William Pinar
Encyclopedia
William Pinar is an American educator, curriculum theorist
and international studies
scholar. Known for his work in the area of curriculum theory, Pinar is strongly associated with the reconceptualist movement in curriculum theory since the early 1970s. In the early 1970s, along with Madeleine Grumet
, Pinar introduced the notion of currere
, shifting in a radical manner the notion of curriculum
as a noun to curriculum as a verb. Apart from his fundamental contributions to theory, Pinar is notable for establishing the Journal of Curriculum Theorizing, founding the Bergamo Conference on Curriculum Theory and Classroom Practice, and founding the International Association for the Advancement of Curriculum Studies.
Although Pinar is known best for his publications concerning curriculum theory, he has also spoken about and written on many other topics, including education, cultural studies, international studies, and queer studies.
in 2005, Pinar taught at Louisiana State University
where, in his capacity as St. Bernard Parish Alumni Endowed Professor, he taught curriculum theory. He has also served as the Frank Talbott Professor at the University of Virginia
and the A. Lindsay O'Connor Professor of American Institutions at Colgate University
. Additionally, he has held visiting appointments at Teachers College, Columbia University
, Ohio State University
, the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
, the University of Alberta
, among other institutions. He is presently at the University of British Columbia
.
In 1969, Pinar graduated from Ohio State University with a BS in Education and subsequently taught English at the Paul D. Schreiber High School in Port Washington, Long Island, New York, from 1969 to 1971. Pinar then returned to Ohio State University to obtain a MA (1970) and PhD (1972). Pinar is the Founding Editor of Journal of Curriculum Theorizing, creating the first issue in 1979. He also founded, with Janet Miller, the Bergamo Conference on Curriculum Theory and Classroom Practice. Since then, he has established a number of associations, including the International Association for the Advancement of Curriculum Studies, of which he is the President, and the American Association for the Advancement of Curriculum Studies, for which he serves as Conference Committee chair.
Long associated with the "reconceptualist movement" to describe the field as it appeared in the 1970s, Pinar's use of the term "reconceptualization," as he notes in "A Farewell and a Celebration," is "not dramatic enough" and more aptly described as an "intellectual breakthrough." This particular movement in the history of the field of curriculum theory is described in detail in Understanding Curriculum. Pinar notes, reflecting back upon the reconceptualist movement of the field and the comments of Bill Pilder at the first conference in Rochester, that
The aim of the reconceptualist movement was to "understand, not just implement or evaluate, the curriculum". As such, we see, as described in Understanding Curriculum, the movement open up to and embrace a variety of different forms of praxis like "history, politics, race, gender, phenomenology, postmodernism, autobiography, aesthetics, theology, the institution of schooling, the world". Put differently, we see a significant shift from the usually taken-for-granted bureaucratization of schooling and the schooled experience to the intellectual exploration of a field by all. Unlike the early, influential days and subsequent preoccupation with the "Tyler Rationale", Pinar and his many colleagues aimed to move beyond the narrowly defined prescriptions and procedures often attributed to Ralph Tyler.
Still, as Pinar writes in Contemporary Curriculum Discourses, this Kuhnian-like "shift" has been slow. Even to this day, the beginning of the 21st century, the reconceptualist movement is still to be felt:
The following is a list of Pinar's major published works:
Curriculum theory
Curriculum theory is the theory of the development and enactment of curriculum. Within the broad field of curriculum studies, it is both a historical analysis of curriculum and a way of viewing current educational curriculum and policy decisions...
and international studies
International relations
International relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...
scholar. Known for his work in the area of curriculum theory, Pinar is strongly associated with the reconceptualist movement in curriculum theory since the early 1970s. In the early 1970s, along with Madeleine Grumet
Madeleine Grumet
Madeleine R. Grumet is an American academic in curriculum theory and feminist theory. Her 1988 work Bitter Milk: Women and Teaching is considered a field-changing exploration of women and teaching...
, Pinar introduced the notion of currere
Currere
The "Method of Currere" is an approach to education based on post-modern philosophy and psychoanalytical technique, first described in a 1975 paper by William Pinar.- The method :...
, shifting in a radical manner the notion of curriculum
Curriculum
See also Syllabus.In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of deeds and experiences through which children grow to become mature adults...
as a noun to curriculum as a verb. Apart from his fundamental contributions to theory, Pinar is notable for establishing the Journal of Curriculum Theorizing, founding the Bergamo Conference on Curriculum Theory and Classroom Practice, and founding the International Association for the Advancement of Curriculum Studies.
Although Pinar is known best for his publications concerning curriculum theory, he has also spoken about and written on many other topics, including education, cultural studies, international studies, and queer studies.
Life and works
Before taking up the post of Canada Research Chair at the University of British ColumbiaUniversity of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...
in 2005, Pinar taught at Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University
Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, most often referred to as Louisiana State University, or LSU, is a public coeducational university located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The University was founded in 1853 in what is now known as Pineville, Louisiana, under the name...
where, in his capacity as St. Bernard Parish Alumni Endowed Professor, he taught curriculum theory. He has also served as the Frank Talbott Professor at the University of Virginia
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...
and the A. Lindsay O'Connor Professor of American Institutions at Colgate University
Colgate University
Colgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York, USA. The school was founded in 1819 as a Baptist seminary and later became non-denominational. It is named for the Colgate family who greatly contributed to the university's endowment in the 19th century.Colgate has 52...
. Additionally, he has held visiting appointments at Teachers College, Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, Ohio State University
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University, commonly referred to as Ohio State, is a public research university located in Columbus, Ohio. It was originally founded in 1870 as a land-grant university and is currently the third largest university campus in the United States...
, the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto is a teachers' college in Toronto, Ontario.-History:OISE/UT traces its origins to the founding of the Provincial Normal School in 1847...
, the University of Alberta
University of Alberta
The University of Alberta is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta and Henry Marshall Tory, its first president, it is widely recognized as one of the best universities in Canada...
, among other institutions. He is presently at the University of British Columbia
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...
.
In 1969, Pinar graduated from Ohio State University with a BS in Education and subsequently taught English at the Paul D. Schreiber High School in Port Washington, Long Island, New York, from 1969 to 1971. Pinar then returned to Ohio State University to obtain a MA (1970) and PhD (1972). Pinar is the Founding Editor of Journal of Curriculum Theorizing, creating the first issue in 1979. He also founded, with Janet Miller, the Bergamo Conference on Curriculum Theory and Classroom Practice. Since then, he has established a number of associations, including the International Association for the Advancement of Curriculum Studies, of which he is the President, and the American Association for the Advancement of Curriculum Studies, for which he serves as Conference Committee chair.
Long associated with the "reconceptualist movement" to describe the field as it appeared in the 1970s, Pinar's use of the term "reconceptualization," as he notes in "A Farewell and a Celebration," is "not dramatic enough" and more aptly described as an "intellectual breakthrough." This particular movement in the history of the field of curriculum theory is described in detail in Understanding Curriculum. Pinar notes, reflecting back upon the reconceptualist movement of the field and the comments of Bill Pilder at the first conference in Rochester, that
The aim of the reconceptualist movement was to "understand, not just implement or evaluate, the curriculum". As such, we see, as described in Understanding Curriculum, the movement open up to and embrace a variety of different forms of praxis like "history, politics, race, gender, phenomenology, postmodernism, autobiography, aesthetics, theology, the institution of schooling, the world". Put differently, we see a significant shift from the usually taken-for-granted bureaucratization of schooling and the schooled experience to the intellectual exploration of a field by all. Unlike the early, influential days and subsequent preoccupation with the "Tyler Rationale", Pinar and his many colleagues aimed to move beyond the narrowly defined prescriptions and procedures often attributed to Ralph Tyler.
Still, as Pinar writes in Contemporary Curriculum Discourses, this Kuhnian-like "shift" has been slow. Even to this day, the beginning of the 21st century, the reconceptualist movement is still to be felt:
Major works
A prolific scholar in his right, Pinar also has established a number of academic journals and scholarly organizations, founding and establishing Journal of Curriculum Theorizing, founding the Bergamo Conference on Curriculum Theory and Classroom Practice, as well as the founding and presiding over the International Association for the Advancement of Curriculum Studies.The following is a list of Pinar's major published works:
- The Worldliness of a Cosmopolitan Education: Passionate Lives in Public Service (2009).
- Intellectual Advancement through Disciplinarity: Verticality and Horizontality in Curriculum Studies (2007).
- Queering Straight Teachers (2007). (Edited with Nelson Rodriguez.)
- The Synoptic Text Today and Other Essays: Curriculum Development after the Reconceptualization (2006).
- Race, Religion, and a Curriculum of Reparation: Teacher Education for a Multicultural Society (2006).
- Curriculum in a New Key: The Collected Works of Ted T. Aoki (2005). (Edited with Rita L. Irwin.)
- What Is Curriculum Theory? (2004).
- The Internationalization of Curriculum Studies (2003). (Edited with William E. Doll, Jr., Donna Trueit, and Hongyu Wang.)
- Handbook of International Research in Curriculum (Ed.) (2003).
- The Gender of Racial Politics and Violence in America: Lynching, Prison Rape, and the Crisis of Masculinity (2001).
- How We Work (edited with Marla Morris and Mary Aswell Doll). (1999).
- Contemporary Curriculum Discourses. (Ed.) (1999).
- The Passionate Mind of Maxine Greene: “I Am ... Not Yet.” (Ed.) (1998).
- Queer Theory in Education. (Ed.) (1998).
- Curriculum: Toward New Identities. (Ed.) (1998).
- Understanding Curriculum. (With William Reynolds, Patrick Slattery, and Peter Taubman). (1995).
- Autobiography, Politics and Sexuality: Essays in Curriculum Theory 1972-1992. (1994).
- Understanding Curriculum as Racial Text. (Edited with Louis A. Castenell, Jr.). (1993).
- Understanding Curriculum as Phenomenological and Deconstructed Text. (Edited with William M.Reynolds). (1992).
- Curriculum as Social Psychoanalysis: The Significance of Place. (Edited with Joe L. Kincheloe). (1992).
- Contemporary Curriculum Discourses. (Ed.) (1998).
- Curriculum and Instruction: Alternatives in Education. (Edited with Henry A. Giroux and Anthony Penna). (1981).
- Toward a Poor Curriculum. (With Madeleine R. Grumet). (1976).
- Curriculum Theorizing: The Reconceptualists. (Ed.) (1975). [Reissued in 2000 by Educator’s International Press, Troy, New York, as Curriculum Studies: The Reconceptualization.]
- Heightened Consciousness, Cultural Revolution, and Curriculum Theory. (Ed.) (1974).