The end/s of education: complexity and the conundrum of the inclusive educational curriculum

Abstract

The conundrum of the inclusive educational curriculum is that the more inclusive a curriculum becomes in practice, the less inclusive it becomes in principle. In this paper we explain the conundrum and argue that its appearance is a product of what could be called 'object-based' logic which is underpinned by a deterministic understanding of causality. As long as we employ object-based logic to think about the curriculum, we cannot avoid asking what a curriculum is for. Whoever answers this question necessarily excludes other possibilities. We argue that a relational or 'complex' understanding of causality, which is shared by complexity theories, poststructural theories, deconstruction and Deweyan pragmatism, offersa way out of the conundrum by offering a different understanding of process and hence the guiding role of the curriculum in the educational process. In allowing the possibility of a guiding role for the curriculum, while dispensing with the need for a curricular 'end', complex logic can inform an understanding of curriculum which succeeds where humanistic education in its various forms has failed.