With the promise of revolutionising the Scottish educational landscape Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) set out to provide a holistic, student-centred approach to learning, emphasising breadth, depth, and flexibility (Education Scotland, 2011). Yet, beneath its surface rhetoric of inclusivity, equity, and excellence lies a complex web of ideologies, power dynamics, and ‘visibilities and invisibilities’ (Santoa, 2014; Paraskeva, 2016) that warrant critical examination. CfE has been exposed to frequent criticism regarding the lack of theoretical underpinning, which has culminated in some academics identifying CfE as atheoretical (Davis & Edwards, 2001; Priestley, 2010; Priestley & Humes, 2010; Priestley, 2011; Day & Bryce, 2013; Priestley & Minty, 2013). This ‘atheoretical nerve’ reflects a dominant current trend in education and curriculum affairs – national and internationally – which promotes the cult of positivism and anti-intellectualism (Apple, 2000; Giroux, 2011; Darder, 2012; Paraskeva, 2013), reinforcing an oppressing ‘banking pedagogical model’ (Freire, 1970). This qualitative study employs textual analysis and autobiographical research methods combined with a critical lens as this paper is situated within a purpose of ‘giving voice’ to those working from within education and examining systemic practices for the purpose of empowering and promoting change (Denzin and Lincoln,1994 and Casey, 1993). Therefore, this literature-based thesis through the lens of the Four Capacities (Scottish Executive, 2004) will examine 'excellence' as an empty signifier and how it supports political economy within the educational context, and how decolonial perspectives could be coupled with CfE to develop a socially just curriculum.

Keywords: Curriculum, empty signifier, excellence, political economy.