Abstract
Through interviews with members of the setting panel, this paper probes the process of setting the first external test for the VCE Physics course when it was implemented in 1992. The development of the course itself had been highly contested, but the contest was enacted largely outside the structures set up for formal negotiation between interested parties. Consequently the process was obscure, and the issues never clearly articulated. However, the outcome was that the course was much closer to a traditional course in physics than had originally seemed likely. The test setting panel provided a microcosm in which the contest that had shaped the development of the course was replayed. In the deliberations of the panel, certain discursive mechanisms can be identified as having operated to ensure that particular decisions became inevitable. Once identified in the deliberations of the test panel, similar mechanisms can be discerned during the process of devising the course itself. Some implications are noted for future efforts to reform curriculum and assessment in physics, and for current classroom practice.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ball, S. (Ed.). (1990). Foucault and education. London and New York: Routledge.
Barrett, M. (1991). The politics of truth from Marx to Foucault. Cambridge, UK: The Polity Press.
Bell, B., Jones, A., & Carr, M. (1995). The development of the recent National New Zealand Science curriculum. Studies in Science Education, 26, 73-105.
Berger, P., & Luckmann, T. (1966). The social construction of reality: A treatise in the sociology of knowledge. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin.
Black, P. (1995). 1987–1995: The struggle to formulate a National Curriculum for science in England and Wales. Studies in Science Education, 26, 159-188.
Blades, D. (1997). Procedures of power and curriculum change. New York: Peter Lang.
Clarke, D., & Stephens, M. (1996). The ripple effect: The instructional impact of the systemic introduction of performance assessment in mathematics. In M. Birenbaum, & F. Dochy (Eds.), Alternatives in assessment of achievement (pp. 63-92). Boston: Kluwer.
Foucault, M. (1980). Truth and power. In C. Gordon (Ed.), Power/knowledge: Selected interviews and other writings (pp. 108-133). Bury St Edmonds, UK: The Harvester Press.
Gardner, P. (1975). Science curricula and attitudes to science: A review. Australian Science Teachers Journal, 21(2), 23-40.
Gilbert, J. (1997). Looking underneath the categories science and “gender” for new directions in research on gender issues in science education. In B. Barbour (Ed.), SAMEpapers 1997 (pp. 61-85). Hamilton, NZ: Centre for Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, Waikato University.
Graham, D., & Tytler, D. (1993). A lesson for us all: The making of the National Curriculum. London: Routledge.
Harding, J. (1983). Switched off: The science education of girls. London: Lonman Resources Unit, for the Schools Council.
Hart, C. (1995). Access and the quality of learning: The story of a curriculum document for school physics. Unpublished PhD thesis, Monash University, Melbourne.
Hart, C. (1998). Addressing participation and the quality of learning through curriculum change: Some lessons from the experience of VCE Physics. Australian Educational Researcher, 25(2), 19-37.
Haussler, P. (1987). Measuring students' interest in physics–design and results of a cross-sectional study in the Federal Republic of Germany. International Journal of Science Education, 9(1), 79-92.
Henriques, J., Hollway, W., Urwin, C., Venn, C., & Walkerdine, V. (1998). Changing the subject: Psychology, social regulation and subjectivity (2nd ed.). London: Routledge.
Hildebrand, G. (1996). Redefining achievement. In P. Murphy, & C. Gipps (Eds.), Equity in the classroom (pp. 147-172). London: The Falmer Press and UNESCO.
Jiminez-Aleixandre, M. P., & Puig, N. S. (1995). The development of a new science curriculum for secondary school in Spain: Opportunities for change. International Journal of Science Education, 17(4), 425-439.
Kyle, W. (1997). Editorial: Assessing students'; understandings of science. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 34(9), 851-852.
Lewis, R. (1975). Changes in attitudes of PSSC physics students: A fourth look or a second look at a third look. Australian Science Teachers Journal, 21(3), 95-100.
Mauger, K. E., O'Brien, R., Malcolm, C. K., Pearce, J. M., & Fallon, K. (1982). Unpublished submission to the VISE Physics Subject Committee. Melbourne: Melbourne State College.
Nielsen, H., & Thomsen, P. (1990). The incorporation of history and philosophy of science in physics education in Denmark. Australian Science Teachers Journal, 36(1), 27-33.
Olssen, M. (1999). Michel Foucault: Materialism and education. Westport, CT: Bergin and Garvey.
Ormerod, M. B. (1981). Factors differentially affecting the science subject preferences, choices and attitudes of girls and boys. In A. Kelly (Ed.), The missing half: Girls and science education (pp. 100-112). Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Ormiston-Smith, H. (1993). Discourse in action: Why physics exams are the way they are. Bundoora, VIC: School of Education, LaTrobe University.
Panwar, R., & Hoddinott, J. (1995). The influence of academic scientists and technologists on Alberta's secondary science curriculum policy and programme. International Journal of Science Education, 17(4), 505-518.
Pennycuick, D. (1990). Factors influencing the introduction of continuous assessment systems in developing countries. In D. Layton (Ed.), Innovations in science and technology education (Vol. 3, pp. 139-152). Paris: UNESCO.
Pfundt, H., & Duit, R. (1994). Bibliography: Students' alternative frameworks and science education. Kiel, Federal Republic of Germany: Kiel University.
Stacey, K., & McCrae, B. (1998). Assessing problem solving: Give and take. The Mathematics Educator, 3(1), 26-37.
Victorian Curriculumand Assessment Board (VCAB). (1987). Developing the Victorian Certificate of Education. Melbourne: Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Board.
Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Board (VCAB). (1989). Physics study design (Provisionally accredited). Melbourne: Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Board.
Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Board (VCAB). (1991). Physics study design (Accredited). Carlton, Victoria: Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Board.
Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Board. (1992). VCE physics common assessment task: Comprehension and application. Carlton, Victoria: Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Board.
Walkerdine, V. (1994). Femininity as performance. In L. Stone (Ed.), The education feminist reader (pp. 57-69). New York/London: Routledge.
Weedon, C. (1997). Feminist practice and poststructuralist theory (2nd ed.). Oxford: Blackwell.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hart, C. Examining Relations of Power in a Process of Curriculum Change: The Case of VCE Physics. Research in Science Education 31, 525–551 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013145924470
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013145924470