Curriculum in Art Education: The Uncertainty Principle

Abstract

This paper identifies curriculum as the pivotal link between theory and practice and asserts that all stages of curriculum research and development are characterized by elements of uncertainty. Particular curriculum projects which took their methodological impetus from research in the field are briefly reviewed and areas of indeterminancy highlighted. The writer explains that rather than being an annoying flaw which defies specification, ‘the uncertainty principle’ which underlies curriculum research and development in fact reflects the reality of practice more adequately as it mirrors the contradictory nature of art, the pluralism of schools and society, and the capriciousness of learning. Further, it is suggested that the entire conceptual and operational structure of a curriculum needs to allow for multiple areas of access and variable paths for movement and development.