Cultures of Curriculum

This chapter explores who decides what art and design content is valuable for study and how the content is organized in both formal and informal settings. Art and design cultures of curriculum can be considered in a multitude of ways. In this chapter, four cultures of curriculum are examined: the culture of national art and design curriculum, the culture of age grouping, cultures of networked and relational curriculum, and transdisciplinary distributed cultures of curriculum. The culture of age-based curriculum, which stems from aesthetic and art development stage theory, holds preconceived notions about what a body is and can do, and predicts appropriate content for each age grouping. This chapter interrogates these models and supports anti-essentialist and decentered curricular experiments that spill outside of designated departments and disciplines.