Abstract:
This study is grounded in Actor-Network Theory (ANT), which views everything in the social and natural worlds as continuously generated effects of the webs of relations in which they exist (Latour, 1992). ANT posits that nothing has reality or form outside the enactment of these relations. By focusing on the complex practices of relationality and materiality, ANT explores the strategic, relational, and productive nature of smaller, heterogeneous actor networks (Law, 1992). It describes the enactment of materially and discursively diverse relations that produce and reshape various actors, including objects, subjects, humans, machines, animals, “nature,” ideas, organizations, inequalities, and geographical arrangements (Latour, 2005). ANT studies characterize the webs and practices that sustain these relations (Law, 2004).
While the policy of school-based curriculum development and evaluation is not new in Taiwanese schools, the practice of developing unique curricula is relatively difficult because it disrupts the stable order of curriculum and teaching schools have already got used. However, some schools reconnect particular agents, things, rules, and organizations to form new networks, making school-based curriculum development and evaluation possible. This study examines a high school to explore how its activities in implementing school-based curriculum development and evaluation are shaped by various actors, including material and discursive elements with which they associate.
The ANT perspective involves the concepts of translation and network. Translation refers to a process that generates ordering effects, such as devices, agents, institutions, or organizations. Networks refer to how they grow and what they are not. Besides describing the translation and network of the case, this study will discuss the case from three aspects: material durability, strategic durability, and discursive stability (Law, 2008). Through this discussion, the study elucidates the network architecture and configurations that might lead to the relative stability of the curriculum development process.
References
Latour, B. (1992). Where are the missing masses? The sociology of a few mundane artifacts. Shaping technology/building society: Studies in sociotechnical change, 1, 225–25
Latour, B. (2005). Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory. New York: Oxford University Press.
Law, J. (1992). Notes on the theory of the actor network: ordering, strategy and heterogeneity, Systems Practice,5, 379-393.
Law, J. (2004). After method: Mess in social science research. London and New York: Routledge.
Law, J. (2008). Actor-network theory and material semiotics. In: Bryan S. Turner (Ed.) The New Blackwell Companion to Social Theory, 3rd Edition (pp. 141-158). Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
While the policy of school-based curriculum development and evaluation is not new in Taiwanese schools, the practice of developing unique curricula is relatively difficult because it disrupts the stable order of curriculum and teaching schools have already got used. However, some schools reconnect particular agents, things, rules, and organizations to form new networks, making school-based curriculum development and evaluation possible. This study examines a high school to explore how its activities in implementing school-based curriculum development and evaluation are shaped by various actors, including material and discursive elements with which they associate.
The ANT perspective involves the concepts of translation and network. Translation refers to a process that generates ordering effects, such as devices, agents, institutions, or organizations. Networks refer to how they grow and what they are not. Besides describing the translation and network of the case, this study will discuss the case from three aspects: material durability, strategic durability, and discursive stability (Law, 2008). Through this discussion, the study elucidates the network architecture and configurations that might lead to the relative stability of the curriculum development process.
References
Latour, B. (1992). Where are the missing masses? The sociology of a few mundane artifacts. Shaping technology/building society: Studies in sociotechnical change, 1, 225–25
Latour, B. (2005). Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory. New York: Oxford University Press.
Law, J. (1992). Notes on the theory of the actor network: ordering, strategy and heterogeneity, Systems Practice,5, 379-393.
Law, J. (2004). After method: Mess in social science research. London and New York: Routledge.
Law, J. (2008). Actor-network theory and material semiotics. In: Bryan S. Turner (Ed.) The New Blackwell Companion to Social Theory, 3rd Edition (pp. 141-158). Oxford, UK: Blackwell.