ABSTRACT
Teachers and schools in England have developed a range of approaches to education for economic and industrial understanding (EIU) in the curriculum, determined in part by exposure to support resources and guidance but in the main by personal attitudes to the rationale for EIU work in schools. These differing approaches arise from tensions within the concept of education for EIU. Education for EIU, as defined by NCC in Curriculum Guidance 4, is a complex amalgam of related concepts fed by a number of competing influences. It is the principal reason why it has been difficult to achieve a consensus on what EIU is about and how it should be developed in the curriculum (Jamieson, 1991). This lack of consensus has led to differing attitudes and approaches to EIU. These, in turn, have raised questions about the exact purpose and status of EIU in the curriculum, notably its internal coherence and manageability in relation to the other cross-curricular themes and the core and foundation subjects in the National Curriculum (Hargreaves, 1991).
