
Critical Curriculum Studies
Education, Consciousness, and the Politics of Knowing
Wayne Au(Author)
Routledge (Publisher)
2nd Edition
Will be published approx. on 20. February 2026
Book
Hardback
134 pages
978-1-032-96659-5 (ISBN)
Description
This fully updated second edition of Critical Curriculum Studies offers a conceptual framework that bridges curriculum design with students' understanding of the world around them.
In this new edition, Wayne Au brings together curriculum theory, critical educational studies, and feminist standpoint theory with practical examples of teaching for social justice to argue for a transformative curriculum that challenges existing inequity in social, educational, and economic relations. Making use of the work of important scholars such as Freire, Vygotsky, Hartsock, Harding, and others, Critical Curriculum Studies argues that we must understand the relationship between the curriculum and the types of consciousness we carry out into the world. The 2nd edition includes fully updated references and examples throughout the text, expanded discussion of dialectics, and improved pedagogical features, including connections to classroom practice and new chapter summaries to aid student understanding.
Combining theory and practice, this book will be core reading for postgraduate and advanced undergraduate students in Curriculum Studies, Curriculum and Instruction, and Foundations of Education courses.
In this new edition, Wayne Au brings together curriculum theory, critical educational studies, and feminist standpoint theory with practical examples of teaching for social justice to argue for a transformative curriculum that challenges existing inequity in social, educational, and economic relations. Making use of the work of important scholars such as Freire, Vygotsky, Hartsock, Harding, and others, Critical Curriculum Studies argues that we must understand the relationship between the curriculum and the types of consciousness we carry out into the world. The 2nd edition includes fully updated references and examples throughout the text, expanded discussion of dialectics, and improved pedagogical features, including connections to classroom practice and new chapter summaries to aid student understanding.
Combining theory and practice, this book will be core reading for postgraduate and advanced undergraduate students in Curriculum Studies, Curriculum and Instruction, and Foundations of Education courses.
Reviews / Votes
"Critical Curriculum Studies is a provocative book. It challenges many of our assumptions about curriculum, including a number of the assumptions held by politically progressive and critical curriculum scholars, as well. Au rightly asks us to engage in such debates over our politics, theories, policies, and practices. Given the realities of this society, this is a crucial task. It is a task that this second edition of Critical Curriculum Studies takes very seriously."--From the Introduction by Michael W. Apple, John Bascom Professor Emeritus of Curriculum and Instruction and Educational Policy Studies, University of Wisconsin, Madison
More details
Series
Edition
2nd edition
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Postgraduate
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 12 mm
Weight
345 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-032-96659-5 (9781032966595)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Book
approx. 02/2026
2nd Edition
Routledge
€63.90
Not yet published

E-Book
02/2026
2nd Edition
Routledge
€55.49
Available for download

E-Book
02/2026
2nd Edition
Routledge
€55.49
Available for download
Previous edition

Book
07/2011
1st Edition
Routledge
€231.00
Shipment within 15-20 days
Person
Wayne Au is a Professor in the School of Educational Studies at the University of Washington Bothell, USA. A long-time critical educational activist and scholar, his work examines issues of power and justice in education policy and practice.
Content
1. Introduction: Curriculum Studies, Contradiction, and the Politics of Knowledge 2. With and Within the World: Developing a Dialectical Conception of Consciousness 3. Epistemology and Educational Experience: Curriculum, Complex Environmental Design, and Accessing Knowledge 4. Developing Curricular Standpoint: Strong Objectivity and the Politics of School Knowledge 5. Curriculum of the Oppressed: Curricular Standpoint in Practice 6. Conclusion: Consciousness and the Curriculum