Curriculum in Professional Practice: Opening a forum for co‐production and innovation by and for professionals

Abstract

This editorial introduces the inaugural Curriculum in Professional Practice forum. The forum provides a dedicated space for rigorous dialogue that engages professionals and active researchers with contemporary curriculum theory and debates. In doing so, it contributes to the aims of The Curriculum Journal by placing curriculum 'at the heart of educational discourse and practice' (Priestley & Philippou, 2019, p. 2). We recognise the diverse roles professionals play in curriculum research and practice. Such professionals include teachers, curriculum developers and designers, school leaders, subject-matter experts, vocational and technical instructors, professional development leaders and policy makers. We are cautious to avoid instating any artificial binaries and boundaries. Instead, we recognise the multifaceted identities and roles that those who engage with curricular issues hold, such that professionals can also be active researchers, and collaborative efforts often involve professionals and researchers working across educational communities and networks.We launch the Curriculum in Professional Practice forum with two article formats: Perspectives and reflections and Curriculum dialogue. Perspectives and reflections articles are designed to allow authors to share their professional insights on specific curriculum issues. These articles may also be given in response to a particular special issue or article. Curriculum dialogue articles enable a written dialogue between authors on a curriculumrelated area of research and practice. The Curriculum in Professional Practice forum will be a recurring feature within each issue of The Curriculum Journal. We warmly welcome proposals for future Perspectives and reflections and Curriculum dialogue articles. For full author guidelines and proposal forms for Curriculum In Professional Practice forum see The Curriculum Journal 's webpage (BERA, 2023).The Curriculum in Professional Practice forum provides space for co-production to be explored as a process and output. As we developed the Curriculum in Professional Practice forum, we noted in the panel overview report for the UK Research Excellent Framework (REF) 2021 that: 'there were fewer than expected outputs representing co-production with key stakeholders (such as teachers, learners, parents, community groups, industrial/commercial partners, NGOs) even where it was clear that research practices had included such relationships' (UK Research and Innovation [UKRI], 2022, p. 166). Whilst we appreciate the barriers to inclusion of such outputs within REF submissions and the problematic nature of such accountability measures, there is still an imperative for co-produced processes and outputs to be valued within the educational communities engaged in curriculum research. We take a critical view of co-production, whereby power relations need to be considered through explicit recognition of who is involved and how the process is enacted (Vincent, 2022). This first Curriculum in Professional Practice forum demonstrates the immedia...