National Agendas, Global Drivers: Curriculum and Standards in the United States and Australia Since the 1980s

• In Event: National Standards and Curricula: Challenges Here and Abroad

Abstract

This paper provides a comparative analysis of national curriculum and standards reforms in Australia and the USA, set against the backdrop of global trends towards nationalization since the 1980s. The paper identifies striking parallels in the reform trajectories of the two countries, yet argues that the past decade has seen national reforms emerge that are distinct in scope and form. This distinctiveness can be attributed to two core mediating factors in the national policy field of each country: first, distinct forms of federalism; second, different policy actors and institutions involved in policy development and enactment. Distinctive national policy fields thus provide different conditions of possibility for curriculum and standards reforms, despite shared global drivers and broad historical commonalities.

Authors

• Glenn Clifton Savage, The University of Melbourne

• Kate O'Connor, The University of Melbourne