Beyond Economic and Industrial Understanding: An economic perspective in the primary curriculum

Abstract

In the fashioning of the National Curriculum on a subject basis, Economic and Industrial Understanding (EIU) emerged as one of the ‘cross‐curricular themes’ intended to impart some coherence and social purpose to the whole curriculum. In this way, attention was focused on Economics, which is not one of the National Curriculum foundation subjects. However, Economics is not only linked in the primary curriculum with Industry, but should also constitute one of a series of necessary perspectives on the children's world, all of which, together with moral and social understanding, they should learn to apply as they learn to live in that world. Before institutional education developed, this economic perspective was central to life, and is still indispensable and should be progressively fostered within a flexible curriculum as children grow. It necessarily involves problems and controversies, but the recognition of, and engagement with, such matters is itself an important part of social education. Due, but not unthinking or excessive, attention should be paid to ah economic perspective in its own right, in any simplification and revision of the National Curriculum in the primary phase.