Curriculum, Syllabus Design and Equity: A Primer and Model

Curriculum scholars and teachers working for social justice and equity have been caught up in acrimonious and polarizing political debates over content, ideology, and disciplinary knowledge. At the forefront in cutting through these debates and addressing the practical questions involved, this book is distinctive in looking to the technical form of the curriculum rather than its content for solutions. The editors and contributors, all leading international scholars, advance a unified, principled approach to the design of curriculum and syllabus documents that aims for high quality/high equity educational outcomes and enhances teacher professionalism with appropriate system prescription.

Stressing local curriculum development capacity and teacher professional responses to specific community and student contexts, this useful, practical primer introduces and unpacks definitions of curriculum, syllabus, the school subject, and informed professionalism; presents key principles of design; discusses a range of approaches; and offers clear, realistic guidelines for the tasks of writing curriculum documents and designing official syllabi and professional development programs at system and school levels. Providing a foundational structure for syllabus design work, Curriculum, Syllabus Design, and Equity is relevant for teachers, teacher educators, and curriculum policy workers everywhere who are engaged in the real work of curriculum writing and implementation.

Allan Luke is Research Professor in the Faculty of Education at the Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.

Annette Woods is Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia.

Katie Weir is Senior Lecturer at Griffith University’s Gold Coast campus in Queensland, Australia.