Navigating the Ever-Changing Educational System

The direction in which we set our compass, toward autonomy versus uniformity,creativity versus standardization, shapes both curriculum and instruction. The presence of contradictory opinions about these issues creates seemingly unending conflict in the educational community. We see evidence of these struggles in this issue of the Journal of Curriculum and Instruction (JoCI), where all five articles demonstrate the need for teachers to be critical thinkers regarding their curricula, materials, and instruction, as well as the profession at large and their place in it. Specifically, this issue of JoCI contains two articles that focus on curricular content and pedagogy, two articles about teacher development, and one article discussing the challenges associated with standardization of curriculum and assessment. We hope these articles will serve ourreaders well as they navigate their journey toward the worthy pursuit of formulating and re-formulating their own answers to questions about knowledge, learning, and teaching.