‘Ursula Hoadley is one of the very best of the new generation of writers on curriculum and pedagogy. She is a creative and rigorous researcher with an interest in making a difference - and her research on South African schools and their challenges in the post-Apartheid era is confronting. This book brings together vivid depictions of classrooms, teachers, students and failed education reforms – and it develops fresh thinking about curriculum, pedagogy and place in moving forward. It deserves to be widely read.’ - Lyn Yates, Foundation Chair of Curriculum, Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne, Australia.‘Ursula Hoadley examines the complex and revealing relationship between societal structuring, the three South African curriculum reforms, and pedagogic practices in classrooms, detailing its implications for theory, policy and research. Key among these is the reciprocal relation between reform and teacher development. Without "a significant shift in the cognitive horizons of those teaching in our schools," Hoadley concludes, reform must fail. Hoadley makes a compelling argument for a relational conception of curriculum and pedagogy (or knowledge in pedagogy) in thinking about curriculum change. It is argument curriculum studies scholars not only in South Africa but worldwide will want to address.’ - William F. Pinar, Canada Research Chair in Curriculum Studies, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.