Title: Recharting the history of economic thought: approaches to and student experiences of the introduction of pluralist teaching in an undergraduate economics curriculum

Authors: Kevin Deane; Elisa Van Waeyenberge; Rachel Maxwell

Addresses: International Development, Department of Economics, International Relations and Development, University of Northampton, Park Campus, Boughton Green Road, Northampton NN2 7AL, UK ' Department of Economics, SOAS, 10 Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, WC1H 0XG London, UK ' Head of Learning and Teaching Development: Policy and Practice, Institute of Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (ILT), University of Northampton, Park Campus, Boughton Green Road, Northampton, NN2 7AL, UK

Abstract: This paper outlines an innovative redesign of a course on the history of economic thought, which acted as a vehicle for exposing students to different theoretical traditions and engaging them in critical reflections on neoclassical economics. It also presents findings from a research project conducted with economics students at the University of Northampton, UK, that aimed to understand their experiences of the redesign. We reflect on the pedagogical challenges highlighted by students and its implications for (re)designing the economics curriculum. Our findings challenge arguments commonly deployed against the introduction of pluralist teaching, including that there is no appetite for this in the broader student population; that students would fail to engage with such an approach; that they fear a negative impact on employability, and that alternative economic approaches should only be introduced at an advanced level.1

Keywords: heterodox economics; pluralism; flipped classroom; history of economic thought; HET; pedagogy; curriculum reform; student experiences.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPEE.2019.101724

International Journal of Pluralism and Economics Education, 2019 Vol.10 No.2, pp.137 - 154

Received: 13 May 2017
Accepted: 28 Nov 2017

Published online: 23 Aug 2019 *

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