Producing and practising social justice policy in education: A policy trajectory study from queensland, Australia

This article provides a policy trajectory study of the Queensland Department of Education's Social Justice Strategy (1992-93) developed following the election of a State Labor government in late 1989. The paper considers the 'traditions' of social justice and their rearticulation under recent Labor governments. It then utilises research data to analyse the production of the Strategy within the Department and its reception within Brookridge, a the competing tensions within and upon both the production and reception of the Strategy, including the new managerialism within the Department and the concomitant reconstitution of Department/school relationships. Reasons for the 'refraction' of this state generated policy are also considered. In conclusion, the paper draws upon this policy trajectory study to reflect upon the politics of 'progressive' educational change and debates within the educational policy literature.