This master’s thesis examines the manifestation of neoliberal trends in the revised English curriculum and the recently approved English coursebook in general upper-secondary programmes in Slovenia. In the theoretical part, we present core concepts related to neoliberalism, its influence on education, language teaching and language coursebook production. In the empirical part, we conduct a qualitative analysis of the curriculum, which shows that core competencies for lifelong learning, rather than subject-specific knowledge, are at the forefront of the majority of specific objectives, learning standards, and minimal learning standards. The analysis of the coursebook reveals the incorporation of neoliberal ideology, which is reflected in the promotion of entrepreneurship, competition and consumerism; in the emphasis on personal social responsibility and corporate social responsibility; in the erasure of class-related content, or rather in the representation of society through meritocratic discourse; and in the absence of systemic critique. We therefore conclude that the curriculum and the coursebook are oriented towards the formation of flexible, individualistic, entrepreneurial, and competitive individuals, rather than towards the development of an autonomous and critical subject.
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