Curriculum, Culture and Citizenship Education in Wales ─ Investigations into the Curriculum Cymreig

This book explores how culture and citizenship are theorised, promoted and learned throughout schools in Wales. Following a brief history of Welsh education and a discussion of how contemporary cultural identity is theorised through citizenship education curricula, it illustrates how archaic approaches to understanding cultural identity continue to undermine the development of culturally relevant curriculum in Wales. Smith also analyses how young people discuss their orientations to Welshness, how teachers engage with the requirements of the Curriculum Cymreig and how these reactions develop within educational settings. Ending with a recommendation for a more sophisticated framework for conceptualising identity and a critical approach for discussing citizenship and cultural identity in schools in Wales, this book highlights how the critical pedagogy can progress further.

Kevin Smith is a research associate in the Wales Institute of Social & Economic & Research Data and Methods (WISERD) Department at Cardiff University, UK. Prior to joining WISERD in February 2013, Kevin worked in Nuku'alofa, Tonga as the Fellow in Curriculum at the Institute of Education with the University of the South Pacific, Fiji Islands. He also worked for six years as a secondary school teacher in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.