Whose history of which economic thought?

In many countries, the teaching of the history of economic thought (HET) is on the decline. This is happening despite the fact that calls from students around the world for the reform of economics education have explicitly identified the provision of HET as a priority, and, in the UK, the lead quality assurance agency has described HET as “fundamental” to the understanding of economics. This contradiction provides the motivation for examining the value of HET for students in order to strengthen the case for the expansion of its provision. We reflect on some of the challenges delivering a compulsory HET module at a post-92 UK higher-education institution33In the UK, a ‘post-92 university’ refers to a former polytechnic that was given university status through the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 (or a university that has been granted university status since 1992). While difficult to generalize, the post-92 institutions tend to receive less research funding, focus more on teaching, and serve a more diverse student population.. How to challenge the white European male bias in the discipline to make the curricula more inclusive and therefore of potentially more interest and relevance to students? Which teaching approaches can provide lasting insights and ignite a passion for the subject in developing young economists? We find that while the impact of our reforms has been ambiguous for engagement and learning outcomes, student surveys reveal a notable appreciation of efforts to address gender and racial bias, and working-class students especially report more impact of the module, changing the way they think about economics.