‘It was just as political as it was pragmatic’: the (in)formal roles and policy work of ‘curriculum leaders’ in a federated education context

ABSTRACT

Politics and pragmatics are central and inseparable features of curriculum reform. In a federated system like Australia, many individuals and organisations are invested in reform at the national and jurisdictional level. This paper focuses on the policy work and roles of key actors positioned at the interface of national and state-based curriculum development, and at the juncture of curriculum policy and pedagogic practice. These were individuals formally identified as ‘curriculum leaders’ in the enactment of the Australian Curriculum in Health and Physical Education (ACHPE). The paper centres on data collected from eight (n = 8) curriculum leaders via semi-structured interviews. All were prospectively influential figures in shaping the path of the ACHPE. Our research explored the nature of their enactment work and how they were variously positioned and positioned themselves in relation to key ACHPE discourses. Analysis uses the policy actor/policy work framework as a starting point for deeper, Foucauldian informed analysis which provides insights into the complex nature of curriculum leadership by considering the additional (in)formal work and roles of these high-ranking policy actors. Data and discussion extends understanding of curriculum enactment as a process that spans policy networks and reveals the nuanced nature of curriculum leadership associated with curriculum reform.

KEYWORDS:

• Curriculum leadership
• curriculum reform
• education policy
• Health and Physical Education (HPE)
• policy actors
• policy enactment
• Australian Curriculum

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Several participants stipulated this as a condition of their consent to be interviewed.

2. See Macdonald and Enright (2013) for discussion of this debate.

Additional information

Funding

This research was approved by Monash University research ethics number 6051.

Notes on contributors

Karen Lambert

Karen Lambert is a Senior Lecturer within the Faculty of Education at Monash University. Karen is a queer poststructural feminist theorist and critical pedagogist whose research interests lie in curriculum policy reform, embodied learning and pedagogies in physical education and mental health in community sport. Twitter: InfinityKaren. LinkeIn: https://au.linkedin.com/in/drkarenlambert

Dawn Penney

Dawn Penney is a professorial research fellow in the school of education at Edith Cowan University and an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Education at Monash University. Dawn’s research centres on developments in policy, curriculum and assessment in Health and Physical Education and seeks to bring to the fore issues of equity amidst ‘reforms’. Twitter: @profdpenney. ResearchGate https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Dawn_Penney2