What’s the problem with ‘policy alignment’? The complexities of national reform in Australia’s federal system

ABSTRACT

This article problematises contemporary debates in favour of ‘policy alignment’ by considering the complexities emerging from attempts to forge greater alignment of policies and processes across state schooling systems in the Australian federation. We begin by articulating our conceptual approach to policy alignment, after which we examine Australian and international debates relating to alignment in schooling policy. We then consider how policy actors are engaging with debates and challenges relating to alignment, drawing upon interviews with senior bureaucrats in Australian state education departments and agencies. Our findings suggest policy actors see misalignment as a problem but do not necessarily see alignment as the solution. This raises complex questions about the logic and value of pursuing alignment in federations.

KEYWORDS:

• Policy alignment
• federalism
• national reform
• Australian schooling
• intergovernmental relations

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/alignment .

2. Issues pertaining to both political coercion and cost burdens are also clearly evident in the Australian developments we examine in the sections to follow.

3. In Australia, the Education Council is the intergovernmental council consisting of all the nation’s education ministers (federal, state and territory). It forms part of COAG, which is the peak intergovernmental forum in Australia, comprised of the Prime Minister, State Premiers, Territory Chief Ministers and the President of the Australian Local Government Association.

4. State governments are the dominant funders of Australian government schools, however, the federal government also provides recurrent funding to states for schools, which amounts, on average, to around 15% of the total funding government schools receive.

5. ACARA must also secure consent from its Board, which includes representatives from each state and territory.

6. Prime Minister Tony Abbott was in power when the White Paper review was commissioned and played a central role in arguing publicly for a need for clearer divisions of roles and responsibilities in the federation.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Australian Research Council [DE160100197].

Notes on contributors

Glenn C. Savage

Glenn C. Savage is a senior lecturer in education policy and sociology of education at the University of Western Australia. His current research examines the development of national schooling reforms and how policies in federal systems are shaped by transnational flows of policy ideas and practices. He currently holds an Australian Research Council ‘Discovery Early Career Researcher Award’ (DECRA) titled ‘National schooling reform and the reshaping of Australian federalism’ (DE160100197).

Kate O’Connor

Kate O’Connor is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Social Transformations and Education Research Hub at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education. Her research is focused on curriculum policy and practice in schools and universities and her publications include Australia’s Curriculum Dilemmas (MUP 2011) and Knowledge at the Crossroads (Springer 2017).