There is an increasing urgency, driven by global geopolitical, ecological and climate crises, for geography teachers to use their subject expertise as agents of change to empower children and young people with the knowledge and skills needed to think geographically and better understand our complex and rapidly changing world. This paper brings our…

From 2020, the long-standing debate regarding the English national curriculum's capacity to discuss issues of ethnicity and race escalated. The history subject curriculum particularly is seen as excluding ethnic minorities from an 'Island Story' often depicting a White Anglocentric identity disassociated with the wider world. In 2021, the…

The shortcomings of the current English secondary school history curriculum have been widely discussed since its inception in 2013. Less widely explored, however, are the narratives underpinning a key classroom resource: textbooks. In this paper, I review nine history textbooks currently in use in schools across the country, drawing on…

During recent years there have been many changes in education and assessment. This document tracks some of the changes that have occurred to education in England between 2000 and 2010. The start date was chosen as it coincided with the start of a new curriculum and a major change to A levels. The end date corresponds to the start of the coalition…

This research explored the extent to which secondary school history teachers in England willingly engaged with a series of concurrent curriculum reforms, and the factors that shaped their level of agency in the process. The curriculum has been the target of sustained reform by many governments, and accountability measures are frequently used to…

The canon forming the backbone of most conceptions of Western music has been a feature of musical culture for decades, exerting an influence upon musical study in educational settings. In English school contexts, the once perceived superiority of classical music in educational terms has been substantially revised and reconsidered, opening up…

In this paper, which takes the form of a dialogue, we discuss the possible directions that vocational education might take in the contemporary social, economic and technological context of the early 21st century. Taking account of the unresolved debates around vocational education internationally and future global economic demands for expertise we…

During recent years there have been many changes in education and assessment. Curricula have been updated, qualifications have been introduced and other qualifications withdrawn, particular skills have been valued then removed from assessment. This document tracks some of the changes that have occurred to education in England since 2010. The start…

Taking England as our case study, this paper reviews secondary school environmental education from a policy perspective. By drawing on Stevenson's typologies for environmental improvement and Lucas' categorisation of environmental education, we analyse national policy documents, local authority and Multi-Academy Trust policies; and individual…

In contemporary British society, discussions of social class have become relatively marginalised in comparison to their historically eminent position within the domains of politics, social policy and, the specific focus of the forthcoming discussion, education. However, within the specific field of PE and sport, contemporary academic analyses have…

This study explores the integration of Design Thinking into the Key Stage 3 Design and Technology (D&T) curriculum at a school in North-West England, focusing on fostering 21st-Century Skills alongside subject-specific knowledge. The research draws on a multiple case study approach derived from the 'Solving Genuine Problems for Authentic Users…

Conservativism has gained significant influence on education-policy making and debates about education in many Anglophone countries. While conservative educational governments have advanced some neoliberal governance trends, they have also introduced characteristic neoconservative education elements, notably in the area of curricular content. This…

In 2009 the Historical Association conducted the first of what has become an annual survey of history teachers in England. Its aim was to get beyond bare statistics relating to subject uptake and examination success to examine the reality of history teaching across all kinds of schools and to map the extent of variation in students' and teachers'…

This paper reports on the first stage of an international study addressing the future of secondary school music education. Some music educators have asked if school is the right place for music education, and the music education literature continually calls music curricula and pedagogy to account for its apparent shortcomings, while contemporary…

The view of the authors is that the teaching of food in the school curriculum has varied throughout its history in order to meet political aims rather than educational ones. In this article they highlight the social and political changes that have influenced the teaching of food from its inception in the mid-1840s through to the present day. They…