2nd Edition

Critical Curriculum Studies Education, Consciousness, and the Politics of Knowing

By Wayne Au Copyright 2026
124 Pages
by Routledge

124 Pages
by Routledge

124 Pages
by Routledge

This fully updated second edition of Critical Curriculum Studies offers a conceptual framework that bridges curriculum design with students' understanding of the world around them. In this new edition, Wayne Au brings together curriculum theory, critical educational studies, and feminist standpoint theory with practical examples of teaching for social justice to argue for a transformative... Read more

1. Introduction: Curriculum Studies, Contradiction, and the Politics of Knowledge 2. With and Within the World: Developing a Dialectical Conception of Consciousness 3. Epistemology and Educational Experience: Curriculum, Complex Environmental Design, and Accessing Knowledge 4. Developing Curricular Standpoint: Strong Objectivity and the Politics of School Knowledge 5. Curriculum of the Oppressed: Curricular Standpoint in Practice 6. Conclusion: Consciousness and the Curriculum

Biography

Wayne Au is a Professor in the School of Educational Studies at the University of Washington Bothell, USA. A long-time critical educational activist and scholar, his work examines issues of power and justice in education policy and practice.

“Critical Curriculum Studies is a provocative book.  It challenges many of our assumptions about curriculum, including a number of the assumptions held by politically progressive and critical curriculum scholars, as well.  Au rightly asks us to engage in such debates over our politics, theories, policies, and practices.  Given the realities of this society, this is a crucial task.  It is a task that this second edition of Critical Curriculum Studies takes very seriously.”

--From the Introduction by Michael W. Apple, John Bascom Professor Emeritus of Curriculum and Instruction and Educational Policy Studies, University of Wisconsin, Madison