’Quality’ schooling, conservative education policy and educational change in Australia

Abstract

In Australia and elsewhere, during the past decade or more, educational debate has been characterized by renewed conservative discourse. This paper addresses conceptions of ‘educational quality’ that are employed in the debate and their implications for educational reform in the 1990s. In analysing the conservative reform agenda, the relationship between education, the economy and the state is briefly examined. In particular, the significance of the analogy of the market in the educational policy arena and in contested conceptions of ‘quality schooling’ is explored. Current policies emphasize a return to managerialism and a direct relationship between education and work ‐ features which seem to accommodate a loose coalition of somewhat diverse conservative themes. The implications of the conservative agenda for the work of teachers, curriculum, accountability, the relationship between schools and communities, and educational change, are examined. The paper concludes with a discussion of possible ways of challenging the apparent conservative consensus.