Australian and Victorian Curriculum Reforms Overview

Any national reforms in federal systems, such as Australia, in which power is split between federal (national) and state (sub-national) governments create challenges. In Australia, whilst there are strong arguments for national consistency on the grounds of equity, effectiveness and efficiency (Keating, 2009), reform is complicated because the state and territory governments retain constitutional responsibility for schooling. A summary of curriculum reforms, in the context of educational and career pathways in curriculum, at Australian (federal) and Victorian (state) level is summarised in Figure 1.