Politics of the National Curriculum and the Campaigns for Promoting Geography Education in England

Abstract

This paper is to examine in terms of curriculum politics a range of processes surrounding the Educational Reform and establishment of the National Curriculum in England since 1980s. And it analyzed a series of campaigns that the organizations related with geography education carried out to promote geography education. The Education Reform was based on neoconservatism like Thatcherism, emphasized more the efficiency and accountability of education than its substance and as a result the National Curriculum was made by. In this context, geography revealed weak competition and became not only non-statutory subject but also competing with specialized subjects in post-14 as a result of revision of the National Curriculum. In this crisis, the Geographical Association made geography statutory foundation subject through realization of curriculum politics and adopted diverse strategies to promote the importance of geography to overcome situation of non-statutory subject. To promote geography education, the Geographical Association internally constructed intense network with each * 이논문은2012학년도경북대학교학술연구비에의하여연구되었음. ** 경북대학교 사범대학 지리교육과 부교수(Associate Professor, Department of Geography Education, Teachers College, Kyungpook National University), ckcho@knu.ac.kr 한국지리환경교육학회지, 20(3), 63~82, 2012. 12.