Great expectations: political education and political culture in Australia

Abstract

[Extract] Political education in the form of civics and citizenship education has been the subject of extensive curriculum debate and development in Australia in recent years. The landmark event of these developments was the 1997 launching of a major federal government project entitled Discovering Democracy, a national programme of curriculum materials, professional development for teachers and related activities. The Discovering Democracy programme aims to develop student understandings of how government works and affects citizens, the rights and responsibilities of citizens and the opportunities for exercising them, how participation and decision-making operate in contemporary Australia, and how the nation's civic life might change in the future.

The impetus for this project arose from concerns about the political knowledge and attitudes of young people (Civics Expert Group, 1994). Since such knowledge and attitudes are seen to be a responsibility of schools, the implication was that schools were failing to meet their obligations. Discovering Democracy was intended to put things right, to create through education a public compatible with a liberal democratic vision (Print, Kennedy and Hughes, 1999).