Teachers’ professional discretion and the curricula

At the heart of many current debates about curriculum and curriculum policy is an inadequately conceptualized and articulated notion of teachers’ professional discretion. This paper begins to detail a normative and descriptive theory of the social and individual conditions required for the development of professional discretion. A better understanding of teachers’ professional discretion should enable professional curriculum developers and policy writers to help teachers to adapt to the dynamic, complex social conditions of schooling.