An evaluation of the Australian Government’s Students First agenda for strengthening the curriculum

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to evaluate whether the Australian Government’s initiatives for a robust national curriculum, set out in The Coalition’s Policy for Schools: Students First, are leading to positive outcomes. Content analysis was used to dissect policy documents and reports relevant to the study. Results showed that most of the Australian Government’s initiatives have not yet produced measurable outcomes. Initiatives to restore the focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics in schools are at different stages in the process of development, diffusion and adoption. Evidence from qualitative data suggests that direct instruction and explicit direct instruction are improving student learning in schools participating in the Flexible Literacy Learning for Remote Primary Schools program. The initiatives for improving the take up of foreign languages are likely to fail, because they do not establish connected pathways between preschool, primary school and secondary school. Activities undertaken to rebalance the Australian Curriculum and refocus the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority produced only minor adjustments. Transitioning the annual literacy and numeracy tests to online assessments is being implemented over two years from 2018. Results of the study showed that implementation of the Australian Government’s initiatives in the education system have the potential to affect curriculum policy.