Welcome to Educational Insights and this special issue, “e-voking curriculum.”

Guest Editor Sean Wiebe informs us that ‘evoke,’ or vocare, means “to call or summon.” In conjunction, “evoke” and “curriculum” bid me to contemplate critically why and how we teach what we do. Oddly enough, these two words, side by side, also invite me to imagine possibilities. For example, I recall my daughter’s experience in a grade 12 biology course in which it was compulsory for students to memorize the taxonomy of bacteria. I have thought long and hard about the purpose of such curricular ‘outcomes.’ Still, I have not heard an adequate answer: but I do imagine teaching these young adults about the impact of unclean water on the human body—a reality that many people in the world endure everyday. Curriculum theorist, Ted Aoki reminds us of the resonant space between “curriculum-as-planned” and “curriculum-as-lived.” When I ‘listen’ to curriculum today, I worry that the latter has become lost to curriculum-as-commodity. This is why I believe the book, Curriculum in a New Key: The Collected Works of Ted T. Aoki, is so incredibly timely, reminding us of what profoundly matters to curriculum in practice.

This issue celebrates the work of Dr. Aoki, distinguished theorist, teacher and mentor who has influenced and inspired more than one generation of scholars, writers and educators. In all these roles, we journey with him while pausing in a preposition, a slash, a space, an absence, or an experience. For me, Ted has been a beacon, particularly in times when I feel disquieted about the role and purpose of education. Ted calls me back to my roots, my vocation (vocare) as a teacher. At this juncture, I hear curriculum in a new key.

Enjoy!

Karen Meyer
University of British Columbia