intellectualism with the "complicated conversation" that the publisher uses to describe curriculum. The publisher also notes that this edition depicts educators as truth-tellers in the "post-truth" era of "fake news".

Part V, Chapter 8: Subjective and Social Survival

The book closes with "The Synthetical Moment" and a chapter on subjective and social survival.

Key Concepts

Part I: The Problem That Is the Present

• Currere: the Latin infinitive of curriculum, used as an autobiographical method of self-study.
• Curriculum as complicated conversation: curriculum as communication between generations, not only implementation of objectives.
• Allegory of the present: the publisher's term for the new Harlem Renaissance chapter.

Parts II–III: The Regressive and Progressive Moments

• The regressive moment: reactivating the past.
• The progressive moment: finding the future in the present.
• Subjectivity: the topic of Chapter 5.

Parts IV–V: The Analytic and Synthetical Moments

• The analytic moment: understanding the present.
• Anti-intellectualism: the pairing in Chapter 7 with complicated conversation.
• Subjective and social survival: the closing theme.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• A short, organised argument. Eight chapters in five parts make this one of the more compact books on the list. The part titles name the stages of the method, so the structure is easy to follow.
• A method that readers can try. The publisher presents currere as a method that individuals and groups can use to understand teaching as "passionate participation" in the curriculum conversation, so the book is meant to be used, not only read.
• An explicitly updated edition. The publisher lists what is new: the Harlem Renaissance chapter as a new allegory, new sections on technology and the future of curriculum, an expanded section on Freedom Schools and a view of educators as truth-tellers in a "post-truth" era.
• Addressed to teachers. The publisher calls it a primer for prospective and practicing teachers and recommends it to scholars and students of curriculum studies, teacher education, educational policy and the foundations of education.

Limitations

• Not a survey of curriculum models. The table of contents contains no chapter on planning models, curriculum design procedures, evaluation or assessment. A reader looking for how to write a curriculum will need a different book.
• One position, argued at length. The publisher itself calls the book "provocative, compelling, and controversial". It develops a single approach, centred on currere, rather than presenting competing views in parallel.
• Uneven chapter lengths. Parts IV and V each consist of one chapter, so most of the book is carried by the first six chapters.
• Contents are hard to map from titles. Several chapter titles are metaphorical (for example "Mortal Educational Combat"), so a reader cannot tell from the contents alone what each chapter argues; the preface and sample pages are worth reading before committing.

Where It Fits in the Course

This is the theoretical book of the curriculum list, a single author's extended argument. Allan Ornstein and Francis Hunkins's Curriculum: Foundations, Principles, and Issues is a graduate survey of foundations, design and issues, A. V. Kelly's The Curriculum: Theory and Practice is an introduction that asks what a curriculum is for and who should decide it, and Wesley Null's Curriculum: From Theory to Practice organises the field into five traditions. Wiggins and McTighe's Understanding by Design Guide is the practical planning book, and Flinders and Thornton's The Curriculum Studies Reader is an anthology of primary texts that includes Pinar's own essay on reconceptualization.

Read Pinar after one of the surveys, once the planning models and their critics are familiar, and use the Reader to meet the other voices he is in conversation with. It is not a substitute for a planning text such as Wiggins and McTighe.

How to Use This Book

The book suits graduate students, teacher educators and experienced teachers who want to think about curriculum as a field of study and about their own position in it. A first course in curriculum design or foundations helps, as does a willingness to read theoretical and metaphorical prose.

A practical plan:

• Read in order. The five parts form a sequence, and the method makes most sense if you follow it from the problem of the present through to the synthetical moment.
• Use the method. Keep a notebook and write short autobiographical entries in response to each part, in the spirit of currere as the publisher describes it.
• If you know an earlier edition, go first to the Harlem Renaissance chapter, the one addition the table of contents lets you locate.
• Pair with a practical book. Read a planning guide alongside, and note where Pinar's view of curriculum as conversation differs from planning for objectives and assessments.