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Topic · Sociology and Political Science

Educational Theory and Curriculum Studies

Educational Theory and Curriculum Studies is a research topic within Sociology and Political Science. Science Explorer counts 4.5k research works in it since 1951. 10.4% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the intersection of sociology and education, focusing on curriculum knowledge, pedagogy, and the power dynamics within educational systems. It delves into the influence of social structures, globalization, and class disparities on knowledge acquisition and dissemination. The papers also discuss the concept of 'powerful knowledge' and its implications for educational equity and social justice.

  • Sociology
  • Education
  • Curriculum
  • Knowledge
  • Pedagogy
  • Powerful Knowledge
  • Social Realism
  • Bernsteinian Analysis
  • Globalization
  • Class Disparities
Research works
4.5k
fractional, since 1951
In the world top 10%
463
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.4%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+126%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
23% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Educational Theory and Curriculum Studies

Which countries lead Educational Theory and Curriculum Studies research?

By volume, the United States and South Africa publish the most (256 and 192 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 256 works
  2. 2 South Africa 192 works
  3. 3 United Kingdom 189 works
  4. 4 China 138 works
  5. 5 Australia 99 works
  6. 6 Indonesia 63 works
  7. 7 Sweden 58 works
  8. 8 Canada 50 works
  9. 9 Norway 48 works
  10. 10 Philippines 48 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 22.5%South Africa: 16.8%United Kingdom: 16.6%China: 12.1%6 others listed: 32.0%23%largest
United States256 · 22.5%South Africa192 · 16.8%United Kingdom189 · 16.6%China138 · 12.1%6 others listed365 · 32.0%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Educational Theory and Curriculum Studies research?

By volume in 2022-now, University of South Africa publishes the most Educational Theory and Curriculum Studies research, followed by University College London and Walter Sisulu University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 University of South AfricaSouth Africa 26 works
  2. 2 University College LondonUnited Kingdom 17 works
  3. 3 Walter Sisulu UniversitySouth Africa 14 works
  4. 4 University of JohannesburgSouth Africa 13 works
  5. 5 University of KwaZulu-NatalSouth Africa 12 works
  6. 6 University of the Free StateSouth Africa 12 works
  7. 7 University of the WitwatersrandSouth Africa 11 works
  8. 8 Rhodes UniversitySouth Africa 11 works
  9. 9 University of HelsinkiFinland 10 works
  10. 10 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 9 works

Who are the leading researchers in Educational Theory and Curriculum Studies?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Educational Theory and Curriculum Studies include Yvonna S. Lincoln and Étienne Wenger.

  1. 1 Yvonna S. Lincoln United States 148k citations
  2. 2 Étienne Wenger United States 146k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Educational Theory and Curriculum Studies?

The most cited paper in Educational Theory and Curriculum Studies is "Cultural Ways of Learning: Individual Traits or Repertoires of Practice" (Kris D. Gutiérrez, Barbara Rogoff, 2003), with 2,165 citations. Next come "Constructing Scientific Knowledge in the Classroom" (1,702) and "Working with discourse: meaning beyond the clause" (1,701).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Cultural Ways of Learning: Individual Traits or Repertoires of Practice Kris D. Gutiérrez, Barbara Rogoff · Educational Researcher Jun 2003 2,165
2 Constructing Scientific Knowledge in the Classroom Rosalind Driver, Hilary Asoko, John Leach et al. · Educational Researcher Oct 1994 1,702
3 Working with discourse: meaning beyond the clause Mauro Tadeu Baptista Sobhie · DELTA Documentação de Estudos em Lingüística Teórica e Aplicada Open access Jun 2004 1,701
4 WHY “WHAT WORKS” WON’T WORK: EVIDENCE‐BASED PRACTICE AND THE DEMOCRATIC DEFICIT IN EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH Gert Biesta · Educational Theory Open access Feb 2007 1,643
5 Emerging Criteria for Quality in Qualitative and Interpretive Research Yvonna S. Lincoln · Qualitative Inquiry Sep 1995 1,559
All 99 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Educational Theory and Curriculum Studies research done?

The largest centres of Educational Theory and Curriculum Studies research in 2022-now are Pretoria (South Africa), London (United Kingdom), Johannesburg (South Africa) and Melbourne (Australia). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Durban and Pretoria.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 PretoriaSouth Africa 41 works
  2. 2 LondonUnited Kingdom 35 works
  3. 3 JohannesburgSouth Africa 26 works
  4. 4 MelbourneAustralia 23 works
  5. 5 BeijingChina 22 works
  6. 6 BrisbaneAustralia 22 works
  7. 7 DurbanSouth Africa 20 works
  8. 8 CopenhagenDenmark 18 works
  9. 9 OsloNorway 17 works
  10. 10 BloemfonteinSouth Africa 16 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. DurbanZA · 20.4 works19×
  2. PretoriaZA · 41.0 works17×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Educational Theory and Curriculum Studies than the world average.

See Educational Theory and Curriculum Studies on the map

Where is the best place to study Educational Theory and Curriculum Studies?

Among universities, judged by research, University College London, University of South Africa and University of Oxford score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 16.5%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of OxfordMonash UniversityUniversity College L…University of South …
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1University College LondonUnited Kingdom 69.123.9%6.2×17 +42.0%
2University of South AfricaSouth Africa 66.615.2%35.5×26 +281.0%
3University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 61.138.8%3.9×9 +184.2%
4Monash UniversityAustralia 49.024.7%5.6×9 +24.2%
5University of the WitwatersrandSouth Africa 46.813.5%15.7×12 +49.3%
6Rhodes UniversitySouth Africa 43.316.5%74.8×11 +157.5%
7University of KwaZulu-NatalSouth Africa 41.07.5%18.4×12 +22.3%
8University of HelsinkiFinland 39.66.2%8.6×10 +152.3%
9University of JohannesburgSouth Africa 39.06.8%12.1×13 +147.5%
10Stellenbosch UniversitySouth Africa 38.311.9%13.5×9 +23.7%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Educational Theory and Curriculum Studies, country by country

Is Educational Theory and Curriculum Studies research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 126% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2026. The fastest-growing topics are Educational Theory and Curriculum Studies.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Educational Theory and Curriculum Studies as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0029% in 2024.

still counting0.0050%0.010%0.015%Educational Theory and Curriculum Studies0.011% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Educational Theory and Curriculum Studies over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Educational Theory and Curriculum Studies10.2% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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