Curricular reform in secondary schools in Córdoba (Argentina): A critical sociological vision

The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the curricular reform in secondary education developed by the Provincial Government of Córdoba (Argentina) in 2010, in the light of Bernstein's concept of “pedagogic discourse”. The sources are official documents and interviews with school principals. Documents show the regulative and instructional component of such discourse. They define the reform's general framework, the proposed contents, the pedagogical directions of educational work, and the conception of assessment to be adopted. The interviews with principals show the positions adopted towards curricular reform. Throughout the analysis, the viability of this reform is questioned, since it seems quite ambitious in its content and scope, taking into account the very rigid structure of the secondary level of education in Argentina, the existing conditions for the current running of schools, and the rather critical position of school principals towards changes proposed by this reform.