Originally published in 1985, Tomkins' eloquent recounting of the complex history of curriculum development, from settlement in early French and English Canada to 1980, heralded a new beginning, just as it marked an end. It was the beginning of the writing of curriculum history in Canada and the end of one of the most turbulent periods in Canadian education.

A Common Countenance stands as the most comprehensive study of curriculum development in the period that defined the direction and context of Canadian education. In this book, George S. Tomkins brings together his extensive experience of the practical concerns of teachers with his wide-ranging reading and research into Canadian curriculum and history.

The original forward by Neil Sutherland states that “it is not an exaggeration to say that [Tomkins] has put the field together into a coherent whole for the first time, and that later work will be written in his very long shadow.” Time has indeed shown this to be the case. This is essential reading for all educators — understanding where we have come from informs the present and presages the future of curriculum development and implementation in Canada.

Dr. George S. Tomkins served as professor and co-ordinator of the Centre for the Study of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Brisith Columbia. He had a long association with the Canadian Studies Foundation and was its co-director from 1971 to 1975. In 1983, he was granted the honourary degree of Doctor of Laws from McGill University.

George S. Tomkins' profile page

Dr. William F. Pinar is the director of the Centre for the Study of the Internationalization of Curriculum Studies at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Pinar is the founding editor of the scholarly Journal of Curriculum Theorizing as well as the founder and past president of the International Association for the Advancement of Curriculum Studies.

William F. Pinar's profile page

Neil Sutherland served for 37 years in the University of British Columbia’s Department of Educational Studies. He was the principal investigator of the Canadian Childhood History Project located at UBC, and has published articles, reviews and a number of books, most recently Growing Up: Childhood in English Canada from the Great War to the Age of Television. He is the author of Children in English-Canadian Society: Framing the Twentieth-Century Consensus(WLU Press, 2000)

Neil Sutherland's profile page