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Where there is a goal and a method, there must be a corresponding formal sub-stratum or elements of a normative structural template that is identified as ideology. Curriculum has both goal and method, and hence ostensibly it must be ideological. And since ideologies are contested and the dominant forms are the product of social or epistemological power, we cannot escape the question of ideology in any serious discussion of curriculum. Historically the word ideology has acquired many associations and its usage has undergone many changes. In raising the issue of ideology in the context of curriculum, two questions are uppermost: To what extent does curriculum merely recuperate its own ideological presumptions in the name of education? And, Is it thinkable to go beyond ideology in the practice of curriculum? The inquiry suggests that an ideology-free moment can arise through a conscious clash of paradigms.

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-61106-8_3

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