Abstract
This book sketches the complex co-evolution of the curricular theory and policy in recent decades. Short opening chapter of the book is an outline of the "pre-history" of the field of curriculum.
Second chapter provides an overview and evaluation of terms related to the structure and quality of planned curriculum. Third chapter tells the story of curricular theory and praxis since the reform movement of the1960s.
It shows that recent trends in curricular theory were heavily influenced by the critical theory and post-modern thought. On the other hand, the politicians found the panacea in content and evaluation standards.
This split between curriculum theory and practice has negative effects both on the academic field of curriculum and the curricular reforms. Only recently, the traditional questions of the optimal scope and sequence of subject matter has caught the interest of more academics again.
The fourth chapter portrays several more or less established research methods that are used in analysis and evaluation of the curricular documents. These methods were used to analyze segments of the recent Czech curricula.
The results revealed the idiosyncrasies that remain relatively stable feature of the Czech school curricula. Neo-institutionalism and public choice theory may explain of the results of the analysis.