THE DISCIPLINES THESES AND THE CURRICULUM: A CASE STUDY.

This article focuses on a case study of the disciplines thesis and the curriculum. It also examines the thesis and its implications in relation to mathematics. The thesis is associated with educationists P.H. Hirst and P.H. Phenix and it is in the works of these two theorists that it can be found in its most developed forms. The practical significance of the disciplines thesis lies in its use in justifying or criticizing patterns of curricular organization. While both Hirst and Phenix are cautious about the implications of the disciplines thesis for curriculum design. It is clear that both are sympathetic to the argument that it is in general desirable to base curricular units on distinct, logically defined, disciplines such as mathematics. The disciplines thesis then provides a weak foundation for a defense of the traditional curriculum. As the case of mathematics illustrates, traditional subject divisions do not accord with the logical distinctions at the heart of the disciplines thesis. It is concluded in this study that the critical weakness of the disciplines thesis lies in the ambiguity with which the term discipline is used.