Collaborative Curriculum Development: an encounter of different professional knowledge systems

Abstract

Abstract Teachers and educationalists working together in curriculum development is still rather unusual. The article reports on a project of collaborative curriculum development and uses it as a case‐study that reveals more general insights. The authors describe and interpretatively analyse collaborative curriculum development as the encounter of different professional knowledge systems. This encounter implies certain tensions and specific difficulties, but at the same time it offers rich opportunities to benefit from the ‘complementary competence’ of the different collaborating professionals. The authors conclude that collaborative curriculum development not only improves the quality of the curriculum outcomes, but at the same time constitutes a powerful means for teachers' professional development. The article is intended to contribute to a more balanced understanding of collaborative curriculum development, by explicitly describing its positive potential and its eventual pitfalls.