Evaluating the impact of the curriculum centre in Australia (original) (raw)

Re-examining the curriculum development centre: Coordinative federalism and Kingdon's agenda-setting (1975-87)

Education research and perspectives, 2016

During period 1975 through to 1987 the Commonwealth ventured into curriculum development, hitherto an activity for states and territories. Unlike the ACARA Curriculum of the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd governments, there was nothing mandatory about the CDC’s curriculum development activities. Here, the dominant influence was coordinative federalism. This paper advances a thesis that Kingdon’s Agendas is a useful lens in examining the historical circumstances bringing this educational policy into being, principally because it requires an examination of the political circumstances of the time, in this case including the politics of the administration of the CDC.

Building a Better Briton: Parliament\u27s Push for State-Funded Secondary Schools, 1901-1903

2000

The first three years of the twentieth century were a crucial time in the development of state-funded education in England. The rising tide of Germanophobia in the wake of the South African War impressed Conservative politicians with the need to improve England\u27s educational system in order that she remain competitive in the world. With the aid of a very few Liberal imperialists, the Conservatives were able to shepherd through a series of bills which established state funded secondary schools throughout all of England, an expansion on the system created by the Education Act of 1870 in terms of both curriculum and breadth of jurisdiction. The Liberals opposed much of this legislation based on their allegiance to their nonconformist constituents, who viewed the expanse of state-funded schools as a threat to their voluntary schools and as an attempt to enforce Anglican uniformity. The fact that these MPs opposed these bills, and later modified them greatly when Liberal, and later La...

British Labour Party education policy and comprehensive education: from Learning to Live to Circular 10/65

History of Education, 2015

Fifty years after the production of Circular 10/65, which confirmed comprehensive education as the national policy for secondary education in England and Wales, it is possible to trace the idea of comprehensive education from the 1940s to the 1960s, to understand the position of the Labour Party in its development, and to assess the nature of the contribution of Circular 10/65 itself to comprehensive education in Britain. There were strong connections between the 1944 Education Act and Circular 10/65. In particular, Michael Stewart, the Labour Party education policy review of 1957-1958, and the 1958 report Learning to Live that arose from this, played a key mediating role. Awareness of public opinion through the then novel device of market research and a determination to consolidate ambitious reforming ideals into a practical strategy for educational reform over the longer term formed part of the party's revisionist approach under Hugh Gaitskell, and helped to provide the basis for Labour's policy on comprehensive education when it returned to power in 1964.

Commonwealth engagement with school education : a history (1901-2015)

2019

Beginning in 1911 with the mandating of school cadets for all Australian school students from twelve years to eighteen years, the Commonwealth has exerted its influence on Australian schools and colleges. This is despite the Constitution implying education to be a state prerogative. Section 51 outlines the powers of the federal government, and those not listed, such as school education, remain the residual powers of states and territories. This research attempts to analyse what is so attractive to schools and colleges for Commonwealth governments in their policy making. How might this influence of political forces be understood? Through an organisational framework adhering to the changing nature of federalism, a notion of history acknowledging political imperatives, and the analytical lens of Kingdon's Agendas, this research argues school education has become an arena of competing political forces, and has been such since the beginning of Federation. The research establishes, ho...

Education Reform in Australia: 1992-97

1998

This document reports on an in-depth study of the implementation of systemic reform in the state of Victoria. Called Schools of the Future, the reform was significant in its scale and complexity. Within 4 years in Victoria achieved the lowest per-pupil expenditure of any state of Australia. Data on academic achievements have been fragmentary and contradictory. In 1992 a majority of the government formed an educational agenda. The ensuing reforms included schools with site-based management, schools and principals made accountable, parents given more information and more access to decision-making, the reduction of the central bureaucracy, and increased power for school councils and principals in the school. Principals were the primary agents of the agenda; union officials were excluded. Teachers were promised that there would be no staff reductions. There were financial incentives to accept performance evaluation or retire early. Communication and feedback were focused on principals and the public and continued from the initial introduction through the implementation of changes. Vocational Education Training and higher education also changed through different methods and in a different order, as explained in an appendix. This is a study in the implementation of any political policy with emphasis on buying off agents of change, preempting obstruction, controlling communication channels, and ensuring that all parties have (or feel they have) ownership of their part of the deal. The bibliography includes interviews and newspaper articles. (REJ) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.

British Labour Party education policy and comprehensive education: fromLearning to Liveto Circular 10/65

History of Education, 2015

Fifty years after the production of Circular 10/65, which confirmed comprehensive education as the national policy for secondary education in England and Wales, it is possible to trace the idea of comprehensive education from the 1940s to the 1960s, to understand the position of the Labour Party in its development, and to assess the nature of the contribution of Circular 10/65 itself to comprehensive education in Britain. There were strong connections between the 1944 Education Act and Circular 10/65. In particular, Michael Stewart, the Labour Party education policy review of 1957-1958, and the 1958 report Learning to Live that arose from this, played a key mediating role. Awareness of public opinion through the then novel device of market research and a determination to consolidate ambitious reforming ideals into a practical strategy for educational reform over the longer term formed part of the party's revisionist approach under Hugh Gaitskell, and helped to provide the basis for Labour's policy on comprehensive education when it returned to power in 1964.