The curriculum: developing powerful knowledge and creative know-how

The nature of the term ‘curriculum’ is complex, multi-layered and contested, being “conceived differently at different times by different scholars working in different countries and regions, working in different institutional settings with differing demands: universities, governments, schools, and corporations”. However, it is also a multi-layered concept that can be seen to be operating at a number of levels i.e. the policy level, the programmatic level and the classroom level. The policy level operates at the intersection between schooling, culture and society and defines the purposes and expectations of schools. This chapter focuses primarily on the policy level and describes the complex and multi-layered nature of the curriculum at the foreground of human thinking. Recent curriculum policy in England since 2010 has involved a strong political steer towards a so-called knowledge-rich or knowledge-based curriculum. The national core curriculum provides a uniform foundation for local curricula, thus enhancing equality in education throughout the country