An English Teacher's Currere from Cocksureness to Critical Self-Awareness

Hem Raj Kafle

doi:10.51474/elepraxis.v2i2.669

Original Article

Journal of ELE Praxis, Volume 2, Issue 2, 2025, 17-24, https://doi.org/10.51474/elepraxis.v2i2.669

Publication date: Nov 30, 2025

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APA

In-text citation: (Kafle, 2025)
Reference: Kafle, H. R. (2025). An English Teacher's Currere from Cocksureness to Critical Self-Awareness. Journal of ELE Praxis, 2(2), 17-24. https://doi.org/10.51474/elepraxis.v2i2.669

Vancouver

In-text citation: (1), (2), (3), etc.
Reference: Kafle HR. An English Teacher's Currere from Cocksureness to Critical Self-Awareness. Journal of ELE Praxis. 2025;2(2):17-24. https://doi.org/10.51474/elepraxis.v2i2.669

AMA

In-text citation: (1), (2), (3), etc.
Reference: Kafle HR. An English Teacher's Currere from Cocksureness to Critical Self-Awareness. Journal of ELE Praxis. 2025;2(2), 17-24. https://doi.org/10.51474/elepraxis.v2i2.669

Chicago

In-text citation: (Kafle, 2025)
Reference: Kafle, Hem Raj. "An English Teacher's Currere from Cocksureness to Critical Self-Awareness". Journal of ELE Praxis 2025 2 no. 2 (2025): 17-24. https://doi.org/10.51474/elepraxis.v2i2.669

Harvard

In-text citation: (Kafle, 2025)
Reference: Kafle, H. R. (2025). An English Teacher's Currere from Cocksureness to Critical Self-Awareness. Journal of ELE Praxis, 2(2), pp. 17-24. https://doi.org/10.51474/elepraxis.v2i2.669

MLA

In-text citation: (Kafle, 2025)
Reference: Kafle, Hem Raj "An English Teacher's Currere from Cocksureness to Critical Self-Awareness". Journal of ELE Praxis, vol. 2, no. 2, 2025, pp. 17-24. https://doi.org/10.51474/elepraxis.v2i2.669

ABSTRACT

In this paper, I narrate my transformative journey as an English language teacher in relation to my understanding of curriculum theory and practice in higher education. Using the currere approach, I reflect on my evolution from initial overconfidence to critical curriculum awareness at Kathmandu University since August 2000. The paper addresses a common phenomenon in higher education, where students receive superficial exposure to curricular processes during their academic journey, subsequently developing unwarranted confidence in the curriculum upon graduation. Through systematic reflection and critique, this currere aligns my personal curricular experiences with established theoretical frameworks, particularly drawing upon Schwab's curriculum commonplaces, Schubert's curricular images, and Baptist's conceptualization of curriculum as a garden. The study contributes to curriculum discourse by presenting a customizable framework for understanding and implementing curriculum as a developing educational guideline. The reflections demonstrate how theoretical grounding in foundational curriculum concepts helps transform practitioners from unreflective implementers to critically aware developers and implementers of curriculum.

KEYWORDS

tansformative journey of a teacher currere curricular process theory of curriculum in practice

REFERENCES

Baptist, K. W. (2002). The garden as a metaphor for curriculum. Teacher Education Quarterly, 29(4), 19-37.
Baszile, D. T. (2017). On the virtues of currere. Currere Exchange Journal, 1(1), vi-ix.
Kafle, H. R. (2016). Midlife Montage. Society of Nepali Writers in English.
Kafle, H. R. (2021, August 27). If you have a history. Random Probings. https://hkafle.com.np/intimate/ku-days/ten-years-of-ku-media-studies-somefragments/
Mahjani, M. (2018). From Persia to Canada: Exploring teacher identity using currere. Currere Exchange Journal, 2(2), 52-59.
Null, W. (2011). Curriculum: From theory to practice. Rowan and Littlefield Publishers.
Pinar, W. F. (2020). Currere. In J. Wearing, M. Ingersoll, C. DeLuca, B. Bolden, H. Ogden, & T. M. Christou (Eds.), Key concepts in curriculum studies (pp. 50-59). Routledge.
Reiff, P. (2017). Currere in the high school classroom. Currere Exchange Journal, 1(2), 1216.
Schubert, W. H. (1986). Curriculum: Perspective, paradigm, and possibility. Macmillan.
Schwab, J. J. (1973). The practical 3: Translation into curriculum. The School Review, 81(4), 501-522.https://doi.org/10.1086/443100

LICENSE

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[1] Baptist, K. W. (2002). The garden as a metaphor for curriculum. Teacher Education Quarterly, 29(4), 19-37.

[2] Baszile, D. T. (2017). On the virtues of currere. Currere Exchange Journal, 1(1), vi-ix.

[3] Kafle, H. R. (2016). Midlife Montage. Society of Nepali Writers in English.

[4] Kafle, H. R. (2021, August 27). If you have a history. Random Probings. https://hkafle.com.np/intimate/ku-days/ten-years-of-ku-media-studies-somefragments/

[5] Mahjani, M. (2018). From Persia to Canada: Exploring teacher identity using currere. Currere Exchange Journal, 2(2), 52-59.

[6] Null, W. (2011). Curriculum: From theory to practice. Rowan and Littlefield Publishers.

[7] Pinar, W. F. (2020). Currere. In J. Wearing, M. Ingersoll, C. DeLuca, B. Bolden, H. Ogden, & T. M. Christou (Eds.), Key concepts in curriculum studies (pp. 50-59). Routledge.

[8] Reiff, P. (2017). Currere in the high school classroom. Currere Exchange Journal, 1(2), 1216.

[9] Schubert, W. H. (1986). Curriculum: Perspective, paradigm, and possibility. Macmillan.

[10] Schwab, J. J. (1973). The practical 3: Translation into curriculum. The School Review, 81(4), 501-522.https://doi.org/10.1086/443100