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From Cynefin to Cymru and beyond – debating the Curriculum for Wales and locating nation
Andrew James Davies 
Cylchgrawn Addysg Cymru / Wales Journal of Education, Volume: 27, Issue: 1, Pages: 107 - 127
Swansea University Author:
Andrew James Davies
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DOI (Published version): 10.16922/wje.27.1.5
Abstract
This review article considers curriculum reform and implementation in Wales and its relationship with national identity and identities. The Curriculum for Wales is perhaps the most significant development in Welsh educational policy since devolution, and the centrepiece of the most recent set of pol...
| Published in: | Cylchgrawn Addysg Cymru / Wales Journal of Education |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 2059-3708 2059-3716 |
| Published: |
University of Wales Press/Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru
2025
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| Online Access: |
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| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa66897 |
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2024-06-26T11:58:06Z |
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| last_indexed |
2025-06-20T04:49:39Z |
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cronfa66897 |
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2025-06-19T11:28:42.3557211 v2 66897 2024-06-26 From Cynefin to Cymru and beyond – debating the Curriculum for Wales and locating nation 0f10dbd0f6e292e5ee4e1801ae95137e 0009-0008-1324-3913 Andrew James Davies Andrew James Davies true false 2024-06-26 SOSS This review article considers curriculum reform and implementation in Wales and its relationship with national identity and identities. The Curriculum for Wales is perhaps the most significant development in Welsh educational policy since devolution, and the centrepiece of the most recent set of policy reforms which began around 2016. As such, it has been much-studied, debated and theorised in recent years, with a great deal of the discussion focussing on its technical aspects, such as learner competence and progression, assessment, and its approach to the defining and integrating subject areas. Also prominent in recent debates has been discussion of more ideological questions around teacher agency, its emancipatory potential as regards teacher professionality, and its relationship to the wider ecology of educational accountability around it. Yet, discussion on the significance of the Curriculum for Wales in reflecting the diverse identities of contemporary Wales has perhaps been a more recent phenomenon, and commentators and researchers have only just begun to grapple with the potential impact that the curriculum will have on Wales’ sense of itself, and how the concept of Cynefin will be deployed as the principal vehicle for engagement with place, community and identities. This paper outlines the wider debates referenced above, before offering further reflection on the position of ‘nation’ in the Curriculum. It goes on to consider how sub-state nations, such as Wales, who have gained control of their curricula, produce and reproduce their specific ‘nationhood’ and complex national identities (historical, contemporary and emergent). Journal Article Cylchgrawn Addysg Cymru / Wales Journal of Education 27 1 107 127 University of Wales Press/Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru 2059-3708 2059-3716 Curriculum for Wales, Nation, national identity, Cynefin 30 5 2025 2025-05-30 10.16922/wje.27.1.5 COLLEGE NANME Social Sciences School COLLEGE CODE SOSS Swansea University Not Required 2025-06-19T11:28:42.3557211 2024-06-26T12:55:03.0997033 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Social Sciences - Education and Childhood Studies Andrew James Davies 0009-0008-1324-3913 1 66897__34517__933955bac50d4d4c943d7ff2dd9523b6.pdf 66897.VoR.pdf 2025-06-19T11:25:13.4586200 Output 350049 application/pdf Version of Record true Released under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 license. true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.en |
| title |
From Cynefin to Cymru and beyond – debating the Curriculum for Wales and locating nation |
| spellingShingle |
From Cynefin to Cymru and beyond – debating the Curriculum for Wales and locating nation Andrew James Davies |
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From Cynefin to Cymru and beyond – debating the Curriculum for Wales and locating nation |
| title_full |
From Cynefin to Cymru and beyond – debating the Curriculum for Wales and locating nation |
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From Cynefin to Cymru and beyond – debating the Curriculum for Wales and locating nation |
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From Cynefin to Cymru and beyond – debating the Curriculum for Wales and locating nation |
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From Cynefin to Cymru and beyond – debating the Curriculum for Wales and locating nation |
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Andrew James Davies |
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Cylchgrawn Addysg Cymru / Wales Journal of Education |
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10.16922/wje.27.1.5 |
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University of Wales Press/Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru |
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This review article considers curriculum reform and implementation in Wales and its relationship with national identity and identities. The Curriculum for Wales is perhaps the most significant development in Welsh educational policy since devolution, and the centrepiece of the most recent set of policy reforms which began around 2016. As such, it has been much-studied, debated and theorised in recent years, with a great deal of the discussion focussing on its technical aspects, such as learner competence and progression, assessment, and its approach to the defining and integrating subject areas. Also prominent in recent debates has been discussion of more ideological questions around teacher agency, its emancipatory potential as regards teacher professionality, and its relationship to the wider ecology of educational accountability around it. Yet, discussion on the significance of the Curriculum for Wales in reflecting the diverse identities of contemporary Wales has perhaps been a more recent phenomenon, and commentators and researchers have only just begun to grapple with the potential impact that the curriculum will have on Wales’ sense of itself, and how the concept of Cynefin will be deployed as the principal vehicle for engagement with place, community and identities. This paper outlines the wider debates referenced above, before offering further reflection on the position of ‘nation’ in the Curriculum. It goes on to consider how sub-state nations, such as Wales, who have gained control of their curricula, produce and reproduce their specific ‘nationhood’ and complex national identities (historical, contemporary and emergent). |
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2025-05-30T05:21:29Z |
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11.089407 |