ABSTRACT
Nemer Frayha Introduction Societies dier in the ways they engage the process of policy making in the eld of education. Indeed, pressure groups, which operate within any society, monitor and inuence the education policy-making arena as part of negotiating and engaging the broader politics of power. ese groups (be they political, religious, societal, economic, or gender-based) are concerned with the kind of education provided to the country’s citizens. Each group likes to see its ideology present in the school curriculum. us, education policy making is inuenced by competing claims to knowledge, values, interests, and the manipulation of resources and of the decision-making process. Within this context, education policy remains subject to media and public scrutiny. As a result, policy makers act within a constantly contested terrain, particularly in deeply divided societies in which ethnic-cultural identities, religious conict, and class stratication come into play in a signicant way and the question of a ‘unied’ curriculum emerges as a central yet contested concern.
