An English Teacher's Currere from Cocksureness to Critical Self-Awareness

Abstract

In this paper, I narrate my transformative journey as an English language teacher in relation to my understanding of curriculum theory and practice in higher education. Using the currere approach, I reflect on my evolution from initial overconfidence to critical curriculum awareness at Kathmandu University since August 2000. The paper addresses a common phenomenon in higher education, where students receive superficial exposure to curricular processes during their academic journey, subsequently developing unwarranted confidence in the curriculum upon graduation. Through systematic reflection and critique, this currere aligns my personal curricular experiences with established theoretical frameworks, particularly drawing upon Schwab's curriculum commonplaces, Schubert's curricular images, and Baptist's conceptualization of curriculum as a garden. The study contributes to curriculum discourse by presenting a customizable framework for understanding and implementing curriculum as a developing educational guideline. The reflections demonstrate how theoretical grounding in foundational curriculum concepts helps transform practitioners from unreflective implementers to critically aware developers and implementers of curriculum.