A Critical Policy Analysis of Home Economics Education Reform in Nigeria: Actors, Power, and Knowledge

This study conducts a critical policy analysis of Home Economics Education reform processes in Nigeria between 2000 and the present, examining the roles of key actors, power dynamics, and knowledge claims in shaping the direction, content, and implementation of reform initiatives. Policy reforms in Nigerian education are frequently characterised by technocratic processes that marginalise practitioner voices and indigenous knowledge systems, and Home Economics Education reform provides a paradigmatic case study of these dynamics. The study employs a qualitative critical policy study design, combining documentary analysis of national curriculum frameworks and ministerial circulars, elite interviews with 50 policymakers, curriculum developers, and academic leaders across six geopolitical zones, and discourse analysis of reform texts. The Critical Policy Studies Framework and Bourdieu's Field Theory jointly anchor the analytical design. Original contributions include the first systematic critical policy analysis of Home Economics Education reform in Nigeria, a field-theoretic mapping of reform actors and capital distribution, and a power-knowledge archaeology of curriculum change narratives. Findings are expected to reveal how technocratic and donor-driven agendas have historically marginalised practitioner and community perspectives in Home Economics curriculum reform. Recommendations address the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council, the Federal Ministry of Education, and the Home Economics Association of Nigeria. Keywords: critical policy analysis, Home Economics reform, curriculum policy, power dynamics, Nigeria.