Curriculum Policy and Major Education Reports
Identifying Key Curriculum Documents
Vic | NSW | Qld | SA | WA | Tas
A central intent of the project was to examine the agendas influencing curriculum policy at each of these mid-decade points: 1975, 1985, 1995 and 2005. One of the ways we have sought to illuminate this has been to identify key documents that capture something of the curriculum culture in each state. Lists of major reports and policy documents were compiled and sent to experts in each state for feedback on their significance. A small number of documents for each state produced in the years leading up to these mid-decade points were then selected.
A total of 65 documents across the six states were identified as key curriculum documents and summaries were produced for each period and document. Although this represents only a fraction of the total number of education reports and policy documents produced across Australia over four decades, it does provide something of a snapshot of curriculum concerns across the states and over time. We have found this material to be a useful for getting a sense of curriculum change across the Australian states and are making the summary material available here as a resource for others.
To access the lists of documents selected, click on the links above for each state. Overviews of the documents for each period by state may then be accessed by clicking on the links under each year and from there more detailed summaries of the individual documents may be accessed by clicking on the links under each overview. A table of the selected documents by year and state is also available.
As with other parts of the project, in compiling this material we recognise the difficulties in examining state differences, not the least of which is the different forms that curriculum policy documents take and the multiple influences that come to bear on the development of curriculum. Nevertheless, we do hope that this material will be useful for others, and we encourage you to provide feedback on the selection of these documents.
We thank all those who assisted with our selection through providing invaluable feedback and recommendations. We also acknowledge the work done by Katie Wright, Glenn Savage, Sean Byrne and Chinh Nguyen in developing and finalising the lists and summaries.