Structure and Agency as Two Problematics in School-based Curriculum Development: A Case Study

Abstract

Implicit in the rationale behind the shift from a centre-periphery/systems management approach to a school-based curriculum development (SBCD) approach to curriculum innovation and development are two notions which are viewed here as problematic. The first is that teachers will be ‘free’ to develop curricula which conform to a pedagogic ideal. Based on case-study research, it is argued that this notion must be approached with caution, as it can be shown that, even in a situation where teachers themselves initiate innovation, their actions are constrained by a number of in-school structures. The second notion is that SBCD may be able to overcome problems that occur between the creation and implementation of innovatory programs. However it is argued that individual teachers who are involved in creating an innovative idea also paradoxically interpret this idea in different ways and implement it differently. It is concluded that transformation of innovative ideas is inevitable in any innovatory program, and that this factor may act as a counterbalance to excesses in bureaucratic control sometimes evident in centre-periphery/systems management approaches.