The main developments in this broad curriculum area are traced decade by decade with key signpost successes highlighted, along with examples of retrenchment and opposition to the march of progress. The drivers for change and regression were often central government initiatives but, all along, the activity of progressive educationists/academics and teachers in comprehensive schools and their lobbying through professional subject organisations occupied a key role. The possible turning back of the clock under the Coalition's Review of the National Curriculum signals yet another downturn in the fortunes of social and political education.