An analysis of the policy contexts of recent curriculum reform efforts in Australia, Great Britain and the United States

Curriculum reform has been described as a type of educational reform that focuses on changes to the ‘content and organisation of what is taught’. Carnoy and Levin have pointed out that reforms of this type are limited or constrained by the social, economic and political context that gives rise to them. Educational reform viewed as an instrument of public policy highlights the motives and objectives of governments rather than the intrinsic value of the particular reform effort. Ideally, in a democratic society, governments seek to mediate conflicting opinions and pressures in order to produce policies for the common good. Rust and Blakemore also talk about strong and weak versions of corporatism with the main differences being the degree of centralized control, the status of professional teacher groups, the inclusion or not of the private education system and the degree of continuity that desired educational reforms will achieve.