Official Knowledge, Power, and K–12 Economics Education: A Critical Metadiscourse Analysis

• In Event: 25.085 - Sheraton Roundtable One - Osgoode Ballroom
  In Roundtable Session: 25.085-2 - Economies of Curriculum

Abstract

In this review, the author interrogates the nature of “official knowledge” in economics curriculum through a critical meta-discourse analysis of five previously published literature reviews of economics curriculum published since 2008. The analysis revealed that although scholars have been increasingly critical about the ideological, and neoclassical, underpinnings of the current economics curriculum (consisting of state and national standards and high school textbooks), literature reviews have excluded these studies and voices, choosing instead to insist on consensus and concealing dissenting and conflicting viewpoints. The review found the overwhelming “monopoly” of the Council for Economic Education and their Voluntary National Content Standards in Economics in determining “what counts” as economics education.

Author

• Erin Adams, Kennesaw State University