The Theory of the curriculum and the reality / ideality tension in planning

Abstract

The expression "Curriculum theory" evokes a current of studies very clear in the panorama of Pedagogy and secondarily in Linguistics Applied. Its object of observation consists of (a) a way of inquiring about the premises that support the development and promulgation of syllabus in general or of more specific planning and in parallel (b) in a historical analysis of the same in relation to national or international cultural policies. As William Pinar (2003) says, the curricular theory is "the interdisciplinary study of educational experience " but also "a field specificity, with a unique history, a present complex and uncertain future." (2003: 22).