Paradigms in curriculum development: Critical comments on the work of Tanner and Tanner

Abstract

Daniel Tanner and Laurel Tanner, in their widely read textbook Curriculum Development: Theory into Practice (1980), make the claim that by the middle of this century the field of curriculum had emerged as a distinct area of study. They also suggest that a consensually based paradigm for systematic curriculum development has arisen from the work of Tyler (1949) and Dewey (1902). They further contend that the various elements of the curriculum paradigm were discussed in a report of the Eight-Year Study, Exploring the Curriculum (Giles, McCutchen, & Zechiel, 1942). The articulation of these elements, in a format sufficiently well developed to be considered a paradigm for the curriculum field, began with Ralph Tyler in 1949 and is often referred to as the "Tyler rationale." This guideline for curriculum development states that the interacting influences of organized scholarship, the learner, and society should provide the dominant source and influence for curriculum development. Robin Barrow (1984), on the other hand, claims that a desire to impose such an overall design (or, presumably, paradigm) is an impediment to clear thinking about school in general. He further states: