Abstract:
The delivery of curriculum is constrained by the many documents which set out the framework for teaching and learning. However, trying to use a fixed and linear medium to encompass the fluid and non-linear dynamic which is the education process, is fraught with pitfalls, especially when change is to be implemented. Choice of language and structure, the roles and status of the participants, and the domain in which the discourse takes place, all affect the meanings made. Conventional elements of the discourse which are normally utilised for ease of communication need to be revisited and reapplied in the new context, a process which can confuse the communication, rather than aiding it. This paper seeks to identify some of the conventional elements of the discourse of curriculum as it is manifested in the Curriculum Framework for Kindergarten to Year 12 Education in Western Australian Schools (CC1998) and subsidiary documents, with a view to clarifying some of the issues surrounding translation of the documents into practice