Maynooth University, in collaboration with colleagues in Dublin City University (DCU), University of Limerick (UL) and Trinity College Dublin (TCD), was awarded funding from Educational Studies Association of Ireland (ESAI) to lead a Special Interest Group on Curriculum Studies. This SIG comes at a time when the field is experiencing vibrancy here in Ireland and abroad. In 2019 Maynooth University hosted the European Association for Curriculum Studies (EuroACS) Conference with over 150 delegates from across the world. This was followed by a Curriculum Studies Summer School attended by 30 researchers.
Curriculum Studies SIG Team
Dr Majella Dempsey MU - SIG Lead
Dr Audrey Doyle DCU
Professor Anne Looney DCU
Professor Damian Murchan TCDDr John O’Reilly UL
The first online seminar, Constructing ‘Practical’ Curriculum Theory, takes place on 15th October 15.30-17.00 with Professor Zongyi Deng from UCL, Institute of Education. The seminar will involve an open discussion based on his 2018 paper: Contemporary curriculum theorizing: crisis and resolution Journal of Curriculum Studies, 50:6, 691-710.In his paper Deng argues that curriculum theorizing is in serious crisis due to the loss of the original subject of curriculum studies – practice and the inner work of schooling as a complex institution. This crisis he tells us has to do with the task of theorizing being mistakenly viewed as the pursuit of ‘complicated’ curriculum understanding, together with an uncritical embrace of postmodernism and related discourses. He proposes a way forward to overcome the crisis and to revive curriculum theorizing that matters in practice and in the world of schooling for the twenty-first century in terms of three propositions. In this seminar Zongyi will add to his thinking on constructing ‘practical’ curriculum theory.
For further information, please email: curriculumsig@mu.ie
This SIG in Curriculum Studies will be relevant across all levels of education from early childhood to third level and further education. We see curriculum as existing at different levels, comprising supra, macro, meso, micro and nano. These can be construed as levels, presenting different institutional strata (e.g. national government, professional development services, school, etc), or as stratified fields of activity (e.g. national policy making, national and local support for curriculum making, curriculum enactment in schools). We hope to problematise our understanding of curriculum in this SIG and to add to the thinking in Ireland and internationally. We welcome your interest and hope to build a vibrant group of curriculum thinkers and makers over the coming years. To join our mailing list please fill in this short form