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that Bruner mentions are prepositioned by the word, inarticulate. In this context, the term
refers to the larger social values, discourses and public pedagogy that operate and influence
the curriculum. It is referred to as inarticulate as specific values are not generally explicitly
stated, but can be understood through a reading of the texts that shape society, including the
gaps and silences present in political discourses, those which are held to be ‘true’.
Textbooks are one of many sources (and selected to form the focus of analysis for this
dissertation) that are regarded as forming the official knowledge which constitutes the whole
curriculum. Of their value in the curriculum, Issitt writes, “once created, they assume a
position within the spectrum of genres and they achieve a temporary status as a legitimate
form of knowledge” (2004, p. 685). This temporary status is then forged into a more
permanent one as the textbook becomes accepted and used in the classroom, a point
reinforced by Apple (2000) asserting that textbooks are a part of forming the official
knowledge present in schools. Issitt who writes extensively on the study of textbooks in
schools is aware of the generally negative reception textbooks garner, claiming this
representation of textbooks impacts on their use as part of “certified ‘official’ knowledge”
(2004, p. 684). Issitt acknowledges there are many issues associated with the use of textbooks
and that they are often viewed as or used when “the need arises, to be regurgitated at
examination time and to be negotiated in learning exercises” (2004, p. 684). This dissertation
concurs with Apple and Issitt in claiming that textbooks are an integral aspect of the
propagating and promoting of official knowledge. This dissertation also includes additional
texts such as syllabus documents and Department of Education sanctioned school literary
texts, on equal footing with textbooks as school texts which translate the official knowledge
intended for students to use.
On the topic of the selection and transmission of educational knowledge, Bernstein writes
that “…the educational knowledge it [society] considers to be public, reflects both the
distribution of power and the principles of social control” (1974, p. 202). Leading on from
Bernstein’s views of educational knowledge, Apple asserts that the unequal distribution of
power in society is also reflected in educational institutions, such as schools (2004, p. vii). In
drawing extensively on the areas of power in society connected with what is specifically
taught in classrooms, Apple argues that this is used not only to represent established
dominance but also the ability an individual or a group has to “create the social
conditions…that make life more fulfilling” (1993, p. 144). Apple advocates that the power
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