A model for researching syllabus development and curriculum change

This model developed from a study of changes in the social education syllabuses in NSW over a 22 year period from 1967 to 1989. The social education or SOSE area was examined from the perspective of how it changed over this period, why it changed and how the changes inform current practice. Although some may argue that the curriculum historian should perhaps be further removed from the study, the main impetus for me with this study was to inform my current practice. As Popkewitz points out: 'Our questions about the present require that we recognise that the present is not just our immediate experiences and practices. Part of our historical consciousness is to recognise that the past is a part of our everyday discourse, structuring what can be said and the possibilities and challenges of our times'. I am the HSIE coordinator at the University of Newcastle and I work in the Early Childhood, Primary and Secondary programs. There is a real need for me to have on overriding view removed from the minutae of day to day SOSE lesson planning in a particular syllabus area. The model evolved from two directions. Firstly, from reading literature in the policy, curriculum, educational history, social science pedagogy, and sociology areas, and examining primary documents such as committee minutes. Secondly it evolved from talking to syllabus committee members from the period and reading their survey replies, and examining the syllabuses produced. There were nineteen interviews held and 61 surveys collected. The model is not wildly different from anything seen before and in fact is similar to Kenway's, for example, suggestion for categorising theories of policy making. She argued that there were macro-theories encompassing an examination of the broader social and political context in which policy develops and the role of the state in this; middle-range theories which concentrate on the different stages of policy development and implementation; and micro-theories concerning decision making and decision makers within particular institutions. It is also important to examine the text of syllabus documents/policy documents.