Revisiting curriculum, the numbers game and the inequality problem

Abstract

This essay reflects on Daniel Tanner's 'Race to the top and leave the children behind' by attention to the way our particular national histories impact on our thinking about what is valuable, the kinds of curriculum pressures and commonsenses that are now at work internationally at government and policy level, the specific forms these are taking in Australia, and the ways they are impacting positively and negatively on concerns about equity and difference. The article argues that neither testing nor lack of testing will solve the issue of schooling and difference and social inequalities. The Program for International Student Assessment agenda has influenced the language and rationale through..