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Radical Economics Pedagogy

 

At the heart of PPE’s section on Radical Economics Pedagogy, are two questions: 1) what to teach in economics programs, and 2) how to teach it. Since 2008, there have been increased calls internationally for economics to be more pluralist, heterodox and radical. The International Student Initiative for Pluralism in Economics, which has led the way on this question, is now a collaboration of 82 associations of economics students from 31 countries.

At the University of Sydney, the demands for heterodox and alternative content began in the 1960s, and a full political economy program was established in the 1980s. A consideration of what is taught in economics programs also raises the issue of what has been excluded from the curriculum, and this is not simply the dominance of mainstream economics—questions of Eurocentrism and gender in the curriculum, amongst others, remain central.

Alongside this, academics discuss other issues of pedagogy—the ‘how’ of teaching that content. Is learning best achieved through traditional lectures, experiential learning, group collaboration, flipped learning, or the integration of new technologies? Indeed, the establishment of the PPE blog was a pedagogical initiative in itself.

We welcome contributions on any of these, or related topics!

      
 

Studying Political Economy at the University of Sydney

Yingnan Chen | April 14, 2026

How has Adam Tooze's scholarship assisted one student's journey through to political economy?

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Teaching Applied Political Economy

Susan Schroeder | October 7, 2025

How can Applied Political Economy assist our pedagogical experiences in the classroom? This post reflects on its potential to address the multitude of economic paradigms and enable students to both engage with them and learn important skills.

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Call for papers: Teaching Political Economy Symposium, University of Sydney

Gareth Bryant | Luciano Carment | Frank Stilwell | September 17, 2025

The Discipline of Political Economy and the Journal of Australian Political Economy (JAPE) welcome submissions for our forthcoming Teaching Political Economy Symposium to be held on Monday December 8th at the University of Sydney.

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Study Universal Basic Income at the University of Sydney

Gareth Bryant | November 26, 2024

Introducing SSPS6008 – Universal Basic Income In 2025, the the School of Social and Political Sciences (SSPS) at the University of Sydney will offer the first unit of study focused on Universal Basic Income (UBI) to be taught at a university in Australasia. This interdisciplinary unit [...]

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UPSWELL Journal

Ruby Halliday | October 3, 2023

The Political Economy Society at the University of Sydney are putting out a call for interest on their upcoming student led ‘UPSWELL’ journal. If you have experience or want to be involved, join us on Wednesday 4th Oct 6PM to hear our ideas, contribute yours, and create a vision [...]

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What do we learn from engaging in politicised pedagogical and teaching practices?

Ian Bruff | Mel Jordan | March 6, 2023

This post introduces readers to the second Special Issue we have co-edited on the umbrella theme of ‘Politicizing Artistic Pedagogies’. The first Special Issue, entitled ‘Politicizing Artistic Pedagogies: Publics, Spaces, Teachings’, was published in late 2021 in the journal Art & the Public [...]

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Machiavelli. Morgenthau. Weber. Marx. Foucault by Zubeda Mir

Andreas Bieler and Adam David Morton | December 27, 2022

Back in 2011, with a view to engaging students through different teaching methods, we launched a poetry competition on the core MA module "Theories and Concepts in International Relations" at the University of Nottingham. After all, Roland Bleiker has himself emphasised the role of the poetic [...]

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Moving the Study of Political Economy off the University Grid

Tim Thornton | July 7, 2022

I have recently co-written a chapter in the new ‘Handbook of Alternative Theories of Political Economy’ that considers ways that political economy teaching can be expanded. Five broad strategies are discussed: seeking reform to get more PE units of study taught within economics [...]

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