Re-examining the curriculum development centre: coordinative federalism and Kingdon’s agenda-setting (1975-87)

During period 1975 through to 1987 the Commonwealth ventured into curriculum development, hitherto an activity for states and territories. Unlike the ACARA Curriculum of the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd governments, there was nothing mandatory about the CDC’s curriculum development activities. Here, the dominant influence was coordinative federalism. This paper advances a thesis that Kingdon’s Agendas is a useful lens in examining the historical circumstances bringing this educational policy into being, principally because it requires an examination of the political circumstances of the time, in this case including the politics of the administration of the CDC.