Ideology, politics and curriculum change: Reflections on school geography 2000

The politics od curriculum change for geography in the 1990's offer a compl ete contrast with the 1989-91 period. Although geography won its place in t he new curriculum, the 'big-bang' of national curriculum development and th e influence of 'New Right' ideology proved disastrous for the curriculum fr amework with which teachers had to work. Throughout the 1990's, a slower pr ocess of small-scale but significant change has been underway. The Geograph y National Curriculum 2000 now provides clear recognition of the key aspect s of the subject and consequently a more workable curriculum framework for teachers. However, despite these improvements, geography has been marginali sed in primary schools and it is rapidly losing status in the changing 14-1 9 curriculum. this article examines the complex interplay between the schoo l curriculum requirements and national status, identifying the existence of a strong community of geography educators at all levels as a crucial facto r in fighting curriculum battles. Recognition of the different ideologies a ffecting the geography curriculum since 1970 allows us to understand the so cially constructed nature of the school curriculum, to explain our recent c urriculum history and to identify strategies for the future.