Analysis and Review of Critical Theory in the Curriculum

One of the most important basic human issues is the education, which has always been considered by many thinkers. The issue of education has gone a long way from the past to the present; so that in the contemporary world, it has entered new realms with the emergence of new schools such as pragmatism and postmodernism. One of the most important of these arenas is the emergence of critical thinking in the field of education. Critical education is a theory in the field of education that emphasizes the development of critical thinking and knowledge of students, and the curriculum elements are designed in such a way that critical knowledge of political, cultural, economic and social developed in it. Thinkers such as Paulo Freire , Henry Giroux, Michael Apple, Jurgen-Habermas and Peter McLaren, who plotted and made their point of view. The present research sought to determine the main elements of the curriculum of critical education based on the views of theorists on this field. Identifying the philosophical and social foundations and determining the main elements of the curriculum, such as the role of school, teacher, student, and evaluation, finding teaching methods and curriculum content in critical education, emphasizing the notion of prominent scholars of this field were among the goals of this research. First, the critical theory of the Frankfurt School and then the foundations and elements of the curriculum in postmodernism and critical education were examined and then the views and ideas of the major theorists of this field were analyzed. The findings of this research made it clear that prominent scholars of this field followed humanists in their philosophical and psychological foundations and to achieve their educational goals, which were critical awareness, propose a problem and in this case, dialogue played an essential role.