ABSTRACT
All curricula are potentially controversial but for faith-based schools there are particular aspects of teaching which require careful consideration to avoid conflict with the schools' own religious principles. When thinking about curriculum development and implementation there are three integrated educative functions of key importance: cognitive in terms of constructing knowledge; social in terms of sharing knowledge and understanding social situations; and pedagogical in terms of actively engaging in making sense and facilitating the construction of knowledge (Mercer, Wegeriff and Dawes 1999). It is also important to consider ways in which knowledge is socially constructed, and who makes decisions as to what has value and what is to be taught. These concerns are raised by Apple (2000) in his explanation of the ways in which official or state-sanctioned knowledge is promoted through the curriculum.
