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https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/29574
Title: | Neo-liberal individualism and a new essentialism: a comparison of two Australian curriculum documents | Contributor(s): | Smith, Dorothy V (author) | Publication Date: | 2011-02 | Early Online Version: | 2011-02-02 | DOI: | 10.1080/00220620.2010.532864 | Handle Link: | https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/29574 | Abstract: | This article explores a significant shift in the science curriculum in Victoria, Australia, in the mid‐1990s by using the idea of essentialism to compare two science curriculum documents that span the shift. The accounts given in these documents of desirable approaches to teaching science, science itself and the proper scope of curriculum, are compared to show that the document written in the mid‐1990s is open to a more essentialist reading than its predecessor. I argue that the market‐driven approach to education frames each learner as a neo‐liberal individual separated from society; consequently, it leaves ideas of community largely unexamined and unsupported. As a result, important curriculum and policy debates are short‐circuited and essentialist explanations for commonality become easier to accept. I describe this as new de facto essentialism, in that it arises from an insistence on individuality that denies the agency of society, rather than a consideration of positive evidence. Finally, I briefly examine the shaping paper for science in the first Australian National Curriculum for potential to avoid essentialist readings. | Publication Type: | Journal Article | Source of Publication: | Journal of Educational Administration and History, 43(1), p. 25-41 | Publisher: | Routledge | Place of Publication: | United Kingdom | ISSN: | 1478-7431 0022-0620 |
Fields of Research (FoR) 2008: | 130212 Science, Technology and Engineering Curriculum and Pedagogy | Fields of Research (FoR) 2020: | 390113 Science, technology and engineering curriculum and pedagogy | Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2008: | 930501 Education and Training Systems Policies and Development 930302 Syllabus and Curriculum Development |
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2020: | 160205 Policies and development 160301 Assessment, development and evaluation of curriculum |
Peer Reviewed: | Yes | HERDC Category Description: | C1 Refereed Article in a Scholarly Journal |
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Appears in Collections: | Journal Article School of Education |
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