Curriculum as policy: some implications of contemporary policy studies for the analysis of curriculum policy, with particular reference to post‐primary curriculum policy in the Republic of Ireland

ABSTRACT An overview of contemporary curriculum discourse shows a worrying drift to the technical; in current curriculum debates, technique is winning out over substance, procedures over principles. This article shows how this theoretical vacuum is ascribed by many in the field to the dominance of the Tyler rationale in curriculum planning. However, the symptoms of means‐end rationality are not confined to curriculum ‐ they are found across the breadth of educational studies and have reached epidemic proportions, suggests the article, in the discourse of educational reform. A number of serious implications for the lack of analysis of curriculum policy are identified and particular reference is made to the Republic of Ireland where, it is suggested, the size of the education system should facilitate greater debate. Instead, the discussions focus on the management rather than the meaning of change. In searching for sources for new curriculum theory,the author suggests that the field of policy studies offers considerable potential, in particular the work of Stephen Ball on mapping the policy cycle. The possibilities for a theory of curriculum as policies are explored. A model of a curriculum policy cycle is proposed and subjected to some analysis.