National curriculum and federalism: The Australian experience

Journal of Educational Administration and History

Volumn 42, Issue 3, 2010, Pages 295-313

  Harris Hart, Catherine ^a  

^a LA TROBE UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

Author keywords

Curriculum policy; Federalism; Landmark legislation; National curriculum

Indexed keywords

EID: 79957926677     PISSN: 00220620     EISSN: 14787431     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/00220620.2010.492965     Document Type: Article

References (95)

1. Here 'federal' refers to the general concept of the incorporation of several States into a national unity whilst 'Federal' refers to the Australian Federal Government.
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10. Alan Reid, Rethinking National Curriculum Collaboration: Towards an Australian Curriculum (Canberra: DEST, Commonwealth of Australia, 2005), 21;
11. this paper does not engage with the relative merits of a national curriculum, but rather seeks to examine the political processes through which the Federal government has sought to procure State/Territory support for a national curriculum.
12. Kevin Piper, Riders in the Chariot: Curriculum Reform and the National Interest 1965-1995, Australian Education Review No. 38 (Melbourne: The Australian Council for Educational Research, 1997);
13. Reid, Rethinking National Curriculum Collaboration.
14. See, for example, Trevor Fisher, The Era of Centralisation the 1988 Education Reform Act and its Consequences', FORUM 50, no. 2 (2008): 255-62.
15. See for example, Michael Watt, The Movement for National Academic Standards: A Compaison of the Common Core State Standards Initiative in the UA and the National Curriculum in Australia' (paper presented at the Biennial Australian Curriculum Studies Association Conference, Canberra, October 2-4, 2009).
16. The Parliament of Australia, Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority Act 2008, http://www.comlaw.gov.au/comlaw/Legislation/Act1.nsf/0/61B1D6AE57F7C27ACA25751B007D1A4A?OpenDocument (accessed December 7, 2010).
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18. Julia Gillard, Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority Bill 2008', speech made in the House of Representatives on October 23, 2008, http://www.deewr.gov.au/Ministers/Gillard/Media/Speeches/Pages/Article_081107_162857.aspx (accessed January 14, 2010).
19. Rebecca Rogers, Elizabeth Malancharuvil-Berkes, Melissa Mosley, Diane Hui, and Glynis Ogarro Joseph, 'Critical Discourse Analysis in Education: A Review of Literature', Review of Educational Researcher 75, no. 3 (2005): 368.
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22. The concept of text is now understood in a very wide sense: social practices and institutions, cultural products, indeed anything that is created as a product of human action and reflection; ibid 48
23. Michael Apple, Ideology and Curriculum (New York: Routledge, 1990).
24. Michel Foucault, The Archaeology of Knowledge (New York: Pantheon Books, 1972), 54.
25. Whilst there are subtle differences in the Hawke and Keating Federal governments' approach to federalism, it is not within the scope of this paper to examine these.
26. See, for example, Knight and Warry, Corporate to Supply-side Federalism'.
27. Bob Lingard, Paige Porter, Leo Bartlett, and John Knight, Federal/State Mediations in the Australian Education Agenda: From the AEC to MCEETYA 1987-1993', Australian Journal of Education 30, no. 1 (1995): 44.
28. John Dawkins, Skills for Australia (Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Services, 1987), iii.
29. John Dawkins, Strengthening Australia's Schools: A Consideration of the Focus and Content of Australia's Schools (Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Services, 1988).
30. Nerida F. Ellerton and M.A. (Ken) Clements, The National Curriculum Debacle (Perth: Meridian Press, 1994), 27.
31. Ibid., 24.
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33. Piper, Riders in the Chariot, 3.
34. Ibid., 17.
35. Ibid., 1.
36. Kerry Kennedy, The Idea of a National Curriculum in Australia: What do Susan Ryan, John Dawkins and Julia Gillard have in common?', Curriculum Perspectives 29, no. 1 (2009): 1-10.
37. Ibid., 5.
38. In Ellerton and Clements, National Curriculum Debacle, 26.
39. Knight and Warry, 'Corporate to Supply-Side Federalism'; Bartlett, 'National Curriculum in Australia'.
40. Lingard et al., Federal/State Mediations';
41. Bartlett, National Curriculum in Australia'.
42. Bartlett, National Curriculum in Australia', 228.
43. Ibid., 228-30.
44. In Ellerton and Clements, National Curriculum Debacle, 24.
45. Foucault, Archaeology of Knowledge.
46. The AEC comprised Federal and State/Territory Ministers and at this time the majority of States/Territories had Labor governments.
47. Lingard et al., Federal/State Mediations', 48.
48. Bartlett, National Curriculum in Australia', 233.
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51. Bartlett, National Curriculum in Australia', 233.
52. Reid, Rethinking National Curriculum Collaboration, 18.
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54. The Hobart Declaration on Schooling was endorsed by Federal and State Ministers and, at the time, represented an unprecedented commitment to inter-governmental cooperation on matters of education.
55. Kennedy and Marland, Implementing National Curriculum', 7.
56. Reid, Rethinking National Curriculum Collaboration, 19.
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60. Kennedy, Idea of a National Curriculum', 3.
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64. Ibid., 2.
65. Yorke, Refusing History', 14.
66. Lyons and Khoshaba, Pragmatism, Principles and Policy', 183.
67. Yorke, Refusing History', 13.
68. This conception is evidenced in Prime Minster Howard's 'flagpole' initiative in which school funding was withheld if schools refused to erect a Commonwealthfunded flagpole on which to fly the Australian flag.
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74. COAG is the peak intergovernmental forum in Australia, comprising the Prime Minister, State Premiers, Territory Chief Ministers and the President of the Australian Local Government Association. It was established in 1992 to consider ways to increase co-operation among levels of government.
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76. Ibid., 3.
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83. Gillard, Australian Curriculum'.
84. Rudd and Gillard, First Steps'.
85. Curriculum Standing Committee of National Education Professional Associations (CSCNEPA), 'Developing a Twenty-first Century: A Working Paper' (Canberra: Australian Curriculum Studies Association, 2007), http://www.arteducation.org.au/news/CSCNEPA_2.pdf (accessed February 4, 2010).
86. Kennedy, Idea of a National Curriculum', Reid, 'Is this a Revolution?
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88. Gillard, Australian Curriculum'.
89. Julia Gillard, National Public Education Forum Speech (media release, March 27, 2009), http://www.deewr.gov.au/Ministers/Gillard/Media/Speeches/Pages/Article_090327_173128.aspx (accessed January 31, 2010).
90. The Commonwealth of Australia, Schools Assistance Bill 2008, http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/bd/2008-09/09bd037.pdf (accessed February 8, 2010).
91. Kennedy, Chan, and Fok, in Kennedy, 'Idea of a National Curriculum', 6.
92. Kennedy, Idea of a National Curriculum'.
93. Geoff Anderson, Does Cooperative Federalism Work?' (paper presented at the Australian and New Zealand School of Government Annual Conference, Melbourne, September 11-12, 2008).
94. Metherall, New Era'.
95. Ellerton and Clements, National Curriculum Debacle.