The Path Less Taken: Immanent Critique in Curriculum and Pedagogy

G.W.F. Hegel’s concept of immanent critique, as filtered through John Dewey’s notion of experience, serves as the touchstone for this argument. Maxine Greene’s educational philosophy serves as a key inspirational referent. Since immanent critique is underdeveloped in education, it is the path less taken. A particular approach to the practice of immanent critique in education is illustrated through a set of essays that address the Curriculum and Pedagogy Group’s mission statement and through concluding professional development and teacher leadership narratives. A simulated town hall meeting provides further insights into this critical approach and hints at other ways immanent critique might be practiced in education. This collection offers a fresh examination of the epistemological foundations of curriculum studies through the lens of the ten-year history of the Curriculum and Pedagogy Conference and Publications.