Abstract

The article consists of a general section looking at changes since the 1960s in the links between philosophy of education and policy‐making, followed by a specific section engaging in topical policy critique. The historical argument claims that policy involvement was far more widespread in our subject before the mid‐1980s than it has been since then, and discusses various reasons for this change. The second section is a close examination of the Expert Panel's December 2011 recommendations on the future of the English National Curriculum. Embedded in this is a critique of Michael Young's influential notion of ‘powerful knowledge’.