Curricular change in Turkey: Time, sequentiality, and differential power of actors in establishing a new knowledge path

Abstract

This paper introduces the knowledge path concept to research on curriculum change. Vis-a-vis existing inquiries into curriculum making, the paper explores the usefulness of the knowledge path concept in an empirical analysis of curriculum change that primary education in Turkey underwent at the turn of the century. Based on the documentary interpretation of expert interviews and other material, the paper enquires into the processes that instigated and enabled the curriculum change and rendered it durable. This concept may contribute to four previously identified research approaches to curriculum change: empirical case studies, ideology-critical and New Institutionalist inquiries, and a focus on organizational politics. It emphasizes the significance of time and sequentiality during change processes and underpins the differentiated power of actors.