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A summary of two of the approaches, as described by Gilbert, reads:
...the traditional approach where the essential core of the curriculum is the
declarative knowledge it contains, its social content; the curriculum is centrally
prescribed; social values are seen to be universal and absolute and derived from
perennial ideals; and knowledge is seen to comprise a series of fixed social
truths...the progressive view of curriculum, where the substantive essence is not
predetermined but arises from an open inquiry process; the key content is based on
contemporary issues; the approach to social values is relativist; and knowledge is
seen to be the result of this open process of inquiry. (2003, p. 6, emphasis added)
In a reading of the differences between traditional and progressivist approaches, Dewey is
drawn on, who writes:
Those concerned with progress, who are striving to change received beliefs,
emphasize the individual factor in knowing; those whose chief business it is to
withstand change and conserve received truth emphasize the universal and the
fixed... (1916/2004, p. 330)
In their book, Understanding history teaching, Husbands, Kitson and Pendry (2003)
summarise what has been called in this section the traditional and progressivist approaches as
the ‘great tradition’ and the ‘alternative tradition’ respectively. With no discernible
differences between the definitions of the two approaches, Table 3.2 from Husbands et al.
(2003) is offered as an additional tool to complement the explanation of the approaches
outlined by Gilbert. In particular, it is the third row, content, that relates to the context of this
research.
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