Problematising scripted curricula: Stenhouse’s vision of teacher enquiry in new times

ABSTRACT This paper critically examines the proliferation of scripted curricula across Anglophone educational systems. Drawing on a prescriptive continuum analytical framework, we identify three distinct but interconnected script typologies: pedagogical, curricular, and behavioural. Through comparative examples from the United States, England, and Australia, we analyse four interrelated problem framings – efficiency, quality assurance, expertise, and consistency – that construct scripted curricula as solutions to perceived educational deficiencies. We interrogate how these framings construct particular conceptions of teaching and teacher development, while marginalising or foreclosing alternative approaches. Stenhouse’s vision of teachers as curriculum researchers serves as a critical counterpoint, highlighting what is at stake across the prescriptive spectrum when professional judgement is subordinated to external direction. Through systematic discursive analysis, this paper advances understanding of how scripted curricula materially affect teacher professionalism, pedagogical autonomy, contextual responsiveness, and educational equity, contributing to ongoing critical debates about teacher expertise and curriculum control in contemporary education systems.