Exploring Curriculum Change Using Discursive Institutionalism : A Conceptual Framework

The article aims to explore to what extent and in what ways discourseinstitutionalism can contribute to the understanding and analysis ofcurriculum change in a globalized context. By focusing specifically oncurriculum change, this article proposes how discourse institutionalismcan contribute to the so-called ‘crisis of curriculum theory’ by addressing(i) the non-linearity of change, (ii) the process of the translation of ideasand (iii) actor agency. The text is structured in three sections. In the firstsection, we elaborate on the notion of curriculum change as a vitalconcept for the field of curriculum theory in a globalized context, focusingon processes of recontextualization and the translation of curriculumcontent. In the second, we elaborate on discourse institutionalism as acontributing approach to the analysis of such processes of curriculumchange, constructing a conceptual framework. In the third and finalsection, we give some examples of how the conceptual framework canbe used in analysing curriculum change, using the 2011 Swedish curriculumreform (Lgr 11) as an empirical reference, and the result showsthat the conceptual framework offers a wide repertoire of possibleapproaches to analysing curriculum change, both vertically andhorizontally