Whither political economy? Evaluating the CORE project as a response to calls for change in economics teaching

Mearman, Andrew; Guizzo, Danielle; Berger, Sebastian

Abstract

This article offers a critique of a major recent initiative in economics teaching: the CORE project. CORE emerged in the wake of the global financial crisis, which was also something of a crisis for economics. The article deploys four evaluative criteria to pose four questions of CORE that address the demands of the student movement. CORE claims to be innovative and responsive to criticism. However, the article concludes that its reforms are relatively minor and superficial. CORE, like curricula that preceded the global financial crisis, still exhibits limited pluralism, ignores power and politics, and ignores key educational goals. Despite its opportunity to do so, CORE has not opened up space within economics for the teaching of political economy.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 6, 2017
• Online Publication Date: May 23, 2018
• Publication Date: May 23, 2018
• Deposit Date: Sep 11, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 23, 2019
• Journal: Review of Political Economy
• Print ISSN: 0953-8259
• Electronic ISSN: 1465-3982
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 30
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 241-259
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09538259.2018.1426682
• Keywords: CORE project, curriculum, economics, educational philosophy, political economy, pluralism
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/867864
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/09538259.2018.1426682
• Additional Information: Additional Information : This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Review of Political Economy on 23 May 2018, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/09538259.2018.1426682
• Contract Date: Sep 21, 2017