‘A kind of emissary’: Lawrence Stenhouse at 100

FORUM - Print ISSN 1474-7685 - Online ISSN 2047-7171
Volume 68 Number 3 (2026)

‘A kind of emissary’: Lawrence Stenhouse at 100
Patrick Yarker pages 163‑174
DOI: 10.3898/forum.2026.68.3.15

Abstract

Education had, for Lawrence Stenhouse, an emancipatory drive. He defined it as learning in the context of a search for truth. His ideas about knowledge, the curriculum and what makes for good teaching can illuminate shortcomings and misconceptions still prevalent now, 100 years after his birth. According to Stenhouse, a knowledge-based curriculum teaches the problematic nature of knowledge: its contestability. The curriculum is not a collection of facts to be learned and reproduced: the ‘materials of instruction’, as he termed them. In teaching – which he regarded as an art of judgement – content and method are interwoven. To enhance the education experienced by their pupils and students, teachers might productively collaborate with academics in reflecting on practice, the better to strengthen their judgement. 

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To cite this article
Patrick Yarker (2026) ‘A kind of emissary’: Lawrence Stenhouse at 100, FORUM, 68(3), 163-174 . https://doi.org/10.3898/forum.2026.68.3.15

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