Curriculum Policy Enactment and Spaces of Change: A Bourdieuian Field Analysis

Abstract

Education reform is inevitable as governments grapple with a rapidly changing and uncertain world. Under the broader agenda of education reform sits curriculum reform, with much contestation about what curriculum should ‘look like’. Should it be centralised, decentralised, nationalised, denationalised, and state-based or school based? The merits and demerits of these various models are frequently debated. The issue of curriculum reform is further complicated by the structure of education systems. Who has control over the decision-making process is a central tenet of the debate. How schools interpret, enact and experience curriculum change is an important component of curriculum reform as they ultimately deliver what policy makers and governments create. This thesis consequently attempts to capture this vital aspect of the complicated curriculum change process by examining the enactment of the Australian Curriculum in one case study school in Queensland, Australia, using the theoretical resources of Bourdieu.Methodologically this study draws on socially critical qualitative research through a Bourdieuian lens. Data has been generated through semi-structured interviews with the school management team and the teachers involved in the first phase of the implementation of the Australian Curriculum, complemented by observations of staff meetings and Professional Development sessions. Field notes were generated during these observations as well as during data analysis while in the field. Documents such as the national curriculum along with school based official documents in relation to the curriculum enactment have also been utilised.The main argument of this thesis is that agents are engaged in a process of position-making during this stage of transition to the Australian Curriculum. A transition phase of reform enactment, although confusing at times, provides a greater scope for position-making. This is because the agents at the local level mediate the change by analysing their own contextual requirements. A reflexive habitus is a critical component in the position-making process. It is at the initial stage of change enactment where the habitus of agents tends to favour the previous practices while the field demands a change as any change in policy tends to change practices by creating the condition for its enactment. However, the habitus responds to and mediates the change in the field by creating the conditions of its own fulfilment. This reciprocal and dialectic relationship between the changing field and the habitus creates the conditions for position-making as agents tend to change their practices not only in accordance with the reform but also in relation to their existing practices. This study explores how the school provides opportunities to bridge the gap between the habitus of teachers and the new demands of the field. It is this mediating capacity of the habitus, which is reflexive and adaptive, that brings an incremental change in practices.At the same time, the contested nature of the national curriculum reform created tension in the field. The analysis in this thesis explored agents’ position-making on notions like ‘what is national’; ‘what has changed’ and ‘how do the objective guidelines inform practices?’ At the enactment stage of the reform, agents understood the reform at two different levels: the ‘interpretational’ level of understanding appears well aligned with the intended reform; whereas the ‘translation’ of the reform into practices created confusion. Different views and contested thinking emerged about the nature of the reform being national and the change in practices. Some teachers saw the reform as prescriptive and hence providing a clear direction for their teaching, while others view it as restrictive for their pedagogical practices. Such confusion and debates at this stage of change enactment indicate that the school and the agents are making their position as they practice the reform.The thesis is focused on the initial phase of the Australian National Curriculum enactment. Although this is an initial stage of reform enactment, it is nevertheless a critical one because agents are in the process of position-making in a changing and evolving field. The data for this study shows that the school is in the process of analysing its situation, evaluating its position, and negotiating and mediating the change. Classroom teachers are in the process of applying, reflecting and adapting to a changing field. Moreover, curriculum agencies are seeking clarification of their roles and responsibilities at national and state level (Savage, 2016). Thus the curriculum policy field is evolving, with agents taking up the reform, analysing their contextual needs and mediating the reform. Throughout the conduct of this study, curriculum policy reform in Australia was unsettled amid a shift of power to the federal level. In other words, this thesis captured position-making in a changing field while it was in process.