ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews influences, approaches and questions on economic and industrial understanding (EIU) so that those seeking to explore the development of EIU in the curriculum are able to relate their perspective to the wider debates about EIU. They include developing EIU from the perspective of cross-curricular themes, school policy and education-industry link agencies. There has always been a relationship in industrial society between economic concerns and the principles and practices of the education system. The period from the 1970s has been one of remarkable and radical change in education. It has driven the government, with considerable support from the world of work, to review and redirect education policy and practice and led to a reconstitution of the relationship between government and education. The reality in schools is that criticisms of EIU and the new vocationalism have been muted and teachers have relied on their professional judgement to sort out their response to the issues surrounding the development of EIU.
