Contemporary trends and perspectives of the curricula: Towards a meta-modern paradigm for curriculum

Abstract

This paper examines curriculum trends and perspectives in the light of the modernist - postmodernist debate. It argues that the new ideological and institutional frameworks of our era prefigure a meta-modern paradigm for curriculum based on the modernisation of modernity. It is suggested that a meta-modern paradigm for curriculum transcends the misfortunes of modernity, i.e. the objectification and depersonalisation of contemporary education, the consideration of students as marketable products and the fragmentation of human experience into useful tasks. A process-orientated, meaningful curriculum is proposed aiming at the development of a dialectical relationship of persons to their world, a relationship which promotes communicative action. © 1997, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.