Interactive Curriculum Development: Rationale and Implementation in Secondary Schools

Abstract

This study presents a case for student participation in curriculum decision making, and provides advocates of the process with a rationale which sets the issue in a detailed and coherent framework, which should enable them to understand the links between the various theoretical arguments, see the relationship between goals and values more clearly, and deduce their implications for teaching and learning. The practical significance of the study lies in the presentation of a guide for action in terms of identifying the roles and relationships, the procedures, activities, and the organizational structures required for the effective implementation of the model. The purpose of the study is, therefore, four-fold: to develop a model which accommodates the participation of students in curriculum development; to identify its theoretical framework; to indicate the conditions required for its implementation in secondary schools; and to examine the feasibility of applying the model to curriculum development in New South Wales (N.S.W.) schools and to English literature.