Pursuing a problematic-based curriculum approach for the sake of social justice
Date
2017
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of KwaZulu-Natal
Abstract
This article envisions, and argues for, what I call a problematic-based curriculum approach
(PBCA) in which students work with/on knowledge in relation to local lifeworld problems
that matter. In the process, students and teachers would extend curriculum work beyond
school walls, engaging with diverse knowledgeable actors – ‘lay’ and ‘expert’ – in relation
to mattering problems. In outlining PBCA, I draw significantly on Vygotskyan thought,
including the Funds of Knowledge approach to curriculum design, and on Isabelle Stengers’
pragmatist arguments for a proactive politics of knowledge in which ‘expertise’ proliferates.
The article also contrasts PBCA with the Social Realist approach to curriculum (SR) that
underpins South Africa’s Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS). In this
contrast, I argue that SR/CAPS is re-formative, whereas CPBA would be trans-formative in
Nancy Fraser’s sense of “chang[ing] the deep grammar” that frames curriculum, towards
robust and vitally needed social-educational justice.
Description
CITATION: Zipin, L. 2017. Pursuing a problematic-based curriculum approach for the sake of social justice. Journal of Education, 69:68-92.
The original publication is available at https://journals.ukzn.ac.za/index.php/joe/
The original publication is available at https://journals.ukzn.ac.za/index.php/joe/
Keywords
Education -- Curricula -- South Africa, Vygotskiĭ, L. S. (Lev Semenovich), 1896-1934, Social justice and education, Curriculum change -- South Africa
Citation
Zipin, L. 2017. Pursuing a problematic-based curriculum approach for the sake of social justice. Journal of Education, 69:68-92