JOURNAL OF CURRICULUM

STUDIES
Volume /Number 1/Novemberp 1968
THE HUMANITIES CURRICULUM PROJECT
Lawrence Stenhouse
Offprint
L awrence S tenhcntse
Humanities CurriCulum Project
The Project has been funded for three years jointly by the
Foundation and the Schools Council, and has been given the
remit:
To offer to schools and to teachers such stivnulus, support ar
als as may be appropriate to the mounting, as an element
education of enquiry-based courses, which cross the subject b
between English, history, y lzstudies a
sit-Ma-7TE project is expected to concentrate on such-st iiTi
in icular meet the needs of adolescent pupils of average 2
average academic ability.
This is essentially a curriculum project, that is to say, it is
concerned with the content of education. Any observations ab
room strategies and methods must be seen in the_settingsLthg
om w
e understand by the humanities the study of both human 1
and human experience. The study of human behaviour is broacTI S
cern of the social sciences: history, human geography, psych(
sociology. I n some sense, these studies aspire to examine human 1
objectively, viewing it as caused or as dictated by purposes whir
understood from observation rather than detailed subjective
The study of human ex perience is reflected in the arts and in
graphical aspect of history. I t is concerned with the subjectiv
tential aspects of human life, and one important criterion by
rents of the arts are made is fidelity to human experience.
The claim of the humanities in education rests upon the arse:
their study enhances understanding and judgment in those areas
cal living which involve complex considerations of values anc
traditions. This claim has commonly been made for a classical e
and R. S. Peters has recently stated it in a form which sharpen
vance to a project such as ours:
But surely the strongest case for Classics is that it is a field o
I
pelling, seem to offer rich possibilities. Topics such as transport, water or
local government seem difficult to justify in a humanities curriculum;
they are derived from a different logic, perhaps that associated with the
teaching of the conventional school subjects across disciplines on a project
or enquiry base. Moreover, they raise too few issues of value, and deal
rather in facts and techniques.
Such distinctions as those made above are important. There are many
different curricular experiments afoot, and if they are to make their maxi-
mum contribution, each must be clear about its own frame of reference.
Areas of study should have an internal logical coherence, and should not
be based on casual associations. Thus, the juxtaposition of political power
and power as energy in the physical sense is unsatisfactory, as is the associ-
ation of irrigation, boiling kettles, swimming and water on the knee in a
unit on "water." Themes should probably seem inevitable, rather than
clever. All areas of study selected for a humanities course should lead
students not only to a consideration of human beha 'o - y 'ye
rame o re - - .. ; r agmative sympathy with subjective
There is a tendency to come]
boundaries in terms of the needs a
seem a helpful approach. Of coui
and relevant to the students, but
selection of material. I n a humaniti
those topics which are of endurir
portance in the human situation.
these areas precisely because of tl
tradition. No concession is being
share these interests with their stu
I n a curriculum development co.
of a central team?
I ts main tasks would appear to be
(r) to help to found a tradition
this curriculum by helping them
confidence in appropriate classrooi
judgments of the quality of studen
(2) to provide, as elmnples,
express this tradition and embody
(3) to evaluate the impact of its
situation, and the strengths and
developing round them.
I t is important that the limitati
islize curricula which cross subject
[ interests of students. This does not
, the curriculum must be interesting
ese are not sufficient reasons for the
curriculum one selects for adolescents
human interest because of their im-
ae school can make a contribution in
it central importance in our cultural
de: the teachers may be expected to
in these terms, what is the place
Mich will support teachers working in
select materials, by increasing their
strategies and by making secure their
' work;
trials for use in the classroom which
standards;
Lirriculum materials on the classroom
7eaknesses of the teaching tradition
is of a central team should be recog-
Second, the teaching strategy will be enquiry-based. We take this to
imply groups of pupils discussing issues in the light of evidence and under
the guidance of the teacher. Distinctions may be drawn between instruc-
tion-based, discovery-based and enquiry-based teaching. I nstruction-
based teaching implies that the task in hand is the teacher's passing on to
his pupils knowledge or skills of which he is master. I n discovery-based
teaching the teacher introduces his pupils into situations so selected or
devised that they embody in implicit or hidden form principles or know-
ledge which he wishes them to learn. Thus, Cuisensire rods embody
numerical principles, and certain scientific "experiments" used in educa-
tional settings reveal scientific principles. I nstruction and discovery are
appropriate in the classroom whenever the desirable outcome of teaching
can be specified in some detail and is broadly the same for every pupil.
Where a curriculum area is in a divergent, rather than in a convergent,
field, i.e. where there is no simple correct or incorrect outcome, but rather
an emphasis on the individual responses and judgments of the students,
the case for an enquiry-based approach is at its strongest. This is the
situation in the humanities.
This basic strategy of classroom procedure can be argued, we maintain,
from the nature of the content area. Considerations of professional ethics
are also involved.
Each of the areas of study we have chosen involves highly controversial
value judgments of a kind which divide opinion in our society, and this is
bound to be so. I t is just this controversial aspect of the work which offers
the prospect of live significance; and conscientious teachers will quite
properly feel diffidence in entering these areas unless their classroom
strategy gives some assurance that the pupils will not have their horizons
limited by their teacher's biases. Moreover, teachers are bound to find
themselves working in areas of knowledge outside their own specialist
qualifications and they ought to feel some reserve about playing an in-
structional role in this situation. A further consideration is that many of
the subjects proposed for study may well be just those most likely to
exacerbate the inter-generational and the inter-social class conflicts be-
tween teacher and pupil to which recent studies have drawn attention.
On all these grounds, it seems reasonable to assert that an enquiry-
based strategy is demanded in the classroom when the school adopts a
humanities curriculum as we have defined it. I n short, enquiry is not
simply a dispensible means to an end which could be reached by other
routes.
The classroom strategy of enquiry is by no means new. Many of the
ideas behind it can be seen in project work, for example. I t is our view,
teachers can draW as they embark upon this style of teaching; bt
banks which ask for further deposits of materials found by th,
themselves. They will provide the teacher with resources for exp
tion, opening up a range of possibilities rather than confining.
The structuring of these collections of material is of great irc
The collections Must be logically coherent, adapted to the propo
room strategy and yet flexible. We hope to break down each of
of enquiry into 4 number of points for discussion which evok
in the classroom and are also Si! I ificant and a
- .
i5feanl
i ' materia w i raise each point, and these will be sun.=
- Cinema film
essential for avers
keyed into the sti
One of the ma
the materials, be
pupils with whom
standing, which :
there is that of 11
as the problem o:
too much, of our
our pupils. Only
some of our offer
I n the case of
wide divergence (
problem of findit
disposal. I n the
strategy. First, v
mediately below-
teachers in order
maintaining accei
of levels of diffici
I n 1968-9 deve
tions on war; &
As soon as work I
ing and evaluatin
This problem
materials and the
can adapt their v
sented to teacher
decide whether it
i of reievanteven t.
important in this kind of teaching, and is
;e pupils. A film hire service is being built up,
icture of the collections to be offered to schoo
t acute problems is that of controlling the suii
ring in mind the age and wide range of abili
we are concerned. First, there is the problem
crudely expressed as that of reading levels.
ndling sensitive material, which expresses itsel
censorship. At the experimental stage, some
material ought really to be too difficult for the
this way can we establish a ceiling. By the sat
ngs must be censored by the majority of teach
eading difficulty the problem is made more ai
f view among experienced teachers and by the
enough simple and direct evidence in the tit
ace of these problems, we have adopted a col
e hope to aim initially at the averageat CSE
and subsequently to enlist the help of a large n
to adapt down the ability range as far as we (
table quality. Second, we hope to include a w
fty in our trial materials.
opment schools will begin to work with the fir
acation; the family; and relations between t
egins in the schools we shall face the problem
; it.
las three main aspects. Feed-back evaluatic
eaching strategy must reach the project team so
irk in the light of experience. Evidence mus
so that they can evaluate what is offered to t
has a potential in their own school setting. I n p