Using Michael Young's analysis on curriculum studies to examine the effects of neoliberalism on curricula in Mozambique

Abstract

In this article, the author seeks to examine the effects of neoliberalism on curricula in Mozambique. Despite the fact that the introduction of neoliberal policies in Mozambique has affected the whole system of education, the focus in this article is only on curriculum reforms in secondary and technical/vocational education. The description and the comparison of the pro-liberal curricula with the 'non-liberal' or 'transition-from-socialism-to-neoliberalism' period's curricula enables an insight into the sense of the curriculum policy shift: the ongoing neoliberal policies are tending to shift from the former disciplinary-based curriculums, to interdisciplinary, hybrid, flexible, professional-skills-based curricula, oriented to adjust to market demands. It is argued in this article is that a-social realist, socioconstructivist and social-realist epistemologies and their implications in terms of curriculum policies can be used to critically analyse and understand the curriculum policy shifts in Mozambique, in particular how neoliberalism is shaping curricula.