This episode features curriculum scholar Dr. William Schubert, Emeritus Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. In addition to his teaching responsibilities at UIC, Dr. Schubert served as Chair of the Department of Curriculum & Instruction, Director of Graduate Studies, Coordinator of the Ph.D. Program in Curriculum Studies, and Coordinator of the M.Ed. in Educational Studies. Among his many scholarly accomplishments is the publication of 17 books and 200 articles and book chapters. He has given over 250 presentations at scholarly and professional organizations.  Dr. Schubert’s impressive body of scholarship is housed in the Special Collections Department of the Zach S. Henderson Library at Georgia Southern University. As a Lifetime Fellow of the International Academy of Education, Dr. Schubert continues to pursue his passionate interests in curriculum history, theory, inquiry, and development in both school and non-school contexts.  

This episode offers an important window into the history of curriculum thinking by one of the great scholars in the field. During our conversation, Dr. Schubert reflects on his decision to study education; his personal experience with the reconceptualist movement in the field of curriculum; and emerging resistance to past and present forces of conquest and colonialism in the United States and around the world. He elaborates on his concept of “the theory within” which relates to his work on teacher lore and to biographical and autobiographical work of professors of education. Pushing beyond the question of “what is worth knowing,” Dr. Schubert raises questions of what is worth needing, doing, experiencing and wondering.  

Among Dr. Schubert’s honors is his designation in 2005 as a University Scholar at UIC. In 2004, he received The Lifetime Achievement Award in Curriculum Studies from the American Educational Research Association, and in 2007, he received The Mary Anne Raywid Award for Distinguished Scholarship to the Field of Education.